West Bromwich Albion’s Alex Mowatt says head coach Carlos Corberan “will not let standards slip” after the midfielder’s two brilliant goals helped propel the Baggies to the top of the Championship with a 3-0 win over Portsmouth.
Mowatt’s second-half strikes – one curled into the top corner from just inside the box and another 25-yard free-kick bent in over the wall – followed Josh Maja‘s early opener.
It capped a fine afternoon in the Sunday sunshine on the south coast as the unbeaten Baggies moved a point clear of Sunderland at the top of the early-season table with their fourth win in five games.
“You definitely know with this gaffer, he will not let the standards slip,” Mowatt, 29, told BBC Radio WM.
“He always wants to improve – you could win 5-0 or 6-0 and there would be talks on where we can improve.
“That’s good for the lads because you’re never comfortable and you always want to get better. Training’s intense and that’s how we like it.”
Mowatt’s double equalled the number of goals he scored in the whole of last season and included his first goal from open play for nearly a year.
“I don’t think I’ve scored two since I was 19 at Leeds,” Mowatt, who scored 13 times in three-and-a-half years at the Yorkshire club, said.
“I didn’t score enough last season and I want to be scoring a lot more regularly. Hopefully the goals can keep coming.”
Key to that, Mowatt says, is his current role in the Baggies’ fluid midfield alongside John Swift and Jayson Molumby, where his slightly withdrawn role is helping him influence play more.
“All three of us are different in our own ways and we try to bring the best out of each other,” he said.
“Jayson’s a bit higher and I’m deeper and I get a lot more of the ball.
“Me and Swifty come deeper and try to control the game a bit more. Jayson’s that energy in there – he gets forward and wins all the second balls and does all the dirty work so me and Swifty can get on the ball.”
Despite the season being at such an early stage, Mowatt is sure Albion can mount another serious challenge for promotion following their run to the play-offs last term.
“We definitely believe that. It’s consistency, but we believe we can be there at the end of the season,” he said.
“We can’t get carried away. We’ve got to keep putting in the same performances and keep tweaking things for different games.
“Portsmouth made it really hard – the first half was probably the most we’ve suffered.
“We want to be right up there – like we did last season. There are going to be bumps in the road and it’s a long season. We just need to keep working hard.”
