Adrian Goldberg has been praising Valerien Ismael on The Liquidator Podcast for the tactical change he made against Bristol City.
The Baggies fell to their third defeat of the season last Wednesday when they threw away a 1-0 lead against Swansea City to lose 2-1, but against Bristol City, they ran riot against the Robins and stormed to a comfortable 3-0 victory.
Will Jayson Molumby be a good signing for West Brom?
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The win was down to goals from Karlan Grant, Jordan Hugill and Kyle Bartley, however, it was a midfield tweak from Ismael which may have made all the difference, even if he was slightly forced to make the change which saw him operate with a midfield duo of Robert Snodgrass and Jayson Molumby as Jake Livermore and Alex Mowatt were both unavailable.
Goldberg heaped praise on Ismael for deploying both Snodgrass and Molumby.
(6:19) “He’s got great energy [Molumby], probably a better engine than Robert Snodgrass, but he appreciates that the guy next to him, can distribute the ball far better, he’s got a better eye for creation and I thought they complemented each other really well.
“The one thing that was really pleasing to see is that we actually treated the ball like an old friend, it was really nice to see us appreciating the football rather than treating it like something that nobody wanted to take control of, or take the initiative of.
“Had this podcast been about merely the Swansea game, it would have been a completely different tone to this whole recording but, you know, credit to Ismael, he was kind of forced into the change, you know, let’s not beat around the bush. It wasn’t a change that probably he would have made had those two players [Livermore and Mowatt] been available, but it worked.”
TIF Thoughts on West Brom…
On loan midfielder Molumby appears to be filling the void as good as he can and playing alongside an experienced midfielder Snodgrass could be a recipe for success, certainly in Goldberg’s eyes.
It appeared that performances and results had become stale under Ismael, so the unavailability of both Livermore and Mowatt may have helped the manager stumble upon a solid partnership that could help the Baggies become less predictable and more difficult to play against.
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