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Analysis: A look into West Brom

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West Bromwich Albion under the tutelage of Steve Bruce has been fairly inconsistent, averaging 1.26 points per game since he took over in February. The 61-year-old experienced manager had to wait until his 6th game to register his first win with the west Midlands club. 

West Brom finished 10th last season. In my pre-season Championship prediction, I had Bruce’s side finishing just outside the playoffs in 7th. So far in the Championship, they have registered two 1-1 draws, although they should be sat on at least one win.

This season West Brom has been fielding a 4-2-3-1 formation.

Usually, I will give you my predicted line-up for the opposition, but because this is a cup game I have no idea if they’re going to field senior players or youngsters.

Let’s take a look at some of West Brom’s tendencies:

When looking at some of West Brom’s tendencies, they favour their right side. On average 43% of their attacks have come from the right this season, usually with Furlong and Wallace driving down the outside and swinging in crosses. 

Here is their average positioning from the Monday nights game against Watford:

[WhoScored]

Due to West Brom having 70% possession, with a large quantity of it being within the opposition’s half, Steve Bruce’s side was able to push on their fullbacks past the halfway line. In midfield you can see the double pivot of Livermore and Molumby, screening the back line and recycling the ball to the more creative players. There is also a triangle forming down the left between Townsend, Diangana and Swift. 

Looking at the heatmap, it is evident that West Brom looks to attack down the sides. What’s interesting is the lack of touches on the edge of the box and within 25 yards of the goal, in central areas. 

John Swift’s heatmap:

John Swift acts as the floater in Steve Bruce’s system, however, he favours the left side far more than he does the central areas and the right. Swift looks to double up down the left with Diangana, and when one of them moves narrower, it allows the left back Townsend to move down the outside, which you can see below here:

With a clear emphasis on attacking down the flanks, West Brom delivered 42 crosses against Watford with 31% accuracy. Jed Wallace contributed to over half of West Brom’s crosses. Wallace registered 1 big chance created and 7 key passes against Watford. The right-back Furlong created 1 big chance and made 1 key pass. 

The aggressive approach to the Watford game was an excellently thought out approach by Steve Bruce, and it should’ve resulted in a win. West Brom were wasteful with their big chances missing 3 of them, Karlan Grant missed with 2 of them before finding the net.

If West Brom are to field a strong side tonight we need to be ready for a battle, and we’re going to have to match their aggression which they played with on Monday night. The midfielder playing down the right for us will have to flood across to make it a 3vs3, or 3v2 in our favour down the flank. Down the right if Wallace plays, our left sided centre-back can’t afford to get sucked in tight in the half space otherwise runs of Furlong or the forward could see them get in behind that space, which would spell danger for us. I do believe that we can catch West Brom out on the counter however, we have many players who have the ability to drive the ball forward from deep and break lines quickly. If McAtee and Khadra play they will have joy in 1v1 situations in advanced areas, which will bring us success.

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