West Brom: The formation and tactics Tony Mowbray is likely to use at The Hawthorns | OneFootball

Mowbray is set for an emotional return to West Brom.

Tony Mowbray is set for a highly emotional return to management after a lengthy battle and recovery from cancer with his former club West Bromwich Albion.

The 61-year-old hasn't been seen in the dugout since his departure from Birmingham City in February 2024, when it was announced that he was suffering with an unspecified serious illness at the time.

Mowbray himself later revealed that it was in fact bowel cancer that he was fighting, and to the relief of all, 'Mogga' confirmed that he was on the road to recovery back in November 2024.

One of the great characters in English football management, Mowbray has made no secret of his burning desire to return to the dugout, and now that opportunity appears to have arisen that will see him head back to one of his old stomping grounds - The Hawthorns.

But what formation is he likely to deploy back at West Brom? Will he play attacking football, or opt for a more defensive, counter-attacking approach? Are there certain patterns over his recent managerial career that could help point to how his Baggies side will look?

Football League World looks back on some of Mowbray's most recent stops in management to find out.

What evidence does his Blackburn, Birmingham and Sunderland spells leave for the type of formation he may use at West Brom?

Having been appointed Blackburn manager in February 2017, Mowbray would begin his time at Ewood Park largely operating with a 4-4-2 approach. However, upon relegation to League One that season, something needed to change.

Whilst still deploying a 4-4-2 for the majority of the opening half of the 2017/18 campaign, Mowbray began transitioning towards a 4-2-3-1 system during the second half of the season.

It would be a tactical switch that would pay off for Rovers, as Mowbray guided his team to automatic promotion back to the Championship. It looked apparent that Blackburn had found their identity, as 4-2-3-1 was almost exclusively deployed over the following two Championship seasons.

Come the 2020/21 season, and after two upper bottom-half finishes in the second tier, Mowbray decided to largely scrap that system in favour of a 4-3-3 that year. It didn't have the desired effect though, as Rovers once again were rooted to bottom half obscurity.

2021/22 would be the year of tactical flexibility at Ewood Park, something which Mowbray revealed they were going to be at the start of that season. 3-4-3, 3-4-1-2, 4-2-3-1, 4-3-3, 4-1-4-1, 5-4-1 and 5-3-2; all of these systems were used at varying points of the season.

It worked too, as Blackburn secured an eighth-placed finish in the Championship. However, the end of that season also brought about change in his managerial career, as he left Blackburn for Sunderland.

His first season in charge at the Stadium of Light once again saw him deploy a range of formations, but his most common approach was to revert to his trusty 4-2-3-1. Sunderland finished sixth that season, but lost in the play-off semi-finals to Luton Town.

The 2023/24 campaign was short-lived for Mowbray on Wearside, as he departed in December 2023. He did once again make reference to his side needing to be tactically fluid, something which is evidently a big part of his approach.

Then came his most recent job with Birmingham City, but he only found himself in charge at St. Andrew's for a matter of weeks between January-February 2024 due to the aforementioned health reasons.

In his eight games in charge of the Blues, Mowbray deployed a 4-2-3-1 on seven occasions, with the other being a 4-2-2. Therefore, we can probably assume that he will begin his second spell in charge of West Brom - who have also almost exclusively used a 4-2-3-1 system this season - deploying that tactic.

Did his Birmingham, Blackburn and Sunderland teams play attacking football, or were they more defensive?

Given how flexible Mowbray's teams are in regard to their tactical approach, is that fluidity evidenced in the data from his various teams?

As we can see from the table above, Mowbray's sides often rank in the top-half of the league for goals per match. That will be music to the ears of Baggies supporters, as last season's 70 goals was their highest return in a single season since returning to the Championship in 2021.

However, one metric where his teams have struggled slightly is the number of goals conceded per match. That could be slightly worrying from a West Brom perspective, as they have established themselves as one of the better defensive sides in the second tier over recent seasons.

Mowbray's teams do tend to rank highly for average possession, which is something that Baggies fans will be pleased with given that this has been a focus for them under former manager Carlos Corberan.

Keeping clean sheets has been something that Mowbray's teams have done fairly well over recent campaigns too, commonly ranking in the mid-table/lower top-half region.

From the data available, we can also see that Mowbray's sides rank highly for expected goals (xG), which would point towards his teams being highly effective at creating chances, and playing attacking-minded football.

Is there a pattern of specific types of players across Tony Mowbray's Blackburn, Sunderland and Birmingham teams?

One element that is present across Mowbray's teams is the identification, inclusion and development of young players, and it's become something of a trait of his.

At Blackburn, Mowbray signed the likes of Ben Brereton Diaz, Adam Armstrong, Harry Pickering, Amari'i Bell, Harvey Elliot, Joe Rothwell, Jan Paul van Hecke and Jarrad Branthwaite respectively.

He also put faith in some of the club's own academy talents such as Tyrhys Dolan, John Buckley, Scott Wharton, Ian Poveda and Lewis Travis.

At Sunderland, he signed players such as Jobe Bellingham, Eliezer Mayenda, Amad Diallo, Adil Aouchiche, Joe Gelhardt and Nectarios Triantis respectively.

He also put faith in youngsters such as Jack Clarke, Trai Hume, Dan Neil, Anthony Patterson, Ellis Simms and Dennis Cirkin to name a few.

Mowbray has a track record for deploying confident, direct and skillfull wingers with an eye for goal. This can be seen with the likes of Elliott, Dolan, Amad, Clarke, Patrick Roberts and Siriki Dembele at Birmingham respectively.

Therefore, that will be music to the ears of West Brom fans, as their side has a number of those types of wingers in the form of Mikey Johnston, Tom Fellows and even Grady Diangana when he's deployed from a wide position.

Mowbray's track record of leaning on youth would appear to be something he will look to do once again at The Hawthorns, and that could bring about some major development in the likes of Fenton Heard, Harry Whitwell, Deago Nelson and Caleb Taylor to name a few of the Baggies' exciting crop of youngsters coming through.