West Brom boss Carlos Corberan outlines reason for surprise Championship strugglers

And that is a belief that he held as he prepared his side to travel to the Bet 365 Stadium today to take on Stoke City side who are scrapping for survival in the Championship.

The Potters were one of the highest spenders back in the summer under former boss Alex Neil, but it hasn’t gone to plan for them.

Neil was sacked and replaced by Steven Schumacher, who has only recently turned results around.

They still sit just a handful of points above the drop zone and the position is one that has surprised many, including the Albion chief.

And Corberan has revealed his belief that the reason there are strong squads languishing near the foot of the table, is because of a change in the Championship as a whole.

He said: “Right now we only have the game in front of us and that is the most important.

“We know we are playing against a good team in a bad position.

“And it probably increases the difficulty in this moment for me right now because it is more of a challenge playing against teams that are playing for something.

“They are fighting to survive in the Championship and that was totally out of any expectation because the level of the squad is not the level of the position.

“In the last games they have improved and are competing very well and we know very well how difficult it will be on Saturday.

“The position in the table at this moment of the season can only increase the challenge.

“There is no difference between the teams fighting for something in the good part of the table of the teams fighting to survive in the down part of the table.

“They have a squad where you can’t imagine how they are there, but in my opinion the Championship level has increased a lot and increased the level of the challenge.”

Schmacher’s rise to the hot-seat at one of the division’s biggest clubs has been a sharp one.

He spent two years in charge at Plymouth, helping them to League One promotion. They were in a healthy position in the Championship when he left them for the challenge at Stoke.

Since his arrival in the Potteries, he has won just six of his 19 games in charge, but they have lost two of their last six games and Corberan is starting to see similarities with the side he enjoyed success with at Home Park.

He explained: “I think first of all he showed he was a very good coach, taking Plymouth from League One to the Championship.

“He was doing a good job with Plymouth, we played them at the beginning and could only draw, it was a difficult game. When you go to a new club you have to change habits of your new players and it takes a bit of time.

“Now I am starting to see similar behaviours that I saw with his Plymouth team and they are finding solutions.

“At the beginning of the season they added interesting players, we played them in the cup at the beginning and they had added more players, they had a productive summer.

“What I do is prepare for the best Stoke City possible, and that helps you prepare. Hopefully we can be at the best level because they are a team with strength and good players all over the pitch.