Attack can be best form of defence says West Brom boss Carlos Corberan

The game, which was entertaining for a 0-0 draw with opportunities for both sides to score, saw the Baggies keep their first clean sheet of the season.

That perhaps does not tell the whole story, as Corberan’s side were put under pressure in the first half of the game and were lucky to go in goalless at half-time.

But after the break, they controlled the game, kept the ball in Bristol’s half of the pitch and restricted the opponents to very few attacking moments.

And the Baggies boss said because his side managed to attack more and dominate the second period, it made them more solid defensively.

He said: “It was important to achieve the clean sheet. It’s important to understand why we achieved the clean sheet.

“We achieved it because in the second half they only had one chance – and in that chance appeared the save from Alex (Palmer).

“In the other, we created chances without conceding chances. The best way I understand in football is to defend well and to attack more. There was an improvement for me, especially in attack, in the second half that allowed us to be dominant, to create chances and not to concede. We made Bristol a worse team than they are, that they showed in the first half.”

In order to get that first clean sheet of the season Alex Palmer had to be alert in the final stages of the game to make a terrific block to deny Harry Cornick when he only had the keeper to beat.

It was a superb save, and one that Corberan was delighted about, especially given the keeper had made an error in the first half when he failed to control a hopeful ball over the top, and it left Mark Sykes with an open goal.

Thankfully for Palmer, the winger hit the post, and it came to nothing, but the way he reacted after that impressed Corberan the most – something he feels Palmer has not always done.

“He was excellent the whole game,” he said about his number one. “He made one mistake which came very close to costing one goal.

“We never want our players to make mistakes because we know the consequence if that comes from the keeper or the centre-backs, normally you have players to defend against the mistake, but the most important thing was his reaction to the mistake.

“Sometimes Alex is too sensitive to be affected by a mistake, and on Saturday he gave a step of personality that was necessary for the team.

“Without this type of personality, we wouldn’t have achieved the point we achieved at the weekend.”

Albion now move on to another difficult away game, as they take on Watford tomorrow night.

The game will see them play against former boss Valerien Ismael for the first time since he left The Hawthorns last year.