Isaac Price and West Brom's new midfield conundrum

Express & Star

Jonny Drury and Lewis Cox discuss their first impressions of Albion's new boy Isaac Price. Price made his Baggies bow on Saturday following a move from Belgian side Standard Liege. Jonny and Lewis look at where he fits into Albion's team and a potential midfield conundrum Tony Mowbray now faces.

Transcript

00:00Let's talk about the new boy. Isaac Price came off the bench in the second half of the

00:05victory over Portsmouth. Obviously quite a good game for him to come into. The game was

00:09sewn up inside the first half, looking tidy, looking like he's got something, calm on the

00:15ball, really nice little flicks and, you know, a few raking cross-field balls that really

00:20got Albion moving.

00:22Coxy, what were your first impressions? And moving forward, does he come in as a regular

00:29starter? I think most people would like to see that. If so, who does he come in for?

00:32Because we saw Alex Moat get on the score sheet the other day after a couple of off

00:37games. Jason Malumby's obviously not on this side. There's calls for Ousmane Diakite to

00:42play more regularly after that run of two or three games. If you had to make a prediction,

00:46who would you see? How would you see Albion going moving forward and who would the personnel

00:50be in there? Who would it be Tony Mowbray's men?

00:53It's a great question, Johnny. So kudos. Question of the week.

00:58It's a tough call. It's really tough. Just thinking about Plymouth off the top of my

01:05head, I'm minded to think and it wouldn't surprise me. Jason Malumby, little asterisk

01:12next to his name, he was obviously ill the weekend and obviously didn't feature. Chest

01:18infection was it or something? Not involved. So there is that. But given how it went, and

01:25it's a bit simplistic to say he's a different game totally, but I wouldn't be surprised

01:30if the side for Plymouth is the same team, really. I can see that.

01:39The interesting debate and question is what's everyone fit, hard game, Cup final,

01:45what's Malumby picking as his midfield? It's a tough question. It's a tough question.

01:51Isaac Price had a very good half an hour, didn't he? However long it was. Exactly what

01:57you said really. Went on to the set pieces and delivered a couple of decent corners.

02:04How Mowbray said it in terms of his movement of the ball, short and long,

02:08as you say a couple of long passes. Quite clearly a technically gifted player,

02:12willing to do a flick, something like that. I hope we see him physically capable,

02:17able to get around up and down, certainly up to support attacks. And I did a piece with a

02:23Belgian journalist this week, didn't I, which gave a bit of an inside track on him.

02:28It still quite remains to see exactly what player he is. He's called himself a box-to-box

02:33midfielder. So in that regard, you've got to get into the penalty area. That's what Mowbray will

02:38want. But also a bit of responsibility, a bit deeper. Moreover, on top of Price,

02:45and I know several Albion fans thought the same, I thought Ousmane Diakite

02:49had another excellent showing. Obviously a half-time sub, wasn't he, for Moat?

02:54Which was interesting in itself. Obviously the game was kind of over at 4-0. He got

03:00licensed to rest Moat and licensed to have a good look at Diakite, as Tony had said. He said,

03:05I need to look at Diakite, I need to look at Rakic, I need to look at Frabatto. He doesn't

03:08know these players. I think Diakite gave a really strong audition, didn't he? On top of

03:15that Christmas period where he was great. He just looked. He's a bit of a bulldozer in midfield,

03:22isn't he, Diakite? We all know he's not the most technically gifted, but yeah, a real

03:29sort of brute animal in the middle of the park that can really shrug off

03:34opponents as if they're not there. Yeah, I'm trying not to sit on the fence here,

03:40Tony. I'm trying to think. Portsmouth at home is different to Leeds away, obviously, and Plymouth

03:46at home. Plymouth away, sorry. Yeah, I think generally Moat has to play, that is my opinion.

03:55And it can depend whether it's a midfield two or a midfield three, obviously. It's

03:58mostly been a midfield two. Now Swift did it really well the other day, but I wouldn't have

04:02him and I don't think he would be in Moat's strongest side. So really it's almost who

04:08partners Moat, isn't it? You've got Molumbi as a different option to Diakite, as a different

04:12option to Price. Maybe the hope is that Price does well enough within cameos over the next

04:19couple of games and cements his way in, you would think. I think supporters would want to see as

04:27much as they can from him, see him in the side as much as they can. I don't know if I quite see

04:31him starting down at Plymouth. But then it wasn't too long ago, was it? Probably only a few games

04:35ago where Jason Molumbi was flying around the time he got that contract extension and kind of

04:40struggled to see him out of the side, Molumbi. But again, Molumbi's game is not the technical

04:46side of it, we know that. But Molumbi is also good at arriving in the box and getting on the

04:51end of things, isn't he? He missed a couple of big ones in the Stoke game, didn't he, at home,

04:56the recent draw which Mowbray watched from the stands. Mowbray will like him and his endearing

05:02energy, but he will know that with Molumbi getting in those positions, he needs to be

05:06tucking them away. So it's a tough one. I'm a big fan of Molumbi and I think for big games,

05:12I think he has the part in the moment for me at the moment. But I'd like to think that Isaac

05:17Price can force his way in. If Diakite keeps playing like that when he gets on, then he'll

05:24catch Mowbray's eye in no time.

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