Valerien Ismael: West Brom finding the right balance
Boss Valerien Ismael believes Albion’s impressive performance against Bristol City shows his team is starting to adapt to sides who set up purely to frustrate.
The Baggies put in a brilliant performance to thrash Sheffield United back in August.
But that game effectively showed every other team in the division what not to do against them.
Since then Peterborough, Millwall, Derby, Preston and Blues have set up in a low block with a back five in the hope of battling for a point.
Ismael’s men struggled to create in those games but it was a different story against Bristol City last weekend – with the Baggies fashioning numerous clear-cut chances.
And Ismael says they did it by keeping the ball on the floor more, whilst also not pressing their opponent quite so often.
“I think it was important for us to show how we have to play when the opponent comes here (to frustrate), the boss said.
“We had to assess everything and find the right solutions and the right balance for us.
“I think that Bristol could be the start for us on this way. It was about finding a balance between high press and when to give the opponent the possibility to open the game.
“It’s about not only playing long balls, you need to let the opponent play more football but at the same time keep your intensity in the game.
“I think we found the right balance, we wanted to keep the ball down as much as possible and also keep it in play because the opponent wants the ball to go out and waste time.”
While fans were pleased with Ismael’s game plan last weekend, the boss says you can’t play the same way every week – with the Baggies facing a tough game at promotion rivals Fulham today.
“The ball will be in play more (at Fulham) so it will be more about out of possession, our transition and when we win the ball, how fast can we play and how much quality can we put in our passes,” the boss said. “That will be a massive part of our game plan. And on the ball, in possession, we will have the possibility of creating some chances.
“Fulham score a lot of goals but they concede a lot of chances as well. We have the quality to hurt them, that is my expectation that we raise the quality in our passes.”
