West Brom told they have a £1.5m weak link with another Baggie labelled ‘really poor’

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Even on a day when three new centre-forwards got off the mark in the Championship – David Strelec and Kaly Sene scoring for Middlesbrough and Aune Heggebo opening his West Brom account – EFL expert Ali Maxwell could not help but look at the defences.

Despite the fact both Strelec and Sene announced themselves at the Riverside in style – the former opened the scoring before making way for the latter and seeing his fellow striker double Boro’s advantage – this was another game in which Rob Edwards’ rock-solid backline stood tall.

Edwards has led Middlesbrough to a historic start. Five wins and a draw from their six matches. The club’s best beginning to a new campaign in no fewer than 149 years.

Even without the injured Dael Fry, the visiting Baggies were limited to an XG of 0.95. Luke Ayling, Alfie Jones and Callum Brittain were outstanding again.

From a West Brom perspective, however, Not the Top 20 host Maxwell was less complimentary. Particularly with regards to George Campbell. A proverbial square peg in a round hole while moonlighting as a right-back in Ryan Mason’s 4-2-3-1 system.

Ali Maxwell questions George Campbell after West Brom lose at Middlesbrough

West Brom lost Darnell Furlong to Ipswich Town late in the summer.

That has forced Mason to shift Campbell, a £1.5 million signing from MLS outfit CF Montreal, from his favoured centre-back role to a more ill-fitting right-back spot.

“The key tactical aspect of this game was incredibly simple,” Maxwell explains. “West Brom’s right-back, George Campbell, touched the ball 115 times in the game, which was way more than anyone. And Middlesbrough’s game plan was pretty simple.

“Allow the pass out to Campbell on the right side of West Brom’s defence, lock everyone else off when he has the ball, and wait for Campbell to do something with it.

“And sadly, this is a guy who can play right back, does play centre-back quite often, is more ‘centre-backy’ on the ball than he is ‘right-backy’ on the ball, I think it’s fair to say.”

“It was a pretty simple out-of-possession game plan for Boro. It was incredibly effective. They executed it very well, and West Brom found it very, very difficult to do much in their final third. It was also from a neutral point of view pretty tough to watch, and I’m sure from a West Brom point of view as well.”

Question marks over Baggies duo Alfie Gilchrist and Ousmane Diakite

While Maxwell feels Alfie Gilchrist is a ‘really smart’ West Brom signing – the youngster joined on deadline day from Chelsea for an initial £1.2 million – he wonders if the former Sheffield United loanee is that much of an upgrade on Campbell at right-back.

Ousmane Diakite has questions to answer too, following a lightweight and loose performance which West Brom News described as ‘awful’.

“They are not bad,” adds Maxwell, West Brom gearing up for another season of finishing somewhere between mid-table mediocrity and the brink of the play-offs. “Their floor is high. Their ceiling is low. I think basically I think they’re going to find it hard to be top six good like this.

“Even if Campbell comes out, their other right-back is Alfie Gilchrist and he’s a similar profile, not offering much going forward. I gather there’s a youngster called Alex Williams who I’d be keen to see and hopefully could offer a bit more energy from right-back.

“On the left side, you’ve got Callum Styles, who’s who’s tidy but not dynamic in the final third. Charlie Taylor is another, similar option at left-back. Sam Iling Junior could be quite good as an attacking left-back but seemingly wants to play further forward.

“And in the centre of the park, Diakite was really poor [against Middlesbrough]. I hope to see more of Toby Collyer on loan from Manchester United because he looked quite interesting when he came on.”