Ryan Mason urged to make 'glaringly obvious' West Brom change - It involves George Campbell | OneFootball

With one win from their last five, West Bromwich Albion are sliding after a strong start, so FLW asked our Albion fan pundit what changes they need.

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Following a strong start to the season, which saw them rise to second place in the Championship, West Bromwich Albion have been on the slide.

Another international break might be welcome news for West Bromwich Albion. Following a strong start to the season, which saw them pick up ten points from their first four matches, they've now only won one of their last five and have slipped from second in the league table at the end of August to 7th by the first week October.

This break is an opportunity for the West Brom head coach Ryan Mason to reset, and there may well be changes to come for their next League match against Preston North End at The Hawthorns on the 18th October. Albion's 3-0 defeat at Millwall on Saturday was their heaviest defeat of the season so far, hardly a sign that everything's going according to plan for Mason at the moment.

With all of this in mind, FLW wanted to know what changes the new boss could put in place while he has a couple of weeks' breathing space, so we've spoken to our resident Baggies fan pundit Callum Burgess for his assessment of how different the team could look by the time they return to action.

"Glaringly obvious" - West Bromwich Albion urged to make change at right-back

Callum was quick to point out that fans might be keen to see several changes to the West Bromwich Albion team, but that one particular position seems to need particular attention at the moment: "I think there's quite a few players where Albion fans will be hoping that there will be a few changes to the starting eleven, but I think one in particular that Albion fans would like to see is Alfie Gilchrist coming into the starting eleven over George Campbell. The American did have a good start for us against Stoke City, when he got put in at right-back after Furlong's departure."

He has solid reasons for making a change at right-back, with his primary criticism of George Campbell being that he looks like someone who's playing out of position, and that Gilchrist could move into this position even though he's younger than Campbell: "I think, especially when Albion mean to have more of the ball and dominate teams, some of his weaknesses when we're in possession, particularly when he's got the ball, become a bit glaringly obvious, I think. It's quite clear that he's a centre-back playing out of position and I think Gilchrist is more familiar with playing right-back. He's got a few more years of experience of playing in that role, although he is a younger player."

Callum feels that having a player who is more naturally suited to that position would be a significant benefit to his team: "Although he's not really leaps and bounds ahead of Campbell when he's got the ball, it's not like he's Cafu at right-back, I think that having someone who's naturally played there before is more convincing in that position because when Albion are dominating the ball in possession Campbell's weaknesses as an offensive player rather than an out-and-out defender do become a bit obvious."

Ryan Mason's right-back conundrum came about because of the sale of Darnell Furlong

A side-by-side comparison of Alfie Gilchrist and George Campbell's heat maps for the 2024-25 season bears out the obvious; that Gilchrist is a more natural fit for the right-back position in the West Brom team. Campbell has started Albion's last eight league matches, and was switched from centre-back to right back following their 1-1 draw with Portsmouth in August after playing two games in the centre of their defence.

Alfie Gilchrist, by contrast, made 30 appearances at right-back for Sheffield United throughout the 2024-25 season, a figure which would likely have been higher had he not sustained an ankle injury which kept him out of most of its latter stages. Gilchrist is three years younger than Campbell, but has already demonstrated that this is his position. George Campbell's last two seasons in MLS with CF Montreal saw him play at centre-back.

This all came about as a result of the £4 million sale of regular right-back Darrnell Furlong to Ipswich Town, for whom Gilchrist was presumably a direct replacement, being signed from Sheffield United the day after Furlong's departure was confirmed. The reason for Ryan Mason using him out of position over Gilchrist weeks after Gilchrist's arrival has not been made entirely clear, with Mason saying about Gilchrist in September that, "When you get business done in the last day or two of the window, players are going to need time to understand what we want and what we expect from them".

With six years at the club under his belt at the time of his departure, Darnell Furlong left big shoes to fill in that position for West Bromwich Albion when he went to Ipswich, and Callum's assessment is that a player more familiar with that position to play at right-back should be playing there. Making this change could bring a little balance back to the West Bromwich Albion team when they return from their international break.