Express & Star journalist Luke Hatfield thinks that Valerien Ismael is going to stick with the 3-4-3 formation and that both fans and the players are going to have to get used to it.
Last month the West Brom manager told Birmingham Live: “I played this formation for three years, and this is the most flexible formation I’ve played. Everything moves in one direction. We don’t need to change anything in our formation – we need to score more goals.”
The Baggies have started the Championship campaign well, as they went the first ten games unbeaten, winning six and drawing four but did lose 1-0 to Stoke City in their last game prior to the international break.
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Sitting second in the league table, West Brom are doing well so far and when quizzed on the formation, Hatfield told This is Futbol: “You can imagine he’s sticking with it and he will not tinker either. He’s been asked in press conferences would you consider maybe going 3-4-1-2, which let’s be honest isn’t the biggest change in the world from a 3-4-3, and he turned that question away pretty fast as well.
“So it’s a 3-4-3, you’ve got to get used to it as a fan, you’ve got to get used to it as a player because it’s not going to be changing but as long as it gets results you can’t complain.”
The West Brom boss has previous experience of managing in the Championship, as he joined the Baggies from Barnsley, who he helped guide into the play-offs last term. The Tykes just missed out on the final as they lost to Swansea City 2-1 on aggregate in the semi-final.
Collecting 22 points from their opening eleven matches in the league, West Brom will be hoping that they can continue their fine run of form after the international break and challenge for promotion this campaign.