Valerien Ismael's first competitive game in charge of West Bromwich Albion did not get off to the best of starts on Friday evening, with his Albion side twice having to come from behind to salvage a draw against AFC Bournemouth.

Prior to kick-off, Ismael sprung a number of surprises with his matchday squad, with Cedric Kipre being awarded his first league start for the club more than a year after joining, while loanee defender Matt Clarke was absent from the team altogether, with the manager revealing after the match that the 24-year-old had a hip problem.

Romaine Sawyers was also absent from the West Brom side amid reports linking the central midfielder with a move to Stoke City, while the Frenchman only named six out of a possible seven substitutes for the clash.

Unfortunately for Kipre, it was his performance which grabbed attention for all the wrong reasons, with the 24-year-old looking as if he struggled to keep up with the pace of West Brom's game, and generally demonstrating why he had not featured from the off before this fixture.

Indeed, the £14k-per-week defender got off to a shocking start, over-committing in a challenge with Bournemouth's Jaidon Anthony in the 12th minute of the game, subsequently allowing the winger to burst into the Albion penalty area before squaring to Emiliano Marcondes, who duly put the Cherries 1-0 up.

Things did not get much better for the defender as the match went on, with the £900k-rated man being very sloppy in possession of the ball, completing just 19 of his 29 attempted passes with a success rate of just 66%, as well as losing the ball on 11 separate occasions.

The former Ivory Coast under-23 international also lost six of his 11 duels and committed one foul, with these metrics seeing the 24-year-old earn a disappointing SofaScore match rating of 6.6 - ranking him as the Baggies' worst defender on the night.

As such, it would very much appear ad if Kipre did not repay the faith that Ismael - albeit reluctantly - placed in him in for the 2-2 draw at the Vitality Stadium on Friday, with the Frenchman surely hoping that Clarke will be fit for the visit of Luton Town next week.

In other news: West Brom dealt transfer blow on "tenacious" £4.5m beast, Ismael will be gutted