A promising start has given way to a typical midtable season of inconsistencies and lost leads as rookie boss Ryan Mason searches for his style and identity in his first season in charge of West Brom – Matt Graham (@SAHistoryMatt) runs us through the good and the bad.

How's the season gone so far? You're about where we expected...

The season so far has lacked consistency. The majority of the fan base acknowledge that this is a season of transition and (potentially) the start of a project under rookie boss Ryan Mason, but the performances and results since the first international break have been poor. A flying start to the season perhaps unrealistically raised the expectation levels and had supporters looking up the table. However, after a Friday night defeat at Middlesbrough in September, results have taken a downward turn, which coincided with a rapid drop down the league. Honestly, November was awful and failing to win against struggling sides such as Sheffield Wednesday and Charlton Athletic saw the mood music around The Hawthorns change for the negative. A key issue has been the inability to see out games. A damning stat is that the team have dropped 12 points from winning positions. Discounting the bonkers Swansea game last week, the team just doesn’t score enough, regularly fails to press home the advantage, and too many defensive errors have resulted all too frequently in a second half swing of fortune for our opponents. I thought we’d be mid-table / outside the play-offs, but the nature of the performances has not helped to create a more positive outlook.

Baggies in the league so far…
West Brom 1-0 Blackburn Price 15
Wrexham 2-3 West Brom O’Brien 42, Smith 90 – Price 20, 81, Wallace 74
West Brom 1-1 Portsmouth Johnston 26 – Bishop 56
Stoke 0-1 West Brom Phillips 14
West Brom 0-1 Derby Weimann 84
Boro 2-1 West Brom Strelec 26, Sene 61 – Heggebo 90
West Brom 1-1 Leicester Iling-Junior 10 – Phillips og 90
Norwich 0-1 West Brom Maja 20
Millwall 3-0 West Brom Cooper 18, Azeez 56, Sturge 72
West Brom 2-1 Preston Johnston 40, Price 62 – Smith 78
Watford 2-1 West Brom Louza 38, Vata 58 – Price 34
Ipswich 1-0 West Brom Clarke 83
West Brom 0-0 Sheff Wed
Charlton 1-0 West Brom Carey 90
West Brom 2-1 Oxford Leigh og 56, Heggebo 70 – Lankshear 54
Coventry 3-2 West Brom Eccles 41, Simms 56, Torp 61 – Heggebo 9, 32
West Brom 1-1 Birmingham Mowatt 12 – Ducksch 78
West Brom 3-2 Swansea Heggebo 47, 52, Molumby 85 – Vipotnik 1, Galbraith 11

Ryan Mason's first managerial role, how's that going? Seemed to be coming under some pressure a few weeks back but a couple of wins since...

At half-time on Saturday, 2-0 down to Swansea, and The Hawthorns in open revolt, I genuinely thought he might be sacked. However, the superb turn around, a clear tactical re-evaluation, and the response / actions of the players demonstrated that the squad still believes in Mason. I think a key problem is that it is hard to discern what Mason’s philosophy is. The start of the season saw a high-pressing style, but this has since fallen off to a much more passive approach with inverted wingers who don’t really create very much. Mason’s main tactic through the autumn was to set-up not to lose (perhaps a sign of his inexperience or lack of confidence), which has seen the team sit-off in too many games, and in fact lose them, hence the poor run of form. Admittedly the squad has some deficiencies, but some of his squad selections feel like they’ve been randomly selected by ChatGPT, while his in-game management has not been particularly effective. Recent changes show signs of improvement, most notably pushing Mickey Johnston to right-wing, which have finally started to create quality opportunities for Aune Heggebø. But against the backdrop of the challenges the club has faced over the last few years, the support wants to see evidence of the Mason project / philosophy, which so far has not been readily apparent. I hope the Swansea game can kickstart our season and demonstrate to Mason the benefits of a bolder approach.

All the heavy lifting being done at home at the moment, why the struggles away?

In too many away matches the team doesn’t assert itself and is too passive rather than being on the front foot. However, defensively we are a far cry from the Carlos Corberan years, and therefore we aren’t actually very good at keeping cleans sheets, with only three in 18. Unfortunately, we have been unable to outscore opponents in most games either, with only 20 goals scored and half of those of those coming in just four games. Since the sales of Fellows and Furlong in the summer, the creativity has significantly diminished the opportunities for our strikers, leaving our forwards to simply chase the ball. Hopefully the changes evident in the first half away at Coventry City, before the early sending off, is a roadmap for the future, with a much more direct and counter-attacking approach with early crosses into the box.

