View: How has Hal Robson-Kanu transformed into one of West Brom’s key players?
Slaven Bilic has improved a number of players since taking charge at West Brom, but no player has had a more dramatic transformation than Hal Robson-Kanu.
Before this season, Robson-Kanu had scored nine goals in 94 appearances for the Baggies. However this term he has already more than doubled that tally with 10 goals in 31 Championship matches.
But the 30-year-old’s return in front of goal isn’t the only thing that has improved with him constantly playing a vital role in West Brom’s overall attacking play.
One of the main things that Bilic has done with Robson-Kanu is play him more as a proper centre-forward, rather than him being shoved out on the wing by his former managers.
Heatmaps on the WyScout website show just how drastically the Welshman’s positioning has changed.
Below is a heatmap of Robson-Kanu last season in the Championship and, as you can see, a lot of his play was focused down the right-wing.
Fast forward to this season and it is noticeable that there is not as much heat on the right-wing, with Robson-Kanu playing a lot more centrally.
Also, the ex-Reading forward has more of an influencing the centre of the penalty area and on the left-wing, showing a wider range to his positional play that has made him way more influential in the West Brom attack.
You would think that a more versatile, central role for Robson-Kanu, you would notice an improvement with his stats. However this next part might surprise West Brom supporters.
According to WyScout, Robson-Kanu averaged more shots at goal, passes, crosses, dribbles, aerial duels and touches inside the penalty area per 90 minutes of Championship football last season than he has done this season.
Some of the only areas which Robson-Kanu has improved in this season is his goals-per-minute ratio and the percentage of his shots that have hit the target, which has gone up from 32.6 per cent to 46 per cent.
It begs the question: how come it is so clear that Robson-Kanu has improved under Bilic but the stats don’t back that up?
Obviously, he is hitting the target more often with his shots and therefore scoring more goals, which is what we all want to see from a centre-forward playing for a team gunning for promotion. But Robson-Kanu’s link-up play and ability to drag defenders out of position are two things that the stats cannot prove.
One example would be Jake Livermore’s goal against Preston in February.
It was a superb counter-attacking goal by West Brom which saw Livermore win possession in Albion’s defensive third, before Robson-Kanu dropped deep to receive a pass from Livermore before playing it out wide to Callum Robinson.
The move ended with Robson-Kanu and Livermore continuing their burst forward with the Welshman receiving a cross from Robinson, that was touched down to Livermore to score.
Another point about Robson-Kanu is that the Albion forward is surrounded by more high-quality players this season than he ever has been for the club.
Matheus Pereira, Callum Robinson, Matthew Phillips and Grady Diangana have offered an abundance of support from the attacking midfield and wide areas, whereas last season, Harvey Barnes and Phillips were the only two with quality in those roles.
Robson-Kanu, therefore, seems to thrive in a team with better players but that seems like it plays down his overall accomplishments this season.
Still, West Brom fans know just how key the ex-Reading player has been this season and hopefully he can continue his form once the football gets back underway.
In other West Brom news, Bilic wants to sign this Albion loan star on a permanent deal.