Express & Star

Jayson Molumby a big fan of 'flexible' West Brom style

Albion midfielder Jayson Molumby is loving the freedom and fluidity to Carlos Corberan’s midfield so far this season.

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The tough-tackling 25-year-old capped a fine first month of the campaign with the winning goal in Saturday’s 1-0 success over Swansea at The Hawthorns.

Molumby’s celebration was particularly meaningful after the entire second half of last season, including a play-off charge, was spent kicking his heels on the sidelines with a problematic foot injury.

The popular midfielder is back, though, and has not only made another impression on Corberan’s side but hopes to do similar for the Republic of Ireland this week – beginning against England at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday.

He admits a flexible Albion midfield alongside Alex Mowatt, with the attack-minded John Swift dropping deeper, and new boys Uros Racic and Ousmane Diakite ready to make an impact, is an exciting prospect.

“There is a little bit of flexibility there, the gaffer’s allowing us to be free and rotate a lot,” Molumby said to BBC Radio WM. “It’s not just me sitting or Moway sitting, it’s not just Swifty in the 10, it’s constantly changing which is helping us massively.

“We’re very fluid with it and at the moment it’s going well.

“It is enjoyable, it’s quite unselfish at times. As a midfielder you want to get on the ball as much as you can but at times I’m making runs and trying to make space for players like Swifty to get it because we know he’s great on the ball.

“There’s a lot to it but I’m happy to do what I can for the team.”

There was a certain satisfying symmetry that Molumby’s strike to cap a 31-pass flowing team move downed the same opposition the midfielder last faced, back on New Year’s Day, before the club knew the severity of the foot problem he had sustained a few days earlier against Leeds.

The first-half stoppage-time winner was the former Brighton youngster’s first goal since April 2023, a double away to Stoke.

“The win for us was massive, we’re unbeaten to start in the league and that’s massive for us as a group,” added Molumby. “Two clean sheets at home and three wins and a draw is really good.

“We’ve lost a lot of experienced players obviously, some big characters in the dressing room, credit to the gaffer and the lads working behind the scenes because they’ve done well to get some really good players in to help us.

“I struggled a lot for a good six or seven months so to be back – I’m still trying to manage a little bit of pain but I’m getting there – I’m delighted to be playing football.”

Albion sold midfielder Okay Yokuslu to Trabzonspor in his Turkish homeland for around £1.4million and released Nathaniel Chalobah and Yann M'Vila this summer. Adam Reach, also seen as a possible midfield option, was also released.

Ireland international Molumby could feature in home Nations League games against England, whose interim boss Lee Carsley is Irish, and Greece.

He said: “I’m looking forward to it, to any game for your country – especially when I haven’t played for Ireland for a long time with my injury. So I’m looking forward to getting back into it, which will be brilliant.”