West Brom are smashing it in one key area - but Ryan Mason needs to fix glaring problem | OneFootball

The Baggies have been dominant on the ball so far this season, but need that attacking edge in certain games.

Ryan Mason's first month in charge at West Bromwich Albion can be categorised as a successful one.

The Baggies looked to be on a downward trajectory after Carlos Corberan departed last December, and the rest of last season indicated that perhaps an average squad was being helped by a quality manager, a squad which would have had to have its best players cut from it this summer due to PSR rulings.

Therefore, bringing in someone like Ryan Mason, who has shown promise as an assistant coach at Tottenham Hotspur but is inexperienced at being the number one, was a risk, but West Brom have performed admirably under his tutelage in six games so far this season.

Ryan Mason masterminded three wins and a draw through four games before the first international break, and despite two defeats since then, they are still among the early pace-setters, sitting seventh, two points off the top two.

West Brom lack that cutting edge under Ryan Mason despite bossing key Championship metric

The 34-year-old has implemented a strong, possession-based style, but currently, the amount of the ball which West Brom are seeing hasn't translated into too many goalmouth opportunities.

Losing Tom Fellows won't have helped, but Mason needs to come up with a way to get his strikers in scoring positions more often if he is to lead his new side to a top-six finish in his first season in management.

According to FotMob, West Brom currently leads the Championship in the number of accurate passes made per match, with their 445.8 being over 50 more than the side in second, Southampton, who have registered 390.3.

Possession-wise, West Brom's 55.3% average is eighth in the division, and they've dominated the ball in games against Derby County and Middlesbrough recently, as well as Portsmouth earlier on in the campaign.

However, in their most recent two defeats to Derby and Boro respectively, Mason's men huffed and puffed with the lion's share of possession once again, but of their 33 total shots across both of those games, just seven were on target.

Unfortunately, though, this hasn't translated into many goals or even goal-scoring opportunities. They rank in the bottom half of the Championship for expected goals and big chances, and are 12th when it comes to shots on target per match, with only seven goals scored so far this term.

The Baggies have only netted more than once in a game on one occasion under Mason, away at Wrexham, whose defensive deficiencies have been well documented so far this season.

Clearly, Ryan Mason has come into the job at the Hawthorns with the view of watching his side play some patient, fluid build-up play, and so far, he's been able to implement that. Now, however, it's time for the focus to switch to putting the ball into the back of the net more often.

Tom Fellows' departure may impact West Brom more than once feared

Losing Tom Fellows late on in the transfer window was a huge blow for the Baggies, not only for the creativity he brought to the side, but mainly for the difficulty in replacing him at such short notice.

Fellows topped the assist charts in the Championship last season, accumulating 14 across the season, and he looked to get West Brom on the front foot with his direct style multiple times across a match.

Now, West Brom don't seem to have that dynamic winger who can change games at an instant, and chances are coming more at a premium for the Baggies, especially against certain defences that don't give an inch, such as Derby's, who absorbed 18 attempts from Ryan Mason's side in their 1-0 win earlier this month.

It won't be time for panic stations just yet, as West Brom do have a whole host of prolific strikers who may only need one or two chances to find the back of the net in Josh Maja and Aune Heggebo, and Isaac Price has shown his creative spark at times already this campaign.

But with Fellows in their fold, the Baggies were almost certain to be one of the more dangerous sides going forward, and now they're firmly in the middle of the pack.

There's still the opportunity for that to improve under Mason, but his side is going to need to turn their impressive passing numbers into impressive chance-creating numbers sooner rather than later.