What style will Ryan Mason's West Brom play this season?

Express & Star

Jonny Drury brings you a discussion on how West Brom will set up under Ryan Mason this season. Albion spent a week in Austria as Ryan Mason had time to drill his players on how he wants them to play this season. Express & Star's Lewis Cox and BBC WM's Steve Hermon were on the ground in Austria. Steve joined Jonny and Lewis on the Baggies Broadcast to discuss the week, and how they feel Mason's side will set up for next season.

Transcript

00:00Have you got any indications, Steve, you know, about how Albion will play?

00:03You know, my favourite kind of lines that Mason's given so far is the fact that

00:07all he's bothered about is winning games, you know.

00:10He's not bothered about, you know, I'm sure he is, but he's not going to come out

00:13and say, we're going to play passing football, we're going to be Russell Martin,

00:15Southampton times two, you know, and passed scenes to death.

00:18But have you got any indication of, you know, you said there about his sort of

00:23repeating sort of passing move and stuff like that?

00:26It sounds very simple for a football fan to listen to,

00:28but do you get an indication of how Albion are going to play this season

00:32from what you've seen this week?

00:34Yeah, I think we did.

00:36I think we are going to see more of it in the behind-closed-doors friendly

00:40against Dynamo Keeve tomorrow for sure.

00:42But certainly the sessions that they were doing yesterday did offer some insight.

00:48I mentioned the word pass and move.

00:50I mean, it sounds quite obvious.

00:52A lot of teams want to play possession football and make sure, you know,

00:56we hear the word overload quite a lot these days in modern football.

01:00So I don't think it's really a trade secret or give him much away in terms of that.

01:06But like I said, the proof will be in the pudding tomorrow when the teams are actually

01:10out on the field.

01:12We were speaking to Alex Smoe, weren't we, Lewis, just a short time ago.

01:16And we said, obviously, you know, in pre-season friendlies, it's not about the opposition.

01:20It is literally about what have we worked on all week.

01:22Let's put it into practice.

01:24But they're not going to go full pelt.

01:27And that was one of the most fascinating things of that session.

01:30And it's what I'm looking forward to, Lewis, tomorrow,

01:33seeing the things we saw on the training field,

01:35if they do pop up and appear in this game against Dynamo Keeve tomorrow.

01:38Yeah, definitely.

01:41I'm really looking forward to the friendly.

01:42And just to, I suppose, give a shameless plug,

01:45we'll be obviously bringing full coverage of that on our socials,

01:49on the Express A Star website.

01:51I mean, obviously, you know, Steve's been kind enough to give his time here

01:55and join us on the podcast.

01:56He'll be bringing his coverage as well from a different platform,

02:00obviously, means of radio and online.

02:03And I made a WM little appearance today, cameo the other night, Steve.

02:06You did, your parents were very proud listening back at home.

02:11Yeah, my folks tuned in, so that got you an extra, extra, extra sort of listen.

02:16But just bringing it back to the style and that, you know,

02:20we're saying pass and move.

02:21And absolutely, that's what we've gleaned.

02:24But I don't want it to sound, to dumb it down too much.

02:27The big thing, aside from that, that I took was tempo.

02:32So, tempo, and I think as a result, I hope, I get the impression

02:38that we'll see a front-footed, energised Albin this season.

02:43You know, no pondering on the ball.

02:45The ball will be moved quickly.

02:48I don't think pass for the sake of it.

02:49I think it'll just be purposeful, which I think Albin have potentially,

02:54as supporters certainly, have craved for a while.

02:56One thing I will say, lads, in terms of another thing that stuck out for me

03:02in terms of individuals, first of all, Orna Hegeber,

03:05still working on that pronunciation for when he scores his first goal for Albion

03:09when I'm commentating on the games for WM.

03:11But he was very strong, not afraid to get stuck in,

03:16and winning the ball back.

03:17I think that might be a feature that we see from the team.

03:20So, and Isaac Price, for me, Lewis, we knew it already from what we saw last season,

03:27you know, in that latter part of the season,

03:29but what a player he is up close and in person and in training.

03:33Oh, yeah.

03:33I mean, again, you mentioned trade secrets, Steve.

03:36I don't think it's any, we're not, we're not giving too many clues away

03:40that Isaac Price is a serious talent, are we?

03:42Let's be honest.

03:43I mean, he's, you know, no disrespect to Northern Ireland,

03:47you know, a footballing nation, but he's already a star for them, isn't he?

03:51Let's be honest with his scoring record.

03:54What he's done for Albion in four, five, six months so far, incredible.

03:58And he's without doubt one of the club's main talents now, isn't he?

04:01And main assets.

04:02So, he stuck out in training, Steve.

04:06We talk about attackers.

04:07We saw the day one return of Mikey Johnson.

04:10I don't know if we need to labour his story at the moment,

04:12but he looked really sharp.

04:13He looked ready on it and he was involved.

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