Are West Brom fans being too harsh on Aune Heggebo after loss vs Wolves?
Aune Heggebo didn't enjoy his best day in a West Bromwich Albion shirt against Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Indeed, the 25-year-old is again proving to be a highly divisive figure amongst Baggies fans for his hot and cold performances.
Consistency has been one of Heggebo's key problems since his move to The Hawthorns in last year's summer window.
A debut season should always come with a player being afforded time and patience from fans, especially when joining from overseas.
However, with Albion paying £4.75million to sign the striker from Brann, the Norwegian will be expected to make a big leap this term.
What he showed in the Black Country derby defeat, however, is only heightening the fear that this won't be the case.
What have West Brom fans been saying on Aune Heggebo's Wolves display?
As when any derby game is lost, fans of the team on the losing side are naturally going to be emotionally charged up.
Because of this, players can often come in for particularly heavy criticism, some of it justifiable, but it routinely goes over the top as well.
Heggebo has been one of the big West Brom boo boys coming out of Sunday's defeat to Wolves in the Black Country derby.
Withdrawn just after the hour mark, a considerable numbers fans have taken to social media to lambast his performance at Molineux.
"I’m not gonna start picking on our players but I just don’t see what Heggebo does. Very poor yet again. He doesn’t offer anything. No goals, no pace, no involvement. Not good enough," wrote one fan on X.
"Genuinely, pointless Heggebo playing," said another Albion supporter.
But, whilst Heggebo was poor against Wolves, was that all his fault, or do his teammates need to take some responsibility for it too?
Why the data does plenty to absolve Heggebo of Wolves blame
Per FotMob, Heggebo only touched the ball seven times against Wolves before being substituted.
Asking your striker to impact the game in any way with this level of involvement isn't really fair.
The argument can be made that Heggebo should've came looking for the ball more, but that's not his job under James Morrison, with Jimmy-Jay Morgan being that player.
Morrison wants Heggebo sniffing around the box and pushing defenders back down the pitch as much as possible, and that relies on getting service to him.
Albion created zero big chances against Wanderers, and as illustrated via FotMob, just 26 per cent of their attacking play came down the middle.
The Baggies played 125 passes in Wolves' half compared to 212 in their own, whilst also delivering two accurate crosses all game.
Overall then, Heggebo didn't deserve to come out of Wolves with credit, but at the same time, the criticism he's getting perhaps isn't considering crucial creative play context.