West Brom boss frustrates at goal drought but indicates positives
West Brom boss Valerien Ismael has admitted his side need to end their goal drought quickly after drawing 1-1 against Nottingham Forest on Friday.
It’s now three successive games where the Baggies have failed to find the back of the net. For a side who scored 10 goals in their first four Championship games, it’s becoming a real problem for Ismael. Another 0-0 stalemate means West Brom trail league leaders Fulham by eight points.
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Registering 16 shots against Forest, they’ve now had 61 shots without a goal in their last three league games.
Speaking to Sky Sports, Ismael said: “We know we can score goal, we score goals earlier.
“It’s all about getting the confidence back to the player and as I say we need that goal to get the breakthrough.
“At some point you need to score goal. We are really near, we need to cross the line now.
“November month was difficult but the good thing is next week is another month and we want to start the December month better.
“We will work with the boys. I think now the good thing we play normal with Saturday to Saturday so we have time to work on the issue we’ve got in the final third.”
Jordan Hugill had a glorious chance to grab all three points for his side but ballooned his shot over the bar. His composure certainly looked like a striker who has only scored once this campaign.
Karlan Grant is another who is having a hard time finding himself on the scoresheet. After a blistering start to the season, it’s now four league games without a goal for the Englishman.
As West Brom continue to drop points, they’re starting to lose distance with the automatic places. Seventh-placed Blackburn are just four points behind the Baggies. If Ismael’s men don’t sort their goalscoring issues out in the immediate future, they could potentially slip out of the play-off places.
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Ismael seeks positives despite winless run
West Brom manager Valerien Ismael was quick to point out his side should’ve won the game against Nottingham Forest.
Even though they were playing with 10 men for 20 minutes, they had some great chances to seal the victory.
Ismael said: “When you see the game at the end we need to take the point.
“I think the boys fought till the end. Normally we should score at the end of the game.
“I think tonight we have four clear chances to score with Darnell Furlong, Grady Diangana, Karlan Grant and Jordan Hugill and we need to take our chances.
The last time the Baggies scored was against Middlesbrough in their 1-1 draw at the start of November.
However, the Frenchman insisted the visitors didn’t threaten Sam Johnstone’s goal.
“But until the red card we were on top, especially in the second half, we came back better in the game,” added Ismael.
“It was a tough game but I didn’t see any big, big chances from Nottingham so we control a lot of situations.
“It’s a big frustration for us tonight because for sure we wanted the three points.”
West Brom face Coventry in a West Midlands derby next Saturday where they’ll be looking to end their three-game winless run.
READ MORE: “We are really close!” – West Brom boss focused on positives despite form
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