Eric Ramsay isn’t delivering on set-piece promise at West Brom
Eric Ramsay is heading into his biggest week as West Brom head coach so far.
West Brom‘s 2-0 defeat to Coventry City in a Midlands derby on Saturday saw them slip to 21st in the Championship, just one place and point above the relegation zone.
It also ensured that Ramsay would continue to go in search of his first win as Albion head coach, with three draws and five defeats from his first eight games in charge at The Hawthorns.
That record and his inability to improve results and performances from his predecessor Ryan Mason has already seen him lose the confidence of the vast majority of supporters, and possibly even Shilen Patel.
Albion now enter a week that will see them host Charlton on Tuesday night, before travelling to Oxford United on Saturday, which simply has to see Ramsay’s side pick up six points against two relegation rivals.
Where is the set-piece promise Eric Ramsay was supposed to bring to West Brom?
Upon his appointment on 11 January following Mason’s sacking, hiring Ramsay was always going to be a major gamble for West Brom to take.
The 34-year-old had no full-time, senior managerial experience in English football before taking the job, with his only previous head coaching experience in the senior game coming with MLS outfit Minnesota United.
However, the Welshman did perform well in that role, guiding Minnesota to the MLS play-offs in 2025 off the back of a record points total for the club, and having dominated the league in one key category: set-pieces.
Indeed, his Minnesota side led the MLS with a record-breaking 22 set-piece goals in the 2025 regular season, which evidently showed just how much value he places on this aspect of the game in his coaching.
However, from his eight Championship games in charge of Albion so far, Ramsay’s side have scored just three goals, with two of those being from set-piece situations (Chris Mepham corner vs Derby, Isaac Price free-kick vs Middlesbrough).
As detailed in the above X post from Albion Analysis, West Brom’s expected goals (xG) from set-piece situations over the last four games has been woeful, with their 0.30 against Coventry being the highest in that period.
It’s not as if Albion don’t have set-piece threats either
One potential explanation for this set-piece struggle would be if West Brom didn’t have any obvious threats from these situations, but that’s simply not the case.
Krystian Bielik, Mepham, Nat Phillips and George Campbell are all big defenders and have been known for their set-piece danger at previous clubs.
Meanwhile, Price, Alex Mowatt and Jed Wallace all have dead ball ability, and forwards such as Daryl Dike, Josh Maja and Aune Heggebo are all sizeable targets to aim for too.
As such, there’s no real excuse for this lack of set-piece threat from Albion, which was undoubtedly a big factor as to why West Brom chiefs were attracted to and ultimately decided to appoint Ramsay in the first place.
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