Credit: Imago

James Barker

Mon 23 March 2026 19:00, UK

James Morrison appears to have sorted out West Brom’s defensive and midfield problems, and now just has his strike partnership of Josh Maja and Aune Heggebo to go.

Morrison has made a number of tweaks since taking over as West Brom‘s interim head coach, and they’ve largely worked to perfection.

In defence, he’s unlocked goals in George Campbell’s game and has instigated the U-turn in performances from Danny Imray at right-back.

Meanwhile in midfield, sticking with Isaac Price looks to be an inspired decision, Albion are getting much more out of Jed Wallace and the central midfield pairing of Ousmane Diakite and Jayson Molumby is working better than ever.

So, that just leaves one department of his team left to sort, and it could make all the difference between survival and relegation.

• Read more: James Morrison shows man-management class at West Brom by taking Ollie Bostock out

Aune Heggebo and Josh Maja can fire West Brom to safety

For the vast majority of this season, previous West Brom bosses Ryan Mason and Eric Ramsay respectively, both largely insisted on deploying a lone striker up top.

Morrison, however, has ripped that formula up, and has almost exclusively been setting his team up in an old-school 4-4-2 formation.

That’s a system that every player knows and is aware of their responsibilities and roles, as the former Baggies player has stripped Albion’s gameplan back to focus on doing the basics better.

It’s not flashy, it doesn’t see his brand of football come with a tag of ‘Morrisonball’, but it’s simple and effective, and it’s fixed a number of key problems that were previously weighing this Baggies side down.

Over the course of the season, it’s often been speculated what a potential Maja and Heggebo front pairing might look like at The Hawthorns, and now that it’s here, many fans will be encouraged by what they’ve seen.

However, since Morrison’s first game back in caretaker charge away at Oxford, both players have scored just one goal each in the Championship, but have linked up with one another well without the goals to show for it.

So, if Morrison can just find a way to turn their encouraging performances as a pairing into more goals from them both, then that might just be the final piece in Albion’s relegation survival puzzle.

Price and Wallace form will be key to Maja/Heggebo success

As previously touched upon, Morrison has unlocked better performances out of both Price and Wallace over the last few games.

Both wingers had been coming in for significant criticism this season, both for a lack of production and with Price in particular, for his decision to give a bit back to the travelling Baggies fans at Fratton Park back in January.

However, to their credit, they’ve both been getting back to towards their best in the last couple of games, with Price grabbing a goal and Wallace an assist against Hull on 14 March respectively.

Every successful strike pairing needs quality service into them, and that’s why Price and Wallace staying on top of their games is going to be vitally important for Albion between now and the end of the season.

For even more West Brom news and opinions, head over to Football Insider.