Carlos Corberán believes every single aspect of the Baggies’ display needs to be “excellent” if they’re to achieve a positive result against Southampton on Saturday.
Albion head down to the south coast to take on the Saints at St Mary’s Stadium with both teams sat inside the top six of the Sky Bet Championship having enjoyed impressive recent runs.
The Baggies will have the opportunity to record a fourth successive victory for the first time since December, meanwhile the hosts, managed by former Swansea City boss Russell Martin, can extend their unbeaten run to eight matches.
Corberán says his side will be up against a team who have a “clear target” this season, but has challenged the players to maintain the performance levels which have helped secure a trio of triumphs over QPR, Coventry City and Hull City.
Carlos said: “It would be impossible to think you can beat Southampton, with the level of football they can produce and the players they have, without being excellent in every aspect of the game.
“Whether that be goal kicks, pressing from the goal kicks, the build-up play, when we attack in the final third or when we defend the final third. Saturday will be a game when you know you have to manage it in the best way possible to get a positive result.
“They rebuilt their team in the summer after relegation. They decided to sell some of their players and they decided to bring some new players to the club. They decided that the players that they have right now are the best players to help them achieve their targets this year, which is of course to go back to the Premier League.
“They have a clear target and they have taken steps to try and achieve that. They were in the Premier League for 11 years and they’ll be doing all they can to get back there.
“You always need to have confidence and belief to win any type of game. Without confidence, games will always be more difficult because you’re not going to be as brave as you’d like to be and you’re not going to want the ball in the difficult moments. You won’t have the necessary resilience to win the game.
“It’s so important to have belief and confidence, but, at the same time, you need to be self-demanding and work with a lot of effort, concentration and desire. We need to have all of these things on Saturday.
“We want to keep showing the level we have managed to show over the recent period and we want to be a very competitive team.
“We know how difficult Saturday’s game is going to be, just like it was against Coventry and Preston in recent away matches. Every game is different. They key is to be competitive in different scenarios.”
