The next Albion boss has got a lot on his plate...
TONY Pulis’ successor faces an almost identical job to the one the Welshman encountered when he replaced Alan Irvine.
The new manager will inherit a team in decline, desperately short on confidence and ideas – at both ends of the pitch. A team who are just one point above the bottom three, exactly where Pulis found the Baggies in January 2015. Chairman John Williams has confirmed assistant head coach Gary Megson will lead the first team “until further notice”.
Albion’s long-term successor has a number of issues he must confront to transform the club’s fortunes. EXCITE THE FANS ONCE MORE
Supporters have been battered into submission by nearly three years of ‘Pulisball’.
More goals and excitement is craved and would instantly get the new man on side with supporters.
You get the feeling fans wouldn’t mind all that much if results didn’t immediately improve so long as there is a little more offensive invention. Anything to get fans off their seats with moments of flair and flamboyance that have been so few and far between under Pulis.
The ex-boss has, for many fans, sucked the enjoyment out of football. It’s high time the Baggies faithful found themselves yearning for matches instead of dreading them. IMAGINATION UP TOP So much training ground time was spent on keeping the door closed, that Albion have no clue how to pick locks at the other end. The incumbent must devote more time to the offensive side of the game, and not just set-piece rehearsals.
Jay Rodriguez, Hal Robson-Kanu and Salomon Rondon need to feel valued once more. All three look desperately short of confidence and require specialist drills to get their belief and sharpness back.
Rondon has shown in the past he can be an excellent one-touch finisher when the service is decent. So concentrate on the supply to him.
It’s not as if Albion are short wide men with excellent delivery. of MIDFIELD CONUNDRUM
Selecting three defensively-minded midfielders in Jake Livermore, Grzegorz Krychowiak and Gareth Barry simply hasn’t worked.
Whoever comes into the club must find the right balance in midfield.
The tactic might have worked for Pulis had his wing-backs, most frequently Kieran Gibbs and Allan Nyom, been able to support the front two with greater regularity.
But all too often they found themselves pinned back for large spells, as against Chelsea on Saturday. Pulis enjoyed a lot of success last season with a 4-2-3-1 formation. Albion have the players for that system to work again, but it means sacrificing a big name in midfield. It’s a big decision Pulis’ successor can’t shirk. BRING BACK BRUNT
Somewhat remarkably, given Albion’s dreadful form, they have not lost a match this season in which Chris Brunt has featured. West Brom have won two and drawn three of the five fixtures Brunt has played.
The Northern Irishman has not figured since the 2-2 draw with Watford in September. Albion have picked up one point from a possible 15 since.
He might have been at the club for over a decade, but Brunt remains vital. Set-piece goals have dried up during his absence, while his passing ability has also been sorely missed.
Brunt simply has to be reintegrated into the team. NEW LEASE OF LIFE FOR CHADLI If there’s one player who might be relieved by the Welshman’s departure, it’s Nacer Chadli. Pulis insisted he had patched things up with Albion’s £18 million record signing after they fell out in the summer. Yet Chadli was overlooked for the first few games and did not make his first league appearance of the season until mid-October. He is, of course, sidelined at present with a hip injury but the new manager has to make it one of his primary objectives to get the best out of the Belgian as soon as he has recovered. Chadli can be a matchwinner – he showed that when he first joined the club. It’s crucial the new boss unlocks Chadli’s potential and gets him to perform consistently. END INDIVIDUAL MISTAKES
One thing Pulis got right in recent weeks was his assessment on how costly individual errors have been this season.
It’s been all downhill since Ahmed Hegazi’s slip presented Peter Crouch with an equaliser for Stoke in August.
It was arguably the first time the Egyptian had put a foot out of line but it was a costly individual error and one that has been followed by many more.
Even Ben Foster, Albion’s Mr Consistent, seems to have caught the disease judging by his erratic display against Chelsea. Cutting out silly mistakes will go a long way to making Albion stronger as a collective. GET McCLEAN PLAYING AS WELL FOR HIS CLUB AS HIS COUNTRY
The goalscoring heroics of James McClean was a big reason why the Republic of Ireland came so close to reaching next summer’s World Cup finals in Russia.
But McClean has not been able to replicate his fine form on the international stage at club level.
On Saturday, he fired wide the kind of chance he has gobbled up for the Republic.
McClean, who started all three of the games Albion have won this season, can be a handful for any team. He needs to be given more opportunities.