Carlos Corberan wants to ‘change the feeling’ at West Brom

Posted Wednesday, November 02, 2022 by PA

West Brom boss Carlos Corberan insists he wants to banish any negativity from The Hawthorns.

Okay Yokuslu’s late strike gave the Baggies a 1-0 win over Blackpool to lift them off the bottom of the Championship.

They sit second bottom and two points from safety but Corberan bagged his first win after joining the club last week.

Victory came as fans protested against owner Guochuan Lai’s running of the club, with the chairman having taken out a £5million loan from the Baggies during the Covid pandemic.

Albion have dropped from the Premier League to the foot of the Championship in his time in charge but Corberan wants to change the mood.

“You have to respect the behaviours of the fans but we are here to try to change the feeling,” he said. “We are here to make the fans proud of the team because it’s the most important thing we need to do.

“The fans were supporting the team in the 90 minutes. My task is to change any type of negative feeling. It is the challenge we have in front of us.

“I believe we cannot wait for one positive result to win the confidence (for the players), you need the confidence to get the results. Confidence for me means you know what you can do and what you have to do. Confidence is to not relax, it is a responsibility.

“I’m pleased with the performance, we deserved the three points. A draw would have been unfair. Now we have another challenge in front of us, to repeat it in the next game.”

A forgettable first half was only punctured by the home fans venting their anger at Lai and shining their torches from the stands to ‘shine a light’ on the Baggies’ problems, a move organised by protest group Action for Albion.

The hosts were the better side but struggled to break Blackpool down, owing to the Tangerines’ tenacity and Albion’s lack of quality.

Karlan Grant was denied by Chris Maxwell before Matt Phillips and John Swift were off target after the break with Albion struggling to find a winner until Yokuslu struck with five minutes left.

Swift’s corner caused havoc in the Blackpool defence and the midfielder pounced from close range after the ball hit team-mate Tom Rogic.

Blackpool boss Michael Appleton said: “I can’t say we did enough to win the game but the way it was going there weren’t particularly many clear-cut chances. You are thinking it’s going to fizzle out into a 0-0 draw but you’d take that on the road and move on.

“If that’s a version of us at our worst with the ball – we have been miles better – I’ll take that knowing I have got some really good nights ahead of me with this group.

“We’ve gone to big grounds and clubs and gone toe-to-toe and scored lots of goals. We didn’t look like scoring. I know the group we have got and the characters we have in the dressing room and they’ll be ready to go again on Saturday.”