West Brom fans assess the season so far under Valérien Ismaël

West Bromwich Albion enter the second international break of the year on the back of their first Championship loss.

They were on the wrong end of a 1-0 scoreline away at Stoke City which saw their perfect streak broken but just one defeat in eleven means the team are well on track once again for an instant return to the Premier League.

The Baggies currently sit in second place, which, from the outside looking in looks pretty damn good.

But there has been the odd rumblings of discontent among the fanbase.

So without speculating as to why, it’s time to draft in the experts in themselves - the Baggies fans.

Here’s what some of them have made of the campaign so far and whether or not they believe Valérien Ismaël is the man to take the club back to the promised land.

‘It’s good to win some games and restore some pride’

I’m enjoying the season after what we had to suffer last time. It’s good to win some games and restore some pride.

The big negative is the failure to sign a 15 goal striker who could have made the difference between a top two finish or a top six one.

I like the proactive style, making things happen rather than sitting back waiting for something to happen.

I’m sure the owners, players, staff and some supporters see promotion as success but I don’t see the point in being promoted only to suffer another season like last. Without investment that is likely, so a top six finish will suit me. (Malcolm Jones - @jonesy68)

‘I do slightly worry about whether we have a clear plan B’

It was always going to be difficult for Ismael to implement his tactics into a new squad of players and it would be naive to expect this to be a quick process. In my opinion the addition of Alex Mowatt has sped up the process given his time under VI at Barnsley.

However, I do slightly worry about whether we have a clear plan B and if we’re a little too one dimensional. There have been occasions this season where we have come up against opposition who have no intention of playing football, leaving us to break them down and we have struggled.

I think Ismael also doesn’t know his strongest front three which is a big issue because continuity is huge for ‘confidence players’ which we have an abundance of. If we give three attackers a good run of games then I am confident they will find form but it is difficult to do this when the front line is changed every other week.

I can only think of one real negative towards how VI has handled things so far. In my opinion the loss of O’Shea and Clarke to injury was huge but Ismael is very set in his ways in having a left footed centre-half in the back three. This meant that a very in-form Conor Townsend was shifted into the back 3. Whereas this is a good option to have in the case of a red card to tide us over, persisting with him there and ignoring other alternatives was a little frustrating.

Don’t get me wrong, Townsend is an exceptional player at this level and did very well in the back three but in my opinion we lost out on so much attacking threat from not having him bombing down the left flank in our attacks and this coincided with a lack of clinical edge going forward

I think we will see success under Ismael because I think the club bought into his philosophy as a long term project so I doubt we’re expecting an instant return to the Premier League. I expect us to finish in the top six, which in my opinion would be a respectable league position. If we were to finish in the top two then it would be a very nice bonus. (Max Ashforth - @MaxAshforth)

‘We now have a passionate young coach that cares about the club’

I honestly think we have started very well, there’s been three or four games where we have been below par and all but the Stoke game we have managed to get something.

I think the style of play has been a mixed bag, at first it was direct but entertaining then we had a few games where it was quite dull but the two games prior to Stoke we have shown we can get it on the deck and play good stuff.

Positives - we now have a passionate young coach that cares about the club and is getting the most of what he has at his disposal. Largely an exciting team to watch. Massive improvement defensively from our horrendous spell in the Premier League.

Negatives - poor squad depth and lack of a striker could hamper us long term. Johnstone not yet signed a new deal. I think we will see success in some form, especially if we reinvest in January and get those two or three players to continue at the top. Success for us should be top six and I fully believe that we will achieve that.

We have had a lot of turnover and had to operate on a shoestring budget (as have most teams in the league) sold our best player in Pereira and had to adapt to a new style, so whilst I don’t see promotion as a failure especially if we finish between third and sixth, I do think not getting the financial incentives of promotion may hamper us long term. (Luke Millington - @LukeMillingto11 / The Albion Way on Facebook)

‘I’d love to see a good cup run at some point soon’

I think Val has started well, second in the table and with only one loss - how can you not be happy with that start?

I was an advocate for Ismael in the summer, a young promising manager hasn’t been a familiar signing at Albion in recent times. I think the positives have been a few big wins, every fan likes to win big.

It’s too early to have negatives. I don’t think we have been helped by missing two starting centre-backs through injury.

Ultimately the success of the season will be determined by gaining promotion (ideally automatically because I can’t deal with the stress of the play offs).

One major factor for the season will be if the board make funds available in January if required. Seeing Newcastle get ambitious new owners does make me a bit jealous as promotion is great but we want to stay in the Premier League and I’d love to see a good cup run at some point soon. (Zach Martin - @zachmartin98)

‘I believe he will keep getting better and better’

Ismael has been very good so far. We were unbeaten in ten games until the Stoke game and although we haven’t performed well in some games, he’s done very well for us so far and I believe he will keep getting better and better.

Positives of the season so far is that like mentioned previously, we went ten games unbeaten which was a first in our history.

The only negative is some performances have been very lacklustre and poor but saying that I still believe in the team and believe we will win promotion back to the Premier League. (@ALBIONFANTV)

Do you agree with what these Baggies fans have had to say? If you want to put your opinion across in a future piece, feel free to drop me a DM @benaramsdale & I’ll be sure to get you involved.