West Brom's Spain trip is time for the squad to bond – Carlos Corberan
Head coach Carlos Corberan is looking for his Albion squad to become closer than ever during the week abroad in Spain.
The Baggies first-team ranks, and a sprinkling of youth-team players, jetted out to Costa Blanca in eastern Spain yesterday for a week the Albion boss has placed a high level of importance on for the development of his squad.
Albion players will undergo double training sessions at their base as well as spending important time together during meal times and watching World Cup matches. Corberan has also mentioned he hopes to organise a friendly in his homeland.
The head coach has also spoken of the importance of recovery and sleep time either side of training being at the resort complex, so the squad can maximise as much of their time away as possible during the third week of four weeks away during the international tournament.
Corberan, whose side spent one week at the club’s training ground after seven days off, explained “First of all, we would have been here for more than three weeks – so to have the opportunity to move from here can be beneficial for the mind.
“The fact that we will travel creates some togetherness, because they are going to travel together, without their families – just as a group of players.
“You can increase the togetherness between us, not only between the players – but also between the players and the staff. We are going to spend time together and that can be positive.”
Albion’s premier youth side, the under-21s run by former caretaker boss Richard Beale, have been in good form this season and sit third in their PL2 Division 2 division. The under-21s have been in action during the World Cup break, with a setback in the defence of their Premier League Cup title with defeats at Huddersfield and Watford in the last fortnight – forgotten man Kenneth Zohore and youngster Akeel Higgins on target in the latter, a 4-3 reverse last Friday.
Full-back duo Ethan Ingram and Zac Ashworth and forward Reyes Cleary have all enjoyed first-team action this season. Corberan added: “All the first team players are going to travel, including some of the academy players who are interesting to us – to help them get the ideas of the first team and be integrated with the squad.
“Now is a fantastic period of time to increase the behaviours, to feed better our ideas, and to move that into the game situation.
“The first game back is going to be, of course, with Sunderland. We are trying to improve the team and our consistency of ideas with the squad, not only for that game but for the rest of the season.”
