Carlos Corberán says he's 'excited' to take on the task of leading Albion forward after becoming the club's new Head Coach.
The Baggies boss took his first training session on Wednesday afternoon before sitting down and speaking with WBA TV.
See what he had to say in full here...
Q: Carlos, welcome to the Albion. How excited are you to be here?
A: I’m really excited, because I know how big West Bromwich Albion is as a club.
It’s a real pleasure to be here and to lead this club and team.
Q: What was it that really enticed you here?
A: First of all, every time as a coach I’ve been here I felt something different when you’re playing at The Hawthorns.
You can feel how big it is, you can feel the fans and how they back the team. They make the stadium very difficult to play in, I’ve always had that feeling with West Bromwich Albion and the fans that they have – it’s a really powerful club.
Secondly, I know the league, I’ve been working for years in the Championship and I think that here we have a group of players that connect very well with the fans and they can make things happen on the pitch.
Of course, in football you have momentum, and right now it’s not the right one. But I have a clear determination to change this, a clear determination to create one level of togetherness with the fans. That, for me, is very important because I really appreciate the effort of the fans, supporting the team.
My goal and my target will always be to make our fans proud of the team.
Q: You’re joining us part of the way through the season, have you had much chance to see the team in action?
A: Yes, I think this is always important as a coach that we are following the leagues where we think we can develop our work, and for me it was very important to analyse the team before I arrived here to make the right decision.
I was watching close to every game the team has played so far, I watched even more games in the Championship, especially when I had the opportunity to have a break and some time to recover and to be following the team.
I have analysed the squad in detail, and the performance of the team during the competition.
Q: We’re obviously not in the position we want to be in the table, how confident are you that you can take the reins and lift the side?
A: I think the most important thing is to become a more competitive team, because it’s clear that the team is not getting the results that we want to get.
But at the same time, football is like life. Life challenges us in different situations, and as a player, as a coach and as fans sometimes we need to live through situations that nobody expected to live in.
You have to live through the challenge that every West Bromwich Albion fan, every West Bromwich Albion player and member of the staff has in front of us. What we need to do is face this situation how the situation is, and the key is to be the most competitive team we can be, to create one level of togetherness with the fans to compete better.
The better we compete, the more opportunities we will have to win the games. So I can guarantee to the fans, that this group of players is going to work very hard to make them feel proud.
Q: Was the playing squad a big draw for you when considering the job?
A: I know that this is a group of players with a lot of possibilities and a lot of resources. I have played against many of them during my career as a coach and assistant coach, and I know what they can do on the pitch.
But sometimes, things don’t always work how we want. I know that they are full of resources, the key now as a team is to show and to use all of our resources and to use all the levels of the players and be the best team we can be.
This is going to be our target every single day. Work to put the team into the highest level we can, and to put the individual level of the players to the highest standard that we can.
Q: You’ve had your first session with the squad now, how did that go? Have you had a chance to put some of your messages across even though it’s only been one day?
A: Yes, and that moment is very important for me that we shared with them how we want to play football, how we want to be doing this season and what our targets and our commitments are.
For me it’s very important that we start to create one relationship with the players about not only our football ideas, but our values as a team that we need to show and about how important it is to show these values on the pitch - because we represent many fans and it’s important that they can identify with the team every time they see them on the football pitch.
So for us it’s important that the values that we want to show on the football pitch, we show every single day and make these our habits to train and our habits to play.
Q: You mentioned there the values that you want to play to, how would you describe them to the fans?
A: I think that first of all, it’s to give our best. I think in life, what we can control, we need to control and we need to guarantee.
I think that the intensity, the concentration and the passion we give the game, need to be the highest possible.
What happens in football is that sometimes your emotional values are very close with the tactical game and tactical possibilities. So it’s very important to work and to maximise our emotional aspects of the game, but at the same time increase our level of organisation in the game.
If we run a lot, but we run bad, it’s not going to work. If we’re just organised without effort, it’s not going to work. So we need to link very well, our level of emotion and passion in the game to create a perfect link with these two aspects.
Q: The fans will have seen your work at Huddersfield Town. You came so close to promotion with them – how confident are you that you can go a step further with us?
A: Of course, every time you’re at a club you have dreams. The dreams are part of the vision of the club, but at the same time I am focused and determined to face the situation that we need to face right now.
Right now, it’s clear I am here and employed by the club because the team is not competing well enough. My first target is to increase the level of competitiveness of the team.
Let’s get one step in front of this. You always know what kind of club you are, and what kind of vision and target the club has. But for me, I would like to link the two points very well.
First of all we need to face the situation that we have in front of us, but not only me as a coach, not only the players that are playing, even the fans. All together.
Sometimes we can’t just be disagreeing about where we are and what we have in front of us. We have a situation that we need to move together, from this point to become a more competitive team.
And of course, being at West Bromwich Albion you can only have a very high ambition.
Q: Finally, you’ll have the opportunity to go out at The Hawthorns this weekend against Sheffield United. How excited are you to show the fans what you’re all about and what this team can provide?
A: Of course, we know that this competition is a very tough one. Every opponent is going to demand a lot of you.
For me it’s important to start to make these first steps immediately, to start to show what we want to do as a team.
Defend how we want to defend, attack how we want to attack. Of course, everyone needs some time to develop these ideas, but they are one part of the emotional aspects, emotional values, passion and determination that is important to show from the first moment.
