West Bromwich Albion slumped to just their second defeat of the season and gave up their place atop the Championship table on Sunday afternoon after they were defeated 2-0 by Middlesbrough at the Hawthorns.
Snapshot
The Baggies went behind in the 17th minute after Boro centre-back Daniel Ayala headed home from a Lewis Wing cross before all three points were sealed by Ashley Fletcher’s stunning strike in injury time.
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It meant that Albion’s 14-match unbeaten run came to an end as they handed Leeds United the throne going into the new year – the two teams will meet next in the west Midlands in just a few days.
Slaven Bilic’s side tried to find a way back in the second half with skipper Jake Livermore, substitute Charlie Austin and Matty Phillips all forcing saves out of the visiting goalkeeper.
Off the Bench
However, the Croatian made several changes to his starting line up with four players coming in from Boxing Day’s 1-1 draw with Barnsley.
Surprisingly there was a first start for Gareth Barry while Kyle Edwards and Nathan Ferguson returned to the XI.
It meant that Romaine Sawyers was dropped to the bench, and he wasn’t even able to come on as a substitute either with Bilic electing for his fellow countryman Filip Krovinovic on the hour mark.
The series of above events may have cost the Baggies a decent shot at beating a Boro side that lacked over five first-team players through injury.
Sawyers is an integral member of the whole squad, not just as the key orchestrator in Albion’s engine room – no player in the team is anywhere near averaging the same number of passes per game than the 28-year-old (65.7%), which is only emphasised greatly when assessing his passing accuracy which stands at an impressive 90.8%, via WhoScored.
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No player in the division, which isn’t a centre-back, can match it either, so it only goes to show that Sawyers is the metronome in Bilic’s system – or the glue that holds everything together.
Take that out, and something like this happens. Per SofaScore, Barry failed to register a key pass, could only manage a passing accuracy of 81% and lost possession ten times in precisely 60 minutes of action. At 38, he’s no match for the summer arrival.
And in other news, West Brom may have received a major setback in this key January target…
