Carlos Corberan praises West Brom fans for sticking with his side amid protests
New head coach Carlos Corberan praised Albion fans for sticking with their side amid protests against owner Guochuan Lai during the important late win over Blackpool.
Okay Yokuslu's winner five minutes from time earned Corberan his first win in charge as the club climbed up one place off the bottom of the Championship.
Action For Albion, a protest group launched last week, orchestrated a 12th-minute 'Shine a light' protest against the club's owner, which several hundred participated in.
When asked his thoughts on the protests, Corberan admitted the views of fans should be respected as the Spaniard sets about on his challenge to change the feeling at The Hawthorns.
"You have to respect the behaviours of the fans but we are here to try to change the feeling," Corberan 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 be 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 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, go to repeat in the next game."
Albion's performance in securing a vital three points was a step forward from that of Corberan's debut against Sheffield United, a 2-0 defeat last time out, although Blackpool were limited in their approach.
Chances were few and far between in the first period but the hosts created more in the final third in the second half.
Asked what satisfied him most, the head coach said: "First of all with the performance of the team, and secondly for the three points because we know that in these types of situations the three points have a lot of value.
"The game we played on Saturday was against a team who use a high press and a line of three. Today we were playing against a team with a line of four and they had more of a focus on defending close to their goal.
"The behaviour you need to face this game is going to be totally different with this type of context, but it's the Championship - I know it very well. Every two days you play against one different team, that's why you must build on a style where you're able to manage the different game situations.
"We try to always spend a lot of time in training analysing the opponent, trying to propose what we need to propose to face the game. Ultimately it's about the personality of the players."