How did your summer go? What needs doing in January?

The summer was a fire-sale of anyone who could be offload for incoming transfer fees or to remove big wages to resolve the ongoing PSR issues, which left gaps across the squad. A big defensive loss was the sale of Torbjørn Heggem to Bologna, who breezed the Championship last season, although £10m eased some of the pain. A surprise was the last-minute August sales of Tom Fellows to Southampton for around £10m too (which was strange given he didn’t want to leave and the club had stated they wanted more like £15m) and Darnell Furlong to Ipswich for around £4m, without much time to find adequate replacements. The loss of Fellows and Furlong completely altered the right-side of our team, and removed significant assists makers from the squad. The replacement in Samuel Iling-Junior on loan from Aston Villa hasn’t worked out.

The biggest incoming signing was Heggebø from Brann in Norway, who had a slow start to his Baggies career, but always showed glimpses of what he could do. The team has started to play to his strengths and now has five goals in four games. Other notable signings were Chris Mepham and Nat Phillips who both had significant championship experience, and George Campbell from Montreal who has looked good.

The team really needs a specialist left and right-back, some pace and creativity in the midfield, and a number ten. In too many games we have simply looked to Isaac Price or Mickey Johnstone to pull out a moment of magic, rather than having a player that can unlock defences or drive into the box.

Ins >>> Aune Heggebø, 23, CF, Brann, £5m >>> Nat Phillips, 28, CB, Liverpool, £3m >>> Alfie Gilchrist, 21, RB, Chelsea, £2m >>> George Campbell, 24, CB, Montreal, £1m >>> Krystian Bielik, 27, CM, Birmingham, £1m >>> Chris Mepham, 27, CB, Bournemouth, £1m >>> Samuel Iling-Junior, 21, LB< Villa, Loan >>> Toby Collyer, 21, DM, Man Utd, Loan >>> Charlie Taylor, 31, LB, Southampton, Loan

Outs >>> Tom Fellows, 22, RM< Southampton, £9m >>> Torbjorn Heggem, 26, CB, Bologna, £7m >>> Darnell Furlong, 29, RB, Ipswich, £3.5m >>> Caleb Taylor, 22, CB, Millwall, £2m >>> John Swift, 30, AM, Portsmouth, Free >>> Semi Ajayi, 31, CB, Hull, Free >>> Ted Cann, 24, GK, Rotherham, Free >>> Grady Diangana, 27, RW, Elche, Free >>> Gianluca Frabotta, 26, LB, Cesena, Free >>> Semi Ajayi, 31, CB, Hull, Free >>> Devante Cole, 30, CF, Port Vale, Free >>> Kyle Bartley, 34, CB, Retired

Where is the team strong and what are its weak links?

When the team clicks, we have looked good in patches. Alex Mowatt is integral for starting moves and getting the team up the pitch. When he plays well, the Albion performs well (but he is liable to go missing and can be easily bullied). Johnston is our main attacking contributor both with assists and goals, and without him we’d be in trouble (he was very nearly sold to Botafogo in Brazil for £5m). Price when he is on form is a Rolls Royce of a player, but his form has dipped considerably this season and needs a break. Also, Heggebø is a strong centre forward who has demonstrated his ability to score goals when he is given opportunities.

Defensively we are all over the place. I like Callum Styles, but he is not a left-back, and is frequently targeted by opposition teams. The defensive communication between Phillips and Mepham has not been great, and I can see Phillips being replaced for Krystian Bielik against Rangers. Finally, while Josh Griffiths is developing into a solid keeper, he does have mistakes in him, particularly with efforts from distance, such as the late goal against Charlton or Swansea’s second.

Revised expectations for the season?

I still think we’re a work in progress and we’ll be sitting outside the playoffs somewhere between eight and 12.

Links >>> Official Website >>> Independent West Brom forum — Message Board >>> Boing — Blog >>> Express and Star — Local Paper >>> Birmingham Mail — Local Paper

Pictures - Reuters Connect

TacticalR added 19:35 - Dec 5 Thanks to Matt. West Brom's up and down season sounds remarkably like ours. Perhaps that's why they are just above us in the table. 'Unfortunately, we have been unable to outscore opponents in most games either, with only 20 goals scored'. Again similar to QPR, with 22 goals scored. In fact there aren't many high-scoring teams in the division with the notable exception of Coventry. Millwall are sitting 3rd in the table with just 22 goals and a negative goal difference.

0

Queens Park Rangers Polls