Carlos Corberán believes his players will arrive at The Hawthorns ahead of their crucial clash with Norwich City on Saturday full of belief despite suffering two disappointing defeats recently.
The Baggies have fallen to narrow setbacks against Sunderland and Sheffield United over the last six days and start the penultimate weekend of Sky Bet Championship action two points off the pace in the Play-Off race.
The Baggies face the Canaries at the later time of 5.30pm, with the majority of their top-six rivals playing at the regular 3pm slot.
But the boss says his side shouldn’t worry about results elsewhere and has urged the players to take care of their own business in B71, while also reassuring the supporters the squad are full of desire to secure a vital victory in what is the final home fixture of the regular campaign.
Carlos said: “The last two results haven’t been the results we wanted to achieve.
“We have spent a lot of energy trying to achieve the results we wanted to.
“I didn’t see a bad performance in either of the games and that means I’m positive about our last two games of the season. We delivered a very, very good effort against Sunderland. In terms of Sheffield United, we showed a lot of personality for an hour but then we didn’t react well enough to their first goal.
“The players won't arrive at The Hawthorns tomorrow without desire or belief. They know that we are strong at home, that we can play good football and that we have strong behaviours which help us be a competitive team. They have the required desire to win our last home game of the regular season.
“We knew the demands of the week would be the highest of the season because of the moment of the season we are in and the fact that there have only been two days of rest and recovery between the last two games.
“We are facing an opponent who will arrive in a different physical condition because they didn’t have some of the games that we have had this week. Despite the physical demands, we have to show a strong mentality.
“Realistically, we just need to be focused on winning our next game and not focus on what is happening elsewhere.
“We have to be focused on ourselves and wining the game. If we can do that, that’s when we’ll look at the last game of the season and how we arrive ahead of that one.
“But now, before thinking about whether it’s possible or not, we have to be thinking about getting a positive result in our last home game of the regular season.
“We have to show the supporters just how much desire and commitment we have to win the game. That’s the most important thing.”
The Baggies have only had two days or rest between both the Sunderland and Sheffield United and Sheffield United and Norwich City fixtures, while the Canaries haven’t played since last Saturday when they lost 3-0 at home to Swansea City.
Carlos accepts it’s been a demanding period physically for his players, but stressed the importance of being mentally strong given the circumstances.
“From the physical perspective, kicking-off in the evening is a positive because it gives us two more hours to prepare for the game.
“When you only have two days between games, every small detail can help you. Sometimes, two hours is the difference between a player being able to compete for ten minutes more or ten minutes less. In that ten minutes you could change one game, so every small detail can help us right now in terms of the physical recovery.
“In terms of our performance, if it’s going to depend on what other teams are doing then that is wrong. I think we need to compete at the same level without watching or knowing the other results.
“We need to compete for ourselves, for our club and for our supporters. We need to give our best.
“I think it’s going to be a competitive game between two teams who have got some very good players and who have the same ambitions.
“Both teams have squads who could be in different positions in the league but both arrive on Saturday in the position that they are in right now.
“We know we’re up against a very good team but we have the target to add three points to our tally.
“We need to have an added element of mental strength tomorrow given the physical demands that have been placed on us recently.
“Knowing it’s the last home game of the regular season and the fact we play in front of our fans should give us the extra energy we'll need.”
