West Bromwich Albion’s up-and-down start in the Championship under Ryan Mason continued away at Watford in their last outing.
The Baggies battled well last time out on their home patch against Preston North End to collect a 2-1 victory, only to then travel to the Hornets right after this home win, to pick up a disappointing fourth league defeat of the season already, as Javi Gracia’s hosts ran out 2-1 winners.
Leaking two strikes at Vicarage Road now means that West Brom have conceded more goals this season so far than they’ve scored, with just a paltry 12 league goals put away, next to the 13 they’ve surrendered.
Unfortunately, expensive summer recruit Aune Heggebo has failed to click into gear as the Baggies’ main marksman, with the £4.75m splashed out on the Nordic striker’s services already looking to be a rash use of cash.
Assessing Heggebo's poor start at West Brom
Having lit up his native Norway with Brann for some time, as seen in his mammoth tally of 51 strikes from 146 clashes, Heggebo would have been confident in his ability to be an instant success on English shores.
It hasn’t been entirely pear-shaped for Heggebo since his arrival to the West Midlands, though, with the bundled-in strike above against Middlesbrough opening his Championship account for the season.
But, it’s now been five straight games in the second tier since this consolation effort unnerved Rob Edwards’ men, with his showing against Watford standing out as a very passive one looking back.
Minutes played
70
Goals scored
0
Assists
0
Touches
14
Unsuccessful touches
2
Shots
0
Accurate passes
4/4
Possession lost
5x
Total duels won
2/13
Staggeringly, despite being on the pitch for a lengthy 70 minutes, the Bergen-born forward would fail to register a single shot at the Watford goal.
To make matters worse, from his minimal 14 touches of the ball, Heggebo would also lose possession a worrying five times, while the 6-foot-1 striker would also lose out on 11 of his 13 duels as he cut an isolated figure up top.
Josh Maja hasn’t fared any better in recent weeks, either, with the ex-Sunderland man goalless throughout October too. Therefore, Mason could be tempted to throw in this other option against Ipswich Town later today, as he attempts to get the goals flowing again.
Mason could unleash West Brom's "natural goalscorer"
Of course, both Maja and Heggebo will have opportunities again to impress as the season chugs along, with Daryl Dike still getting up to speed with what’s expected of him in the Championship, after yet another long injury layover.
While Dike builds back up his fitness, however, the time could be right for Mason to gift another forgotten Baggies attacker in Karlan Grant, some more minutes, with the former Huddersfield Town star even being branded as a “natural goalscorer” by his ex-Terriers boss Jan Siewert, for his blistering form in the second-tier once upon a time.
Indeed, Grant – who has also been praised as “versatile” by ex-West Brom player Carlton Palmer – has quite the impressive back catalogue in the EFL’s elite league, with 54 goals put away from 227 career appearances at the level, 28 of which have come donning Baggies blue and white.
22 of those efforts have come about, too, from the centre-forward spot on the pitch, even with Grant being accustomed to a spot down the wing, with Heggebo – and even Maja – perhaps fearful that Mason will roll the dice very soon in attempting to get the 28-year-old back to his Championship best, to also spark his goal-shy outfit into life.
After all, seven of those goals would come about just last campaign when he was given consistent chances to impress, despite it once looking certain that Grant would be exiting the Hawthorns.
If Mason were to put his arm around the hot-and-cold number ten and start him as his leading man, a confidence, goalscoring hero could well be unearthed once more, with Grant potentially firing home the goals that result in West Brom breaking out of their frustrating inconsistencies.