Albion’s search for a win goes on as Burnley visit the Hawthorns

Brummie Road Ender

·6. November 2024

Albion’s search for a win goes on as Burnley visit the Hawthorns

West Bromwich Albion v Burnley; The Hawthorns, Thursday 7th November 2024, 8pm

The Baggies return to the Hawthorns on Thursday evening still looking to end their winless run which has now extended to seven matches. It is the longest run without a win for Albion since Steve Bruce’s team went eight league games without tasting victory, nine if you include the League Cup defeat to Derby County, between August and October 2022. That led to Bruce’s departure from the club but, even if Corberán’s team match the league run by failing to beat Burnley on Thursday evening, it will not lead to the Spaniard’s dismissal.

In most of their recent games, Albion haven’t played badly, dominating most of the games, particularly at home, but they haven’t been able to get the all important breakthrough. On the two occasions they have, at Oxford and last Friday at Luton, a defensive lapse has seen them concede.

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Defensively, there is little to be concerned about. This season’s team have equalled a club record by conceding just eight goals from their opening thirteen games and, even having lost the services of three centre-backs in a week, they looked just as solid defensively at Luton on Friday. Their problems have been further forward. Josh Maja and Karlan Grant can hold their heads up high – not only have their performances been strong and consistent, but they are also the only two forward players to have scored a league goal for Albion this season. The remainder of the attacking players have more questions to answer.

Tom Fellows is probably the only other attacker to emerge from the campaign so far with any credit thanks to his form in the first few weeks of the season, and he still sits joint top of the Championship assists table with five; however, the last of those came at Hillsborough at the end of September. No other attacking player has registered an assist in the league this season with all other goal involvements coming from central midfield or defence – three goals for Mowatt, one for Molumby and two assists for Račić and another for Heggem. John Swift, Grady Diangana, Mikey Johnston, Jed Wallace, Lewis Dobbin and Devante Cole all have a zero in both columns.

To be fair to Cole and Dobbin, they haven’t had too much time to impress – Dobbin has played a total of 94 minutes in the Championship this season, with Cole registering just 41, the majority of which were at Kenilworth Road on Friday. While I saw some comments that they could understand why Cole has been ignored by Corberán this season, I felt that he put in a decent shift, particularly when you consider how little football he has played. I certainly feels he is just as worth a place on the bench as many of his teammates who have had many more opportunities, and as the only other recognised striker available as a backup to Maja, he should definitely be in the squad.

While goal involvements are not necessarily a fair reflection of a player’s impact on the game, the WhoScored.com player ratings, which use more than 200 statistics to calculate a player’s performance, are a much more complete analysis of how well a player is performing. Unsurprisingly, Alex Mowatt tops the Albion charts with an average rating of 7.19 for the season and, other than Maja, Grant and Fellows, John Swift is the only other player to exceed an average of 6.5 for the season with Wallace (6.06) and Dobbin (6.08) the worst performers. That may be partly down to their limited minutes, but when you consider that Cole has an average of 6.32 with less than a half of football to his name, it is a sure sign that those two are underperforming.

Statistics aren’t everything, of course, but the WhoScored.com ratings do seem to reflect what I see on the pitch. Wallace and Dobbin have been poor this season while Johnston and Diangana have failed to have the impact their undoubted skills would warrant. John Swift, meanwhile, has been inconsistent – his highest rating (7.47) was actually in the 0-0 draw with Cardiff City in the last match at the Hawthorns, while he recorded just 6.06 at Oxford and his lowest rating when starting was 6.24 against Boro’.

Corberán obviously needs to find a way through this period. I noticed against Cardiff that the Baggies’ approach to corners had changed, with the short option used most frequently, although it was without success. Of Albion’s 14 league goals this season, only 4 are deemed to have come from set pieces, none of which are from corners – Alex Mowatt scored from a direct free kick while three other “set-piece goals” have come from throw-ins, albeit not necessarily long throws. Furthermore, none of Albion’s goals have come on the break.

