West Brom boss Carlos Corberan outlines Matt Phillips progress after injury return
Boss Carlos Corberan believes Matt Phillips is growing with every step at Albion as he bids for a return as a regular starter.
Long-serving winger Phillips, 33, spent almost four months on the sidelines with a hamstring injury between December and March and has four cameo appearances since his comeback.
Phillips, who recently hit 250 Baggies games, was a key component of Corberan’s side prior to injury. The head coach said: “What I am watching in Phillips is him giving steps after every game. The minutes he played against Millwall – the quality was in a low level, compared to the quality of the other day against Rotherham.
“I don’t relate that to the opponent, more to the conditions, and with the game exposure he is going to be more ready.
“What is the difficult situation with Phillips? With Phillips I couldn’t do what I am doing with Josh Maja, you need to spend more minutes in the game.
“Sixty minutes, even 60 with the under-21s, moves you to another level than the small part of minutes in the first team, because it affects your body and conditions positively, than only covering other (smaller) minutes.
“Why is it taking Phillips more time to achieve his level? Because we didn’t do the game exposure, we couldn’t do it.”
