Very early on I said I was worried it wouldn’t translate either. Like you I’m now pretty confident it won’t. .
We’d look like Millwall did on Saturday, only Prem sides would take advantage. Lump it forwards, get played through, penned and repeat.
Is there another way of looking at it though?
We looked decent in our first 3 games, against 3 sides aiming for top 6 finishes. Luton and Sheff Utd in particular tried to play football against us which allowed us to use the press effectively and create a lot of scoring opportunities. Barnsley had the advantage last season of sides rarely sitting back against them and they were able to get into the playoffs with a limited first 11. Further evidence has Ismael’s LASK team reaching the last 16, hammering a Bruno Fernandes led Sporting club de Portugal 3-0 and PSV 4-1 on the way.
Our difficulties have come vs P’boro, Milwall and now Derby, all of whom set up very defensively, looked to get rid of the ball as quickly as they could and for large phases of the game didn’t really commit many men forward.
Now which style of approach are we likely to face in the event of promotion? Will premier league sides sit deep against the small budgeted WBA, or will they more often than not play on the front foot with the ball being passed out from the back?
At the moment we are lacking a couple of key players to make this work - one being a centre forward and another I’d argue being a midfielder with more creativity who can play as part of the front 3. In the premier league we will have more money and might be able to buy somebody to make it work.
I’m not saying it definitely works in the prem, but there is more evidence that it works well vs footballing sides who push forward than there is that it works vs defensive ones. I don’t think we can take Milwall’s and Derby’s tactics as evidence it doesn’t work at a higher level.
Ultimately, we will be one of the poorest sides in the division in the event of promotion. There is no evidence that we have either the scouting system or the clever boardroom level operators to make up the gap on those who have more spending power and so in the short to medium term atleast, Ismael’s slightly unique approach might well be our best bet.
My bigger concern is how you get out of the division playing in such a one dimensional way. He needs to show his managerial ability now and work out a fix.