Set pieces is obviously an area that the coaching staff can work on. Darnell Furlong has had a couple of good opportunities recently, but the likes of Bartley, Ajayi, Heggem, Maja and Račić should be more threatening from corners. Obviously, Bartley and Ajayi are out of the picture for a while, but Holgate should be another target that has come into the mix.

Another area to focus on is to attack quickly on the break. We have seen it occasionally from Corberán’s team but the desire to keep possession often stifles such opportunities, particularly when confidence is low. The risky pass is often the right one to make but, if it doesn’t come off, the reaction from the crowd, particularly at the Hawthorns, can deter future attempts.

Personally, I don’t see that it needs a radical change in tactics, but a few tweaks could be helpful. The main thing that needs to change is the performance of the attacking unit around the box. It has been misfiring badly in recent weeks and, while there have been some signs of improvements, until they start scoring two or three goals a game once again, it will continue to be a concern.

Despite going seven without a win, Albion remain in the top six ahead of Wednesday evening’s games as other sides around them falter. Thursday’s opponents, Burnley, have had a strong start to the season but like the Baggies, have drawn too many games. Furthermore, a nine-match unbeaten run came to an end on Sunday when they were surprisingly beaten by Millwall – that came off the back of disappointing draws with Hull and QPR leaving Scott Parker’s side eager to get their own winning form back on track. Their troubles are similar to Albion’s in that they are primarily down to a lack of goals as they have scored only four in their last seven games matching the Baggies’ own record.

With both sides struggling for goals while remaining tight at the back, no one should expect a goal-fest! Albion’s need for a win is perhaps a little more acute than Burnley’s and the majority at the Hawthorns will be hoping they can get it.

History

The Baggies haven’t beaten Burnley for more than seven years with their last victory coming at Turf Moor in August 2017. The last home win for Albion was a 4-0 victory in November 2016 while the Clarets’ previous two visits to the Shrine have ended all square. Burnley have won at the Hawthorns just once since 1969, a 2-1 win in the Premier League in March 2018.

Two of the current Burnley squad have previously played for the Baggies. Jay Rodriguez had two successful seasons at the Hawthorns scoring 33 goals for Albion while Jeremy Sarmiento, who spent half of last season on loan at the Hawthorns, is now on loan at Turf Moor.

None of the current Baggies squad have previously played for Burnley although both Nathaniel Chalobah and Erik Pieters, who were released in the summer, had previously turned out for the Clarets with Pieters spending three seasons at Turf Moor before moving to the Hawthorns in the summer of 2022.

Dara O’Shea and Chris Wood have both played for Burnley in recent years after leaving the Hawthorns while Charlie Austin, who was at Albion between 2019 and 2021, played for the Clarets between 2011 and 2013, scoring 27 goals for them in the 2012/13 season earning him his first move to QPR. Others from the 21st century to have played for both clubs include Steven Reid and Artim Šakiri who both made the move to Turf Moor from the Hawthorns, while Richard Chaplow, Chris Baird, Tyrone Mears, Matej Vydra, Lloyd Dyer and Delroy Facey have all pulled on both shirts.

Danish goalkeeper Brian “The Beast” Jensen moved to Albion as one of Gary Megson’s first signings in March 2000 before transferring to Burnley in the summer of 2003 where he spent the next ten seasons making in excess of 300 appearances.

Going a little further back, the infamous Micky Mellon, who was sent off for Albion in the play-off semi-final with Swansea City in 1993, moved to Burnley in 1998 while Winston White moved from Turf Moor to the Hawthorns in March 1991. Frank Sinclair, who had a loan spell at Albion from Chelsea the following season, spent three years at Burnley from 2004.

Winger Colin Anderson, who spent six years at the Hawthorns in the late eighties, started his professional career at Burnley while Tony Morley had four seasons at Burnley in the seventies before moving to Aston Villa to be part of their European Cup winning team. He moved to the Hawthorns in December 1983 and had a loan spell back at Turf Moor in 1988.

Finally, long-time Baggies captain, Graham Williams, had a trial with fourth-division Burnley in the fifties but wasn’t taken on – he would make more than 300 top flight appearances for Albion.