West Brom: Carlos Corberan makes ‘unbelievable’ admission ahead of Sunderland showdown
Carlos Corberan insists the aim for West Brom is to simply ensure they hit their peak form in time for the play-offs, which the Spaniard believes would be an “unbelievable” achievement.
The Baggies have spent the best part of five months in fifth place in the Championship and are now nine points clear of Coventry City and Preston North End in seventh and eighth respectively.
While Albion have not always been at their free-flowing best in recent weeks, they extended their uneaten league run to 10 matches with a 2-0 midweek win over already-relegated Rotherham United.
A play-off spot can be all but assured this weekend, but Corberan is eager for his side to continue improving ahead of next month’s four-team showdown for a place in the Premier League.
“I want to recover the best level of this team – this is my mentality right now,” he is quoted as saying by the Express & Star [12 April]. “I think the team has found the motivation.
“Now I don’t want to talk about play-offs; I don’t want to talk about anything more than to recover the best level we can have.
“I want to see the team performing as close as we can to our best level and competing as close as we can to our best level too, from now until the last game of the season and after game 46 we will evaluate the position of the team.
“We will see if we have the opportunity to have more games to fight for something that would be unbelievable.”
When can West Brom seal play-off spot?
Should Albion overcome Sunderland at The Hawthorns on Saturday (13 April), they will pretty much be out of reach of the chasing pack.
Coventry and Preston North End could be as far as 12 points behind come the end of the weekend, albeit with a game in hand, while Middlesbrough and Hull City – currently 10 points behind – are the only others capable of catching West Brom.
As Corberan says, though, Albion cannot afford to take their foot off the gas at this point. There are still three games to play, including a trip to Leicester City next week, and the aim has to be remaining unbeaten.
Corberan will have the luxury of being able to rest certain key men should he wish, but momentum counts for so much in the play-offs and he may well just stick with his favoured line-up.
First thing’s first, though – Albion must ensure they are mathematically over the line before focus can then truly switch to the play-offs.
In other West Brom news, Don Goodman believes the club may already be in talks over signing a player this summer.
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