Carlos Corberan’s managerial methods, coaching techniques and understanding of what West Bromwich Albion need to conquer any given opponent were masterfully laid out with a clinical performance on Monday at Coventry City.

There were a couple of curve-balls for Mark Robins and co to deal with; Cedric Kipre’s inclusion raised eyebrows, despite all associated with Albion having feared the very worst less than a week earlier when he limped off against QPR. Then there was Pipa, who was granted his full debut, after a series of short cameos, at right wing-back. Corberan then decided to pack the midfield.

Okay Yokuslu of West Bromwich Albion celebrates after the final whistle

Operating with Okay Yokuslu, Nathaniel Chalobah AND Alex Mowatt in order to negate the Sky Blues’ attempts to dictate the play, it worked a treat. Albion began the game carrying a threat and, although they had to ride their luck at times, they have lately rediscovered their nifty habit of shutting teams out. That came to the fore again, but this new look 3-5-2 appears to be another string to the bow.

Now all eyes are on Hull, a different challenge which will require the chameleon Corberan to oversee Albion’s adaptation to their new environment once again – but do you change things for the sake of it? Or if it isn’t broke, must it be fixed at all?

“I wanted to start the game playing 3-5-2 because I was thinking they would play 5-3-2, they – not surprised – but played more quality players. That’s why it was important to adapt to [their] 5-4-1,” Corberan explained on Monday night. “That’s why always in this type of decision, something I have learned is normally you don’t win the games with players that start the game.

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Okay Yokuslu of West Bromwich Albion celebrates after the final whistle

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“I understand how much importance everyone gives to the first XI, and I give that importance too, but in football you need players on the bench to impact the games and change the feeling when you need to change. The better players you have from the bench, the more impact you have to win games. I think [Brandon Thomas] Asante, like I always say, his level of impact when he arrives from the bench is massive when he plays with his level of energy

Corberan is pretty relaxed about the prospect of making changes once he identifies how best to exploit the weaknesses of the opponent, such is his attention to detail, and it was why Pipa’s inclusion ahead of Darnell Furlong wasn’t merely a question of rotation. He knows that as many as 16 players on any given match-day will be involved and, especially with the Baggies’ current injury problems, all senior personnel will play a part.Okay Yokuslu of West Bromwich Albion celebrates after the final whistle

Hull have proven to be pretty flexible too, this season, to great effect; the Tigers have shown an ability to hop between a back three and back four, although particularly recently on the road they’ve tended to apply the former. Either way, you wouldn’t blame Corberan in the slightest for preferring to stick with what worked so well on Monday, while being able to rely on Thomas-Asante to be introduced later on and impact the game in the second half.