Carlos Corberán says claiming a morale-boosting victory at Hull City on Sunday afternoon was the perfect way to bring up 100 matches in charge of West Bromwich Albion.
The Baggies boss watched his team beat the Tigers 2-1 at the MKM Stadium, with Karlan Grant and Josh Maja both on target up north – a result which ensures the club head into the international break inside the top six.
Corberán believes the players displayed a brilliant level of “resilience and commitment”, especially considering their opponents had 48 hours more to prepare for the encounter, stating the group overcame a “massive physical and mental” challenge.
Carlos said: “I forgot completely that today was game number one hundred with West Bromwich Albion. This is something which can only make me feel very, very, very proud.
“To give a victory to the fans before the international break is very important, especially when you consider we have struggled to get wins recently.
“It’s a special victory because when you look at the two teams, Hull City played on Tuesday night and we played on Thursday night. We played 48 hours later and played today after less than 72 hours recovery. Normally you need at least 72 hours to properly recover.
“We’ve had problems with injuries recently, but I’m really proud to see how much commitment the players put on the pitch today. Without this mentality, the victory wouldn’t have been possible.
“It was a fairly equal game if I am honest. We knew that we were suffering in one way because they are a team built to attack by putting a lot of players in the final third and they are brave playing from the back.
“It’s a massive physical challenge and a massive mental challenge to come here because we didn’t have time to work with our ideas for this game.
“Saying that, you don’t always win football matches with perfect football. You can also win football matches with a strong mentality. The players have been suffering today in a way that you have to do to make sure you win the points.
“We scored two early goals with our first two chances. I think we had the possibility to score another goal too before Hull scored their goal. It was positive to increase our lead.
“Then, they made us defend a lot and they made us suffer with their physical players and the crosses they put in the box. They scored from a very good cross with a very good header and it was difficult to stop.
“In the second period, they had one big chance, but in general, I saw the team emotionally focused and with a lot of control in the game. They achieved the result that they were desperate to achieve. We had to do a lot of strong defending on the edge of our box and we had lots of crosses to clear.
“The Championship is so difficult and there really isn’t much difference between squads. The table is very compact and we need to keep building resilience and a strong mentality, especially when things don’t go well.
“You can never promise an easy game in the Championship. It’s a league full of small margins and we want to keep improving. We want to deliver better results at home, but at the same time, we need to value the things we are doing well.”
