Moder: I need to learn the De Zerbi way

Jakub Moder enjoyed his central role in Albion’s 1-0 victory over Nottingham Forest – and he believes that we still have a chance in the Europa League tie against AS Roma, with the second leg match next up at the Amex on Thursday.

“It was a very important win [against Forest],” he said. “I think we deserved it and that’s very important, especially after last Thursday.”

Dubbed the ‘Magic Man’ by the North Stand, he played in an attacking midfield position against Forest, forced a good save from goalkeeper Matz Sels with a glancing header, and pressured Sels and Andrew Omobamidele into the decisive own goal.

“I enjoyed that,” he said of his role. ”Our style is to keep the possession, to create chances and for me in that position to run behind the back-line and also create chances. I felt very good in this position and first of all I feel very happy to start the game.

“I think I feel good in every position in the middle of the pitch so if it’s six or eight or ten, I feel good. In that position we have a lot of freedom in attack and we can create chances and we can link up the game - go deeper, go higher, run behind - so I think it’s perfect for me.”

The Forest game was the Poland midfielder’s first Premier League start since he suffered a serious ACL injury at home to Norwich on April 2 2022. 

He missed the whole of the 2022-23 season, including the World Cup, returning to first-team action as a substitute in the 3-2 victory away to Forest in November.  

He began his recovery under Graham Potter and completed it with Roberto De Zerbi as head coach, which, he admits, has required some adjustment.

“I think it is still going to take time for me to understand everything,” he said. “One thing is training but the other is an actual game.

“Now I am hopefully going to play more and more so it is going to be easier for me. But it’s still going to take time to understand everything the gaffer wants from me.”

Returning to the Poland national squad with the European Championships on the horizon would be the icing on the cake, but he has yet to receive any indication as to whether he might figure in head coach Michał Probierz’s next squad. 

“Not yet but I think there are call-ups on Thursday. I spoke with the manager and he is quite positive about me so hopefully I will go and I can help the team go to the Euros.”

Also on Thursday, of course, is the visit of Roma. “It’s obviously going to be a very difficult night for us, especially after the 4-0 defeat in Rome. But we have to believe that we can score four goals. As Roma scored four goals, we can also score four goals. So we keep that belief and we go on Thursday and try to win 4-0.

“We created chances [in the first leg]. Danny Welbeck had two chances, great saves from the Roma keeper, and we also could have defended a couple of goals [better]. So we just have to improve a couple of things and obviously we showed before that we can score many goals against big teams like Man United, Tottenham, Liverpool. So we can do it against Roma.”