View: Why Darnell Furlong lost his spot in Slaven Bilic XI
QPR fans were not at all pleased in the summer when West Brom were able to snap up right-back Darnell Furlong from them for just £1.5million.
The 24-year-old had been in impressive form for them in the second half of last season and with the Baggies in need of a new right-back, Slaven Bilic wasted no time in bringing in the Loftus Road fan favourite.
Furlong became a mainstay of Bilic’s starting line-up in the Championship as he appeared in 25 of the club’s 29 league matches before the end of January.
However since the home defeat to Stoke on January 20, Furlong hasn’t started a single league fixture for Albion with youngster Dara O’Shea emerging as Bilic’s number one pick at right-back.
It seemed harsh at first.
Furlong had barely put a foot wrong for West Brom and dropping him for someone unproven at right-back like O’Shea was a bit of a headscratcher.
While O’Shea’s first Championship start for Albion ended in a defeat to Cardiff, the 20-year-old then helped the West Midlands club go on a run that saw them pick up 16 points out of a possible 18 in the six games that followed.
In that six-game period, the Baggies conceded just three goals with two of them coming in the controversial 2-2 draw against Nottingham Forest.
In comparison, in Furlong’s last six starts at right-back in the Championship, Albion conceded eight times.
O’Shea’s emergence into the starting line-up clearly had an impact on results and West Brom’s defensive record – but how did that happen?
O’Shea has always been more of a centre-back in his career while Furlong is very much an attack-minded full-back.
With Conor Townsend, another attack-minded full-back, starting regularly on the left-hand side, it left Albion’s defence with just the two centre-backs who stayed back to defend.
But with O’Shea, Bilic added someone who can have an impact going forward but is a lot more sturdy when called upon to do his defensive duties.
As shown by WyScout, Furlong’s Championship heatmap shows that he is very much someone who loves to join in with the attacking phases of play.
Next up is O’Shea’s heatmap for his Championship appearances this season.
While the Republic of Ireland youth international still likes to get forward on the occasion, he spends a lot less time in the attacking-third than Furlong, who got himself down near the corner flag a lot more often.
The stats go to show how more effective O’Shea is when called upon to do his defensive duties too.
According to stats by WyScout, O’Shea has averaged 7.37 defensive duels per game, winning 70.7 per cent of them. O’Shea has also averaged 4.81 interceptions, 3.64 clearances and 0.88 fouls per 90 minutes of Championship football.
Whereas Furlong has averaged 4.94 defensive duels, winning just 47.9 per cent of them. The ex-QPR right-back has also averaged 4.51 interceptions, 2.19 clearances and 1.1 fouls per 90 league minutes.
All of those numbers are worse than what O’Shea has managed, showing just how effective the Irish youngster has been at bolstering up a West Brom back-line that was struggling before he came in.
In other West Brom news, Jonathan Greening has tipped this Albion player to earn a call-up for England.