Reading FC manager Veljko Paunovic admitted he needs his full squad to show his ‘true capability’ at the club.
The Royals have had plenty of adversity to deal with this season with a points deduction and several injuries to key senior players including Lucas Joao, Yakou Meite and Andy Rinomhota.
“I need the whole squad and then you will see what I am capable of with these players,” said Paunovic.
“This is a great team and I know very well how to win games, how to put runs together and raise the confidence and belief in the group around the club.
“That chance, I still haven’t had unfortunately because of the injuries.
“I’m working with a team that is super committed and we all want to build a new momentum and I think this is the right game to do that.
“The last game (Hull City), we lost two points.
“That’s how we feel. We always have to play with urgency, anger and courage.
“For this game, it must be there.
“I need everyone to understand the great chance we have ahead of us and what it takes, and that is full commitment and belief.”
The Serbian boss is expecting a tough test against a West Brom side that are currently in third position in the Championship under Valerian Ismael.
“They’re a very good team and picked up a good result in their last game so it will be a big challenge on the same level as Fulham, Bournemouth and Swansea,” he continued.
“We have to put out our maximum performance to be competitive.
“The way they play is clear, straight forward. It’s very physical but they have a bunch of good players with a lot of quality.
“It’s a crucial time for teams to define their season. Urgency is the word we need at this point in our performances.”
Paunovic explained the benefits of being able to spend extra time on the training pitch working tactically with his side in the absence of midweek fixtures for the past few weeks.
He continued: “We’ve been able to work on what we want to improve and have had more time to prepare with focused meetings.
“We love showing clips, we think a great tool to have is video analysis to give feedback.
“There are things we will look to exploit (on Saturday), we have to be careful because they (West Brom) have a lot of pace and power in attack. The balance between that will be key.”
