View: January shocker is where it all went wrong for Darnell Furlong at West Brom
Darnell Furlong has been the preferred West Brom choice at right-back for much of the Premier League campaign but his recent ousting is cause for concern.
The 25-year-old made 22 starts in the Championship last season as the Baggies battled to second place and automatic promotion.
He made three goal contributions (scored two and assisted one) but that is a total he has already matched in 21 Premier League outings (assisted twice and scored once).
Considering the travails of Albion this season and their deep defensive positioning that is quite some going for a player who had only made three Premier League appearances before this season, all coming as a youngster in QPR’s doomed relegation fight during the 2014/15 campaign.
So that begs the question – just why has he been dropped for 34-year-old Lee Peltier?
Well the answer probably lies in his two poor displays against Fulham and Manchester City prior to being left out of Albion’s 2-1 defeat at Brammall Lane on February 2.
Like most of his teammates Furlong had a shocker v Manchester City on January 26 as the Baggies were demolished 5-0 at The Hawthorns.
According to Wyscout he was unsuccessful with 65% of his actions – his worst total of the season as a starter and well below his 52.6% average success rate in the Premier League this season.
He won just 18% of his duels and lost the ball 15 times.
Of course this was a fixture against the champions-elect who have not lost since November 21 so it would be harsh to be too critical.
That is probably why he started Albion’s next game at home to fellow strugglers Fulham.
However his performance here showed his ineptitude was not limited to just the big boys.
Furlong was nothing short of shocking in possession against the Cottagers as he completed just 12 of his 25 attempted passes to give him a success rate of 48%, his lowest total of the season in the starting XI.
He also showed very little going forward with zero crosses completed and just a single dribble.
As such Big Sam saw fit to drop him for the trip to Sheffield United at the start of February with Dara O’Shea promoted to his place, while subsequent fixtures with Spurs and Manchester United led to starts for the experienced Peltier.
He struggled big time against Spurs and picked up a knock against Manchester United which saw Furlong come off the bench to make his first appearance since January.
Furlong put in a solid shift to help see out a 1-1 draw for Albion, winning all five of his duels [100%].
With Peltier potentially set for an extended spell on the sidelines Furlong will be expected to rise up again and show he can be a reliable performer in Albion’s push for Premier League survival.
His second-half showing on Sunday should set the bar for the standards now expected of him.
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