Carlos Corberan pleased with fast start from his 'committed' West Brom
Carlos Corberan was pleased to see his Albion side fly out the traps in their return to winning ways against Coventry.
Grady Diangana's 15th-minute effort was enough for the Baggies to see off the Sky Blues and respond to Championship and FA Cup setbacks on their travels recently.
Coberan's hosts, featuring new loan recruit Marc Albrighton from the off, were electric early on against Mark Robins' visitors in a contest that started at a frenetic, rapid pace. Diangana's fourth goal of the season was a deserved lead but City had also threatened themselves.
The head coach was pleased with several aspects of his team's performance, including their reaction early on and the professional mentality to see out the game with relative ease.
“The level of commitment, personality and concentration was very high," Corberan said. “That level enabled us to win the game and deserve the result we achieved.
“It was the right reaction we needed to have and the right mentality to finish the game.
“The idea was to look for the result from the first moment to the last one.
“It’s like ‘don’t waste time trying to go for the result if you don’t show your personality in every single action’.
“We try to be aggressive in defence and try to play with a lot of personality in attack and be dominant.
“We only lost control of the game in the last minute of the first half because we ceased too much to progress.
“The second half was different and we couldn’t control it at the same level but for me with the changes, the team was balanced more.
“Every time we’re here in front of our fans, we’re pleased to make them proud."
Albion extended their exceptional home record under Corberan, under whom they have not conceded a goal at The Hawthorns in more than seven-and-a-half games in all competitions – dating back to the Spaniard's first game, a 2-0 defeat to Sheffield United.
The Baggies equalled a record dating back to December 1977 in going six home league games without conceding, though Ronnie Allen's side of that era did draw on two occasions.
David Button was called in between the sticks for the injured Alex Palmer – out for six to seven weeks with an injury picked up in training – and played his part in the important win.
Albrighton enjoyed an eye-catching debut and there was also a Baggies bow for Nathaniel Chalobah, signed from Fulham on deadline day.
As the head coach shuffled his pack it was Tom Rogic and Taylor Gardner-Hickman who were left out of the matchday 18 due to selection reasons.
"Unfortunately I cannot involve them all," Corberan said. "It's a rule I don't understand. In the Premier League you can name eight (outfield players) and make five subs. We can make five subs, but we can only involve six (outfield) players.
"Every week I have to make unfair decisions. It's part of my job to do it.
"When you decide to play with Wallace as a number ten, it doesn't make sense to have two number tens on the bench. I then had to make a decision between Swift and Rogic.
"It is the right decision for one player, but it is the wrong decision for the other, it's unfair Rogic and it would've been unfair for Swift too.
"At the end it's my job to make decisions and digest the feeling that, in the end, is not the most comfortable thing to do."
