Jakub Moder relished the forward-thinking role he was handed by Albion.

But the Poland international says he still has plenty to learn under Roberto De Zerbi.

Moder operated in behind Evan Ferguson as De Zerbi made inventive use of his limited resources against Nottingham Forest.

He got into some handy, advanced areas and was also an aerial target at set-pieces.

It was his third start under the current head coach – and his first in the Premier League.

He had a midfield outing in the FA Cup tie at Wolves recently having previously played in a wide role at Stoke City.

Moder did not look comfortable at the Bet365 Stadium but the job he was asked to do against Forest was more up his street.

He said: “It was a very important win.

“I think we deserved it and that’s very important, especially after Thursday (the 4-0 defeat at Roma).

“I enjoyed that 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.”

From the West Lower, it was not too hard to hear instructions being shouted to Moder from the Albion technical area.

Having been out injured when De Zerbi was getting the squad up to speed with his methods, Moder has had to play catch-up.

He said: “I think it is still going to take time for me to understand everything.

“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.”

Moder showed some versatility under Graham Potter but he knows where he most feels at home.

He said: “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 knee injury suffered in a 0-0 draw with Norwich City almost two years ago did not only rob Moder of action with his club.

It also deprived him of the chance to go to a World Cup with Poland.

He won the last of his 20 caps so far a few days before that ill-fated afternoon at the Amex as he helped his nation secure their place in Qatar.

There has been a coaching change since then with Michal Probierz taking over last September.

Probierz will name a squad this week and has spoken to Moder, who is hopeful of being back in the picture soon.

For now, action of an international nature is the priority with a second leg against Roma.

It looks like mission near-impossible with a four-goal deficit to make up but Albion will give it a go.

They will be aware they caused Roma some problems at the Olimpico.

Moder said: “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 we can score four goals.

“As Roma scored four goals, we can also score four goals.

“We keep that belief and we go in on Thursday and try to win 4-0 “We created chances. Danny Welbeck had chances, great saves from the Roma keeper, and we also could defend a couple of goals.

“So we 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.”