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This article is part of Football FanCast’s The Chalkboard series, which provides a tactical insight into teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…
One of West Brom’s early-season issues has been the creation of clear-cut chances – they are averaging the third-highest number of shots per game in the Championship at 15.3 but have only scored five goals from their opening three matches.
They also rank in the top five for dribbles per game at 10.3 so there is a question to ask in why they haven’t scored so many goals this season.
At times last season, under ex-boss Darren Moore, the Baggies could play poorly and come away with a number of goals – mainly down to the exploits of Dwight Gayle, Jay Rodriguez and Harvey Barnes who had formed a potent partnership early in the season.
Between them they scored 55 goals, 63% of West Brom’s total tally with the team scoring 87 goals in 2018/19.
West Brom scored three or more goals in 12 of their 46 Championship matches last term, including a 7-1 drubbing of QPR – that’s almost precisely one-quarter of their matches.
They also averaged a goal rate of 1.9 goals per game for the duration of the season.
In comparison to this season, they are yet to stick three past any team and are averaging a slightly lower goal rate at 1.6 per game.
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On the Chalkboard
After Saturday’s come-from-behind victory at Luton Town, there was a sign that it could change – in no doubt down to the introduction of one man, Grady Diangana.
The West Ham loanee came on at half-time and netted a three-minute brace to change the game from despair to delight for manager Slaven Bilic.
His cameo from the bench gave a look at how West Brom could feature going forward if the winger is given a more prominent role.
In just 45 minutes, the 5 foot 11 winger recorded those two goals, a 100% passing success rate, two dribbles and was fouled twice – giving West Brom vital set-piece opportunities considering they are only playing with one in attack.
Thogden ranks all 24 Championship home kits in the video below…
Diangana showed he can offer something more to the West Brom attack as in that short cameo he outshone the exploits of first choice wing pairing Kyle Edwards, the player he replaced, and Matt Phillips.
Phillips is only averaging 1.3 dribbles per game and is only fouled 0.3 times per game. Edwards is operating slightly better at 1.7 and 0.7 respectively.
It may only be his first Championship minutes of the season but he showed he could add drive, pace and power to an attack that needs to simply create more chances.
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