Casper Ankergren really ought to be wearing the same shirt as his Albion team-mates at Bournemouth today.

The great Dane has almost become as much of an 11th outfield player as a goalkeeper.

Ankergren is encouraged to use his feet, as well as his hands.

The style of play imposed by Gus Poyet demands that he is composed in possession and keeps a cool head as the instigator of Albion’s progress up the pitch in conjunction with the central defenders.

Ankergren is relishing the role, which is a throwback to his time in Denmark and quite a contrast to the game plan at Leeds when Poyet was assistant manager to Dennis Wise.

Ankergren told The Argus: “I haven’t been used to being used that much but that is what the manager wants and I really enjoy doing it.

“It’s important for the way that we play that I am able to pass the ball out from the back. We are at our best when we do that.

“When I first went to Leeds, Dennis Wise was manager and it was a different type of football. He wanted to go more route one and he told me not to pass it out to the centre halves.

“I came from a club back in Denmark where we liked to pass and I was used, maybe not as much as I am here, so going from Brondby to Leeds was a big difference.

“Then different managers took over and they were trying to pass it as well but again not as much as we do here.

“You have to be careful not to get caught out, although the manager won’t go mad at the players if we lose it in our own half, because that’s the way we play and you know there is a risk involved.”

Ankergren, a centre half, midfielder and striker when he was younger, uses his feet more often than most goalkeepers during training sessions.

“Obviously, the most important thing is my hands but we try as much as possible to do a bit of passing and in games we play short as much as possible,” he said.

“I think it’s easier when you get a bit older. You get the experience, you know where the players are and maybe you look before you get the ball, just to see where the next pass is going to go.

“I am not sure I would have been that confident doing this when I was younger.”

The training ground cannot replicate the abuse hurled at Ankergren by home fans on Albion’s travels.

Much to their annoyance, he is quite prepared to bide his time before choosing the right moment to pass to Gordon Greer or Adam El-Abd.

“The fans can say whatever they want,” he said. “They have paid to come and watch. It doesn’t bother me at all, especially when we are playing away against a team that wants a bit of crazyness, to put pressure on us quickly.

“I do what the manager wants us to do. It’s important for us to just slow it down sometimes.”

While Ankergren is often the starting point for Albion’s attacks his main priority at Bournemouth will be a third clean sheet in seven matches and an improvement on last Saturday’s second-half performance in the home victory against Peterborough.

“We had a little spell where we didn’t get the points we really wanted, like against Bristol Rovers at home and Hartlepool away,” he added.

“It seems like we have got through that, although nothing is settled yet. We have only played half of the season.

“We just keep on having to do the basics right and defend right. We weren’t happy with Peterborough in the second half last Saturday.

“There was a lot of talk about it after the game and on Wednesday. Even though we are winning we want to put things right because they had too many chances and we don’t normally give away that many chances.

“We don’t want to just say ‘happy days, we won 3-1, everything is perfect’. It wasn’t.”