OPINION
Darren Moore has left the West Brom fanbase tearing their hair out with his tactics this season, even though they fail to suit the squad he has at The Hawthorns.
Since Graeme Jones was appointed assistant manager, the Baggies have adopted a three-at-the-back formation that emphasises on playing the ball out of the defence, however none of Albion’s current centre-backs are anywhere near gifted enough on the ball to be able to do this.
That is why Moore must copy what Wolves manager Nuno Espirito Santo did with Conor Coady last season and turn the midfielder into a ball-playing centre-back.
Coady, 25, was key to Wolves’ promotion campaign last season as he started in the heart of the defence in all but one of the club’s league fixtures.
In the seasons before that, the former Liverpool kid had been a midfielder, but Nuno saw that Coady had the defensive abilities to be able to slot into the back-three and be the main link between the defence and the midfield.
Now, the ex-England youth international is thriving in the Premier League with Wolves keeping four clean sheets in his nine Premier League appearances.
West Brom can solve a lot of their problems by adopting this approach.
Craig Dawson, Ahmed Hegazi and Kyle Bartley have been Moore’s regular back-three this season and aside from none of them being able to pass the ball that well, none of them are left-footed.
Luckily, West Brom do have a few left-footed midfielders who could drop into this role.
Gareth Barry has been a defensive midfielder for a long time. He has the defensive attributes and the ball-playing ones, but at 37-years-of-age, he is hardly a long-term option and he may well be leaving The Hawthorns at the end of the season when his contract expires.
Chris Brunt is another one. The ex-Northern Ireland international spent some time playing at left-back during Tony Pulis’ reign, but there are doubts about his mobility and ability to defend.
Sam Field is the obvious contender and is the player that Moore must throw into his back-three.
The 20-year-old is ultra-composed on the ball, he is 6ft 1in tall so he can pose an aerial presence, he needs to get more game-time and he is young and will adapt to the role quicker than his senior team-mates.
Moore has already tried playing Field in the defence with three outings in that role in the Carabao Cup.
However the West Brom boss must be bold and axe one of his senior centre-backs to play Field in his back-three.
If he does, the reward for the risk will be great and the Baggies will soon be back in the Premier League.