We're making good progress, says Veltman

Joel Veltman believes Albion’s first win under Roberto De Zerbi isn’t far away.

It’s been a tough first full month for the Italian with games against Liverpool, Manchester City and Spurs since his appointment as head coach in September with Chelsea at the Amex on Saturday.

But Veltman is confident victories will come as the players get more and more used to his method of playing.

Albion produced arguably their best performance under De Zerbi at the Etihad last Saturday despite the 3-1 loss to champions Manchester City and the defender thinks they can build on it when former head coach Graham Potter returns to the Amex with Chelsea.

“There is still things to work on but we are making progress all the time and we will get there,” said Veltman.

“Last Saturday we could have done more in ball possession, which is one of our strengths, but against one of the best sides in Europe we showed a lot of courage though to play through their lines and we created chances. We did well out of possession, were compact and created chances."

Veltman was particularly impressed with Leandro Trossard, who has scored all four goals in the De Zerbi reign after netting his sixth of the season against City. “He is so confident at the moment and he is scoring out of nowhere like shots from outside the box which is one of his strengths," said Veltman. "But a lot of our players are in good form."

Saturday’s game is the first of four before the six-week World Cup break and Veltman recognises it’s a crucial period of the season.

“We are looking forward to the rest of the games before the World Cup,” he added. “We need to focus on Chelsea first. We know there will be a lot of noise around Saturday but Wolves, Aston Villa and Arsenal in the League Cup are just as important.”