West Bromwich Albion boss Valerian Ismael has taken a swipe at Preston North End’s style of play following the 1-1 draw this weekend.
Ismael brought his West Brom side up to Deepdale to take on a PNE side unbeaten in four.
Ben Whiteman fired PNE ahead, with his deflected strike sneaking past Sam Johnstone and into the net.
West Brom did grab a point though, with Matt Phillips firing home from a Darnell Furlong throw-in.
West Brom were on top in the second half, but PNE dug in well to claim a point.
Ismael takes swipe at PNE
Baggies boss Valerian Ismael has now told The Express and Star that his side couldn’t press because PNE ‘didn’t want to play’.
Ismael took digs at West Brom’s previous two opponents, Millwall and Derby County, for the same reason.
“For sure we want to press but in the last three games there is no chance to press because the opponents don’t want to play,” said Ismael.
“The opponent can do anything he wants against us, we need to find the solutions. The opponent is taking us into a fight and we need to have solutions for that,” he added
Maybe this has been lost in translation. Maybe Ismael means PNE didn’t want to play out from the back, rather than simply didn’t want to play at all.
But if this is about style of play, what does Ismael expect?
PNE’s budget is dwarfed by West Brom’s. They were able to bring £15million striker Karlan Grant off the bench – that fee alone is more than PNE’s squad altogether!
PNE were never going to be gung ho against one of the promotion contenders. As well as PNE have played of late, this squad just isn’t set up to play that way.
Instead, PNE wanted to soak up pressure and play long balls in behind and and into the channels, where Seani Maguire and Emil Riis can cause problems.
Is there anything inherently wrong with that?
West Brom launched 35 crosses into the box, is that particularly pleasing to watch? Not really. PNE’s back five had to combine for 28 aerial duels and 35 clearances on Saturday.
PNE faced an aerial bombardment and then see the opposing manager claim that North End didn’t want to play.
Frankie McAvoy’s men battled hard for that point and deserved it. Comments like these feel so bizarre, especially when West Brom were not-so-sneakily moving throw-ins five or ten yards down the pitch at will.
Ismael sounds like a manager unhappy with three draws in a row. The pressure is different at West Brom compared to Barnsley, and he simply has to cope with that.
For PNE, McAvoy and co will happily take the point and move on knowing that West Brom didn’t exactly enjoy Saturday’s battle.