‘He’s really come to the fore’ – West Brom individual singled out for praise following impressive Ismael displays | OneFootball

West Bromwich Albion returned to winning ways in the Championship on Friday night, beating Birmingham City by a goal to nil at the Hawthorns.

The Baggies fell to their first defeat of the season before the international break, as they lost 1-0 to Stoke City at the bet365 Stadium.

But Albion responded and bounced back on Friday night, defeating Birmingham by a goal to nil courtesy of Karlan Grant’s late strike.

Albion’s win was talked about on FLW TV’s Weekend Review show, where George Harbey, Ned Holmes and Marcus Ally discussed the weekend’s action.

The panel discussed Albion’s performance, singling out Matt Clarke and Conor Townsend for praise after an impressive display.

George said: “I’ve been impressed with Townsend ever since he signed from Scunthorpe. He did well under Slaven Bilic in his first season and didn’t look too out of place in the Premier League.

“This season, he’s really come to the fore. We saw how important wing-backs are in Valerien Ismael’s system at Barnsley, the likes of Callum Styles and Callum Brittain, and he’s taken that over to West Brom.

“Wing-backs are now very important in the sense that they can’t afford to bomb forward too much, they’ve got to offer plenty of balance, and Townsend does that.

“That left-hand side for West Brom, Clarke gives Townsend the licence to push forward and not worry too much about defensive duties. Clarke is a natural left-sided centre-half, good at carrying the ball out.

“That goal came about from Townsend bombing on and allowing Grant to cut inside. 11 of his 19 goals for Huddersfield came from that left-wing position.

“They have a very strong left-hand side, and Townsend has been fantastic.”