View: Alarming stats show West Brom player must be dropped after rotten display v Leeds
Romaine Sawyers has had to fight tooth and nail to get his Premier League chance, but it could be over quicker than he expected with the midfielder so far failing to make the grade with a series of ineffectual displays this season.
After scoring an own-goal to start the 5-0 demolition job inflicted by Leeds United on Tuesday, Sawyers was awarded a 4.1 rating by WhoScored, the lowest of any outfielder by some margin (Matt Phillips with 5.2 was the next closest).
Own-goals and the odd poor display are part and parcel of football, especially as a player operating at the lower end of the Premier League, but the form of Sawyers has been worrying all season, and it doesn’t look like it will get better any time soon.
At 6.20, Sawyers is rated as the seventh-worst performer in the Premier League this season by WhoScored, alongside teammate Phillips. Of those other six, the only outfield player to start more than six games is captain Jake Livermore (10).
While Livermore and Phillips have certainly failed to impress and face uncertain futures of their own, they can at least take solace in the fact that they have been able to hold their own in the Premier League in seasons gone by.
Sawyers, meanwhile, is experiencing top-flight football for the first time in his career and is struggling to adapt to the demands placed on him in the Albion midfield.
January is just around the corner, and manager Sam Allardyce will be fervently looking for new recruits to inject some quality into his side, and Sawyers should be worried for his first-team place, and potentially his Baggies future.
While Sawyers remains an efficient passer (84.7%), he is failing to contribute in many other areas, with no goals or assists, and with the Baggies bottom of the Premier League possession stakes (38.2% per WyScout), it seems remiss of Allardyce to keep faith with a midfielder so ill-suited to this style of football.
Options are low for Allardyce in the middle of midfield, with Livermore still suspended following his red card against Aston Villa on December 20.
Phillips and Conor Gallagher lined up ahead of Sawyers against Leeds, but both are more attacking options and are unlikely to be suitable for a defensive midfield role.
Therefore, Allardyce must persist with Sawyers for at least one more match, but the writing looks to be on the wall in 2021 for the ex-Brentford star, as the new boss attempts to stamp his authority on the team.
If West Brom are to claw their way to Premier League safety this season some tough calls are going to have to be made, and dropping boyhood Albion fan Sawyers, who came through the youth ranks at the Hawthorns, looks like being essential to shore up their midfield.
In other West Brom news, Allardyce calls for PL break after COVID fears heighten.
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