West Brom players sent blunt message amid Valerien Ismael pressure

West Bromwich Albion’s slump under Valerien Ismael has been branded "startling" by an EFL pundit.

The Baggies, one of the pre-season promotion favourites, are in dismal form, falling away from the race for the top two and in danger of dropping out of the Championship play-off zone.

With unrest among fans growing, Ismael is under intense pressure and is in danger of being removed from his position.

But EFL pundit and presenter David Prutton says the onus shouldn’t just be on the manager to turn things rounds, insisting the players aren’t doing enough.

“It’s even more startling when you look at the personnel involved, names that have played at higher levels, names that have been very effective at this level of football,” said the former Nottingham Forest midfielder in Sky Sports’ latest EFL podcast.

“Something is not right. Goalscoring has clearly been a problem. It is a tough job he’s [Ismael] got on his hands.

“I wouldn’t say it’s a case of Valerien being found out because what he managed to do with Barnsley shows someone who is very capable of getting something better out of a group of players.

“There is a very unique skill to that. To say it is because he’s got a bunch of players who don’t want to play his football is too easy. It’s more nuanced than that.

“He’s not wet behind ears, he knows what he’s doing, he’s got enough experience as a manager to know if it isn’t working, something needs to give.

"On top of that, that squad of players – talent-wise, experience-wise – is doing nowhere near what it should be doing, and they need to take responsibility, as well as the manager."