Carlos Corberan, the manager of West Bromwich Albion, needs to prepare for two games in four days, and there will be changes.
At his West Bromwich Albion press conference, Carlos Corberan gave a mischievous smile and said, “You will see, you will have the answer in the next games,” when asked if he would be rotating his team at The Hawthorns this week. Less than three days from now, on Saturday, Albion will host Sunderland after hosting Rotherham United this evening.
With two wins and six points, Albion can virtually guarantee their spot in the play-offs after Coventry City’s Tuesday night loss at Southampton and Norwich City’s two-point loss at relegation-threatened Sheffield Wednesday, despite leading 2-0 into the last moments. The difference is presently six points, and Albion would need a small miracle to miss out on a spot in the top six by the start of May if they can manage to get up to 75.
While a quartet from a pool of seven or eight players can occupy the interchangeable front four positions in the side, Corberan has recently relied heavily on Okay Yokuslu and Alex Mowatt in midfield. Although Corberan has used four different centre halves in recent weeks, he has consistently turned to Mowatt and Yokuslu. The former is back from his period in the Middlesbrough wilderness and is a contender for player of the season.
After Jayson Molumby was injured in January, Albion took action to sign Yann M’Vila on a temporary contract. Nathaniel Chalobah is another option available to Corberan, though he hasn’t played since the hectic 2-2 draw against Queens Park Rangers more than a month ago. With two games in four days, could we see a more balanced use of the squad?
“I can play with any of my four midfield players with complete confidence. Two for four. The same applies to centre back,” Corberan thought. “I’m comfortable, to be sure, but that doesn’t mean I’ll toss in the towel; instead, I’ll assess what the team needs. They compete with themselves to give it their all, and this self-discipline serves to fortify the group.
“Sometimes, some players, the competition in his position helps him to realise that they must work at the best level that they can. Some players don’t need it. I like to work with the players who don’t need the competition to achieve their maximum level, to help the team.This is the mentality of this group. I don’t think this group is watching the possibilities to have something negative individually. They are seeing it as a positive collectively.”
Corberan, meanwhile, has praised those players who haven’t even found themselves in the match-day squad lately; loanee Pipa hasn’t played an awful lot of football recently and indeed has made just a single league start ahead of Darnell Furlong at right-back. Erik Pieters, a stalwart at centre half last year, has also been missing out, such is the intensified competition for places.
“I have unbelievable players,” Corberan added. “To have Erik Pieters is a miracle. He is someone who when he is not in the squad, is always telling you that ‘I am fine. I will be ready. I will keep working hard, the only important thing is the team.’ If you are watching how Pipa is working in these weeks it is unbelievable. It is very unfair to leave any of my players right now out of the squad – but that is what I want. Unfortunately, I need to make unfair decisions.”
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