West Brom boss Carlos Corberan: Friendlies can help find 'solutions'
Head coach Carlos Corberan hopes Albion can find “new solutions” with a “competitive” edge as public friendlies begin tonight.
Albion head to Cheltenham Town this evening where their supporters will catch a first glimpse of the side this summer.
The senior ranks, boosted by youth graduates, have been back training for a month, enjoyed a camp at St George’s Park and two behind-closed-doors friendlies.
When asked what he expects from the warm-up games, Corberan said: “Improvements and evaluation of the players.
“When you see one game it allows to make a better diagnosis of the team. You see the diagnosis of the players you can see.
“Right now I am 50-50, I focus to develop ideas, yes, but I’m more focused to see which players can do what things in the pitch, that’s my priority.
“It’s not about lose or win, it’s how competitive the team is, which points you need to be competitive in, which players you feel can help you and which players you can find a solution with, it’s about this.”
The head coach added: “You need to find a good balance between performing and prevention.
“Sometimes you are too focused in the performance and the injuries affect it. Sometimes you focus on the prevention and then, when you’re ready to compete, it can affect your performance.
“I insist a lot with the medical and therapist staff and we have made some improvements in these areas which allow us to manage these two parts in the best way we can manage.”
Winger Grady Diangana, who has commanded interest this summer, will not feature at Whaddon Road this evening as he steps up his rehab following a second operation.
Other members of the squad who spent the back end of last season sidelined have come back and returned to training with an expectation to feature either tonight or tomorrow.
Matt Phillips, Adam Reach, Kyle Bartley and Nathaniel Chalobah have all returned to training and had minutes in behind-closed-doors action.
Corberan said of Diangana’s progress: “Diangana is progressing really, really, really well. He didn’t take holidays, he was five days out, and he has been working with the medical staff all summer.
“He recovered very well and the consequence is that he is progressing well now. He had two weeks ago the second surgery, because his injury demanded two operations – one to put something in, and one to take it out of his foot.
“In the recovery, he has reduced the timing. He has done many things, more things than we expected.
“The surgery, to take out what was needed, was successful and the recovery has been excellent.
“We are very surprised how quickly he has recovered, but still I cannot tell you when to expect him back with the group. He has done everything he can do and more, his mentality has been exceptional.”
