West Brom health down to work of Tony Strudwick and medical team

Christmas is often a challenging period for players physically but with the addition of a game in hand the Baggies had to navigate their way through four games in 13 days amid the festivities.

The head coach acknowledged that such a demand on players could lead to an ‘unbalance’ and thus muscle injuries especially, as well as risks from fatigue.

But Albion have managed to come through to this point light on setbacks – only defender Kyle Bartley (thigh) has been absent due to a muscle problem. Spaniard Corberan highlighted work of his ‘dedicated’ medical team, lead by summer recruit Strudwick, the director of medical formerly of Manchester United and Arsenal.

“Avoiding injuries is our main goal and having Tony, someone who is a specialist, we use him a lot because his experience is massive and he is a member of staff in this club who has an important value to the club – our medical staff have a lot of experience, people who are very dedicated to the work they’re doing,” Corberan said.

“For us, it’s about avoiding injury situations, but at the same time we know that injury is part of looking for the performance because, as soon as you’re demanding something, you start to unbalance.

“And when you unbalance that’s when there’s more of a risk of injury. One thing we need to know is that when you play periods with many games, the risk of injury increases.

“At the same time when you have the risk of injury you need to do things that you don’t have the habit to do.

“That’s why for me it’s important to manage the impact of training and to see when you don’t stimulate well enough, you can’t do something your body is not ready to do.

“After there’s fatigue, we have to manage the fatigue of the players, when they’re playing a lot they cannot train too much.

“They need to work in the preparation and the recovery, more than the demanding or performance type of work. The staff are so important, they have the focus and the knowledge for this.”

Strudwick’s team consist of club doctor Kevin Conod, senior first-team physio Richie Rawlings and two physios and therapists with him, as well as three sports scientists and a nutritionist.

Corberan admitted he feels ‘a lot of responsibility’ when players pick up injuries.

“It’s important for me to have the good balance between performance and the prevention of injuries,” he said.

“This is something for me very important – the more players you have available, the stronger you are in the competition.

“To prevent injuries is one of the main points I have in my mind. Every time we lose a player to injury, I take a lot of responsibility – even though I know that injury is part of football.

“We know to avoid the injuries, we need to know what the demands will be for the players and to simulate and replicate and control similar situations that create injuries after the game.”

Albion striker Kenneth Zohore, meanwhile, is not set to be included in Corberan’s ranks for tomorrow’s FA Cup third round trip to National League Chesterfield.

Zohore, 28, has spent three-and-a-half years at Albion having signed for £8million from Cardiff but has endured a miserable spell a The Hawthorns.

The Dane was told he could find a new club by former boss Steve Bruce last summer but is still on the books and has not played a single minute for the first-team this term. He has featured on a few occasions for the under-21s.

Corberan is set to make 11 changes to the side at Chesterfield and revealed there is still no places for the striker, who is out of contract this summer.

“I know he is a player that has some skills that, for example, as a striker Dike has too,” Corberan said of the former Millwall loanee.

“The fact that he has had injuries meant that the club had to bring in a player with similar possibilities. It’s true that I planned to invest more competition and game time with Dike than Zohore, because as a coach you must make the decision.

“We play with only one striker, and we have Asante, Dike and with Grant, who was the player available when I arrived here, the players who have been playing as strikers. With Zohore, I tried to give training time because he needed it and used it well.

“After, the next step was to give him game time with the under 21s. He did this because he hasn’t played for a long time.

“We had to manage him like Dike, with more time and precaution, but he was a step back because he had only played under 21 competition. Sometimes the players, whether they are available or not, you have to make selection.

“Tomorrow I will start Asante, I will have Dike on the bench and we have Grant in the pitch too. I will pick players in other positions, because I am not going to go with four strikers to one game because it doesn’t make sense – maybe another position might be more useful for the team.”

n Elsewhere, Albion have been subject to further fixture changes due to television picks.

Away clashes at Blues and Watford next month have been moved to a Friday and Monday, February 10 and February 20 respectively. The Baggies now also host Coventy on Friday, February 3 (all 8pm kick-offs).