West Bromwich Albion journalist Joseph Masi has been discussing the future of manager Valerien Ismael following their recent defeat.
West Brom’s hopes of gaining automatic promotion took a significant blow on Wednesday night as they fell to a 2-0 loss at home to Preston North End, which leaves them seven points off 2nd in the division.
A report from The Daily Mail has suggested that the Baggies boss – who was only appointed this past summer having done an impressive job at Barnsley last season – is under severe pressure at The Hawthorns.
It claims: “Sportsmail understands a growing number of players are losing faith in him.
“Saturday’s match at Millwall is starting to look hugely important for Ismael, whose side could fall out of the play-off places if they lose and results elsewhere go against them.”
Speaking on the Express and Star YouTube channel after the game, Masi discussed the situation surrounding the Baggies boss, and claimed that he wasn’t 100% sure what the club would be doing. Although, he did feel that if this was playing out at another club, then the pressure might be a little bit more severe.
He said: “Is he under pressure? The God’s honest truth is I don’t know the answer to that. We don’t know much about Ken, the CEO, we don’t know much about Guochuan Lai, the people who make the decisions.
“Valerien Ismael was brought in on a four-year plan, they wanted longevity. He will feel he probably needs a couple more transfer windows to get in the players he wants. So I don’t know, but it’s not something that I enjoy talking about.
“People also know I like Val. As a person, I think he’s fantastic, very professional, very polite. But it’s hard times, no doubt about it, it’s hard times and you feel like at any other club, he would be under serious pressure.”
TIF Thoughts on Joseph Masi’s comments on Valerien Ismael and West Bromwich Albion…
Will West Brom go up via the play-offs?
Yes!
No!
It seems a little unfair for Ismael to be seen as under pressure at this stage of the season at West Brom.
Whilst things may not have gone as well as they could, with just one win in their past six games, the fact of the matter is they are still in the top six and have a realistic chance of being promoted either automatically or through the play-offs.
So it’s not as if they are struggling in the division and completely out of the promotion picture altogether, so it would seem strange for them to get rid of Ismael at this point in the season.
Although, it wouldn’t necessarily be without precedent, as the club did sack Darren Moore back in 2019 when they were 4th in the table, so it is possible that they could go down that road again.
In other news: ‘I’d play with 10 men instead’, ‘Noooo’ – Many West Brom fans rage as ‘bad news’ emerges