West Brom have to stop using Adam Reach in the wrong position
West Brom have been in truly woeful form recently and even a change in manager hasn’t turned those fortunes around at The Hawthorns.
Their latest defeat highlighted everything that is wrong with the Baggies at the moment as they squandered a 1-0 lead to lose 2-1 away at Middlesbrough.
They might have scored for the first time in more than 500 minutes but there was still far too much going wrong for Albion.
Steve Bruce knows all about the issues in front of goal and it was only a couple of lapses in concentration that let Boro come from behind.
One of the biggest problems however is Bruce’s insistence on trying to shoe-horn Adam Reach into the number 10 position when he seems incapable of playing there.
Far too often he was caught dawdling on the ball at the Riverside and he was unable to affect the game as he can because he was being asked to do things unnatural to him.
He is best when he is either out wide or through the middle as a striker and both are very easily achieved without changing the personnel.
Bruce could easily push Reach forward to go alongside Andy Carroll up front, becoming a 4-4-2 in the process or swap Reach and Karlan Grant who currently occupies the left wing.
Grant’s own performance was dire in midweek as he was far too predictable, not something you can say about Reach at his best.
If he is utilised correctly, he can be the catalyst to firing Albion back towards the playoff picture rather than sliding down the Championship table even further.
In other West Brom news, Bruce thinks there is just one key component that needs resolving to change the Baggies’ fortunes.
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