Joseph Masi has been speaking on the Baggies Broadcast podcast about what Valerien Ismael told him about the idea of moving away from a 3-4-3 formation.
West Brom brought in Ismael from Barnsley over the summer as the man to guide them back into the Premier League, despite the Frenchman only having a number of months’ worth of experience managing in England, although in that time, he did guide the Tykes to the play-offs.
Do West Brom need a new striker?
Yes
No
It was a bright start to life as Baggies boss for Ismael with four wins from his opening five league games, as well as a draw against current table-toppers Bournemouth, but since then, they have picked up three defeats, three draws and five wins, although the Frenchman does not appear to be thinking about changing up his tactics and style of play.
Masi revealed what Ismael told him about his desire to stick with the 3-4-3 formation.
“I think it was after those three draws in a row and I think I said to him, I know you sort of chopped and changed the positions of your front three when you were at Barnsley and are you tempted to do that here.
“He made it clear that he didn’t change his system at Barnsley, it was very much 3-4-3. So he’s not going to change his formation, he’s just not going to do it, he believes that all the solutions can be found in that system.”
TIF Thoughts on Ismael and West Brom this season…
The Baggies have ultimately struggled for consistency and that is what has killed them thus far in terms of pushing for an automatic promotion spot, as after 15 games they currently sit four points behind second-placed Fulham and a massive nine points behind Bournemouth.
Something else that they have struggled with is scoring goals on a consistent basis, with top scorer Karlan Grant having found the back of the net seven times, while Callum Robinson, Alex Mowatt and Matt Phillips all have three goals, which signals something may have to change in the final third if Grant’s goals dry up, with no runaway backup option and Ismael’s insistence on sticking to his methods.
The Albion may well be rueing their mistake in not going all-in on signing Daryl Dike from Orlando City, who was reportedly on a shortlist of strikers they were interested in.
In other news: ‘Becoming a joke’, ‘Most West Brom thing ever’ – Many WBA fans fume at Masi’s ‘worrying’ update