With the build-up well under way to West Bromwich Albion’s derby clash with Aston Villa on Friday evening in the Championship, head coach Darren Moore has given a pretty comprehensive interview about the changes he implemented over the summer, to get the Baggies more back to their best.
Having come in following the failures of Tony Pulis and Alan Pardew, Moore picked up more points in his short time in charge and whilst it wasn’t always pretty, performances picked up and fans at least felt the side were finally fighting for the shirt.
That has continued in the campaign of 2018/19 despite our relegation, and arguably we’ve seen further attacking improvements even if defensively we can leave a lot to be desired. Going into the Villa clash we sit in third place in the table, only five points from top spot.
Moore’s interview with Sky Sports is 100% worth a read in full and he freely admits the work is far from done but I think most fans would agree with him when he says:
“I knew the feeling of the football club and I just knew it had to change. It had to. I felt that really strongly. And the football has completely changed from last year. It has been a big shift but it had to happen if the club was to move forward. The aim now is to play a brand of football that the supporters can enjoy and feel like they have got their football club back. We are trying to manage a different style of play from what this club has been used to for so long.”
We have, but Moore himself knows we have to go further, there are improvements to be made but that should always be the aim of the game – improvement. We’ve stood still for too long, been complacent, made mistakes and paid for that.
But at least he gets it, and he pretty much admitted that teams had figured us out as well, so we made changes and got back on track against Leeds.
Again, it may not always be great, but at least we are noticing our flaws and Moore’s figuring them out as he goes. You really can’t ask for more than that.
Three points against Villa aside, we can ask for that!
