West Brom boss Valerien Ismael pinpoints eureka moment for intense style
Albion boss Valerien Ismael has revealed he was sacked by Wolfsburg just moments after having a eureka moment that has shaped his high intensity style of play.
The Frenchman has enjoyed a successful start to life in The Hawthorns dugout with the Baggies having won four of their opening five Championship games.
Ismael joined Albion in the summer from Barnsley but prior to that he managed Wolfsburg’s reserve side before being promoted to take charge of the first team.
But following a 2-1 loss Werder Bremen – a match that saw Ismael drop star striker Mario Gomez – he was relieved of his duties at the Bundesliga side.
It was on the way home from that game, though, that he told his wife Karolina that he had worked out what he needed to do in order to become a successful manager.
“I can remember my breakthrough moment,” Ismael told The People.
“I was at Wolfsburg – we’d played a back four, then a back three. But I wasn’t satisfied with the way we were playing. It wasn’t the pressing I wanted.
“I changed the shape, left Gomez on the bench. We lost 2-1 but it was brilliant. We’d had 27 shots and hit the woodwork five times.
“I lost my job that night. But as I drove home, I turned to my wife and said ‘I’ve got it.’
“She looked at me and said: ‘What? You’ve lost your job and you’re telling me now you know what to do?’
“It was clear to me. I knew it was going to be OK. It was really strange.”
It was with LASK in Austria that Ismael first got the chance to implement the ideas he’d be thinking about during his final weeks in Germany.
He took the Linz-based into the Europa League for the first time in their history where they won a group containing Sporting Lisbon, PSV Eindhoven, and Rosenborg before eventually being knocked out by Manchester United.
Ismael then joined Barnsley who he guided into the Championship play-offs.
“I went to LASK in Austria – that was the result, they played that formation and it worked,” he continued.
“I turned up at Barnsley - it worked.
“There are no grey areas. If you buy in, I will protect you. One hundred per cent. I will give everything for those players. They either buy in, or they don’t.”
