View: How Robinson made instant impact at West Brom and sparked life into struggling attack
It is no secret that since Callum Robinson joined West Brom on loan from Sheffield United in January, the Baggies’ form has improved massively.
Before the 25-year-old winger made his Albion debut against Luton Town on February 1, Slaven Bilic’s side had gone seven Championship matches without a win, scoring just six goals in the process.
Robinson’s move to The Hawthorns sparked a major change in fortunes as West Brom then went on to win 16 out of 18 available points in his first six appearances.
It would be simplistic to say that Robinson was the sole cause of West Brom’s up-turn in form with Bilic also ringing a couple of other changes in personnel and tweaking his tactical system. But, there’s no denying that the on-loan Blades winger offered a cutting edge that Albion had been so desperately lacking during Grady Diangana’s spell on the sidelines.
One look at Robinson’s West Brom debut against Luton shows how much of an instant impact he made at The Hawthorns.
In the game before earning a victory over Graeme Jones’ side, Kyle Edwards had started on the left-wing as the Baggies lost to Cardiff City.
Edwards, 22, is a decent young attacker but had not been offering anywhere near enough on the left-wing as Diangana had.
Below is an image of Edwards’ heatmap from the defeat to Cardiff, courtesy of WyScout.
Edwards played pretty much on the touchline before he was substituted off after an hour of action.
It is no surprise that he attempted five crosses due to being forced to play so wide – with only one being successful – and failing to register a single shot on target or a single touch inside the penalty area.
West Brom have relied on goals from wide players this season but to score goals you have to be having efforts at goal.
Matt Phillips, Diangana, Matheus Pereira, Diangana, Edwards and Robinson account for 24 of West Brom’s goals this season. In comparison, the three strikers also have 24 between them.
Below is a heatmap of Robinson’s debut against Luton after he replaced Edwards in the starting line-up.
It is clear, straight away, how much more narrow Robinson’s role was compared to Edwards’.
As such, it is no surprise that the 25-year-old had six shots at goal in that match – three being on target – and seven touches inside the Luton penalty area.
While Robinson didn’t get on the scoresheet in that match, he did force the own goal from Luton’s Donervon Daniels with a dangerous low cross from a deeper area on he left.
Robinson’s introduction at West Brom allowed them to play a similar style of football that they when Diangana was in the side.
While Bilic has since switched from a 4-2-3-1 to a 4-3-3 formation, one of the fundamental parts of his system is to have the wide attackers drift inside, make runs, whip in crosses, link-up with the centre-forward and get on the scoresheet.
Robinson has done all of that since joining West Brom. And it is also what Diangana did before his injury woes in December, January and February.
Once football does reconvene and Diangana is available for selection once more, it will be interesting to see who Bilic picks to start on that left-wing.
In other West Brom news, Kevin Phillips has tipped this Albion attacker to become a legend at the club.