Luke Hatfield and Joe Masi discussed all of the latest West Bromwich Albion news on the most recent edition of the Express and Star’s Baggies Broadcast podcast. During the show, the journalists spent some time talking about potential areas of concern in the Baggies’ squad at present.
West Brom have not enjoyed a very positive start to the 2020/21 Premier League campaign, with the west Midlands club currently sitting third-bottom in the top flight, having failed to win any of their first eight league games of the season.
With that in mind, it may be fair to say that it’s looking likely, at present, that Slaven Bilic’s side will be involved in a relegation battle this term and perhaps some investment in the squad in the January transfer window will be required to boost their survival hopes.
During this recent edition of the Baggies Broadcast podcast, Masi was asked about the possibility of Albion doing some January transfer business to strengthen either the centre-back position or right wing-back position – and the journalist replied to that question to share that he thinks the right wing-back position is the “most pressing” area of concern for the Baggies, saying:
“I personally think there’s enough [centre-backs] – just enough. Their big issue is right wing-back, for me. That’s a much more pressing issue. For me, if [Darnell] Furlong gets injured, there’s a problem there. I think you can get away with the centre-backs; I think right-back’s an issue.”
Do West Brom need to strengthen their squad at right wing-back?
YES
NO
TIF Thoughts on what Masi had to say about West Brom’s “issue” at right wing-back…
Furlong, who is an out-and-out right-back according to Transfermarkt, has started seven of West Brom’s eight Premier League games this season, while Bilic’s side has lined up in a formation that has three centre-backs in half of their top-flight games so far this term – and wing-backs are commonly used in these types of formations.
More emphasis tends to be placed on the offensive side of the game for wing-backs than there is for full-backs and it may be fair to say that Furlong has made a notable contribution to West Brom’s offence this season, with the £2.88m-rated man having played the highest-number of crosses (1.3) and the joint-third-highest number of key passes (0.7) per Premier League game of any Baggies player this season.
West Brom’s only other out-and-out right-back, Lee Peltier, has made just two appearances for the club since he was signed in January and he is thought to be weak at crossing and passing (as per WhoScored), so perhaps he wouldn’t offer much to Bilic’s side as a wing-back.
As it may be fair to say that there is no other obvious and natural potential backup to Furlong for the right wing-back position in West Brom’s first-team squad at present, we feel that Masi is right in saying that this area is one that the club should think about strengthening.