Ryan Mason must scrap costly West Brom tactic - it should begin v Leicester City | OneFootball

The Baggies boss must opt for a more attacking line-up after a pragmatic approach at the Riverside Stadium.

West Brom have had a positive start to the 2025-26 Championship season, but will have to show their bounce back ability under Ryan Mason.

The Baggies slipped to a second consecutive defeat after losing 2-1 at the Riverside Stadium to Middlesbrough, with David Strelec and Kaly Sene on target for the hosts, while a late Aune Heggebo header for the visitors was too little, too late.

Once again, Albion failed to show a cutting edge in the final third despite dominating possession, while Boro displayed a clinical nature, devastatingly adding their second goal just before Mason was set to introduce Mikey Johnston and Toby Collyer from the bench.

There was criticism before the match when Mason named his team, with the ex-Tottenham Hotspur coach adopting a pragmatic style by starting Ousmane Diakite over Mikey Johnston in the one change from their home defeat to Derby County.

Supporters were bound to be frustrated by such a defensive line-up, and the feelings would have gone on to be stronger given the Baggies were unable to get anything out of a big game against a promotion rival.

As a young coach, Mason must be able to learn from his mistakes, and he should be looking to implement a key change which will be important to gaining a positive result against another promotion rival in Leicester City, as Albion clash with the Foxes on Friday evening at The Hawthorns.

Ryan Mason’s defensive West Brom approach was costly v Middlesbrough

As mentioned above, Ryan Mason decided to make just the one change from their home defeat at Derby County, but it was a pretty significant one as Ousmane Diakite replaced Mikey Johnston in an attempt to bolster up the midfield line against table-toppers Middlesbrough.

This meant Isaac Price occupied a place on the left-wing, with Jayson Molumby venturing further forward when Albion had the ball, along with supporting Diakite and Alex Mowatt to try and soak up the hosts' pressure.

But the plan was far from effective. The Albion XI were tepid in the first 45 minutes and barely threatened the Middlesbrough goal, with Nat Phillips coming closest in the opening few minutes following a scramble.

Mason’s outfit looked quite disjointed, conceding a sloppy opening goal after leaving space in the six-yard box for David Strelec to fire in his strike, and while the visitors had plenty of the ball, there was little penetration in the final third.

Coming out for the second half, Mason decided to make no changes to his XI in a bid to see a reaction, but after another 15 minutes of lethargic football, Mikey Johnston and Toby Collyer were set to be introduced, only for Boro to double their advantage shortly before they were due to come on.

After adding more attack-minded players into the equation, the Baggies started to look a more dangerous side and posed some threats to the Boro backline, who weren’t convincing and did show some vulnerabilities when Albion turned up the heat.

Towards the final quarter of the game, Josh Maja was also brought into the frame, and after some extended pressure, the Baggies halved the deficit through a late Aune Heggebo header, but there wasn’t enough time left to claim a point.

West Brom showed that with more progressive players on the pitch, they can compete and hurt any team in the division, so it was bound to be disappointing for all connected with Albion to see such a pragmatic approach adopted when the club needed to bounce back from their first defeat of the term.

Ryan Mason must take the game to Leicester City

Ryan Mason must now acknowledge and fix his mistakes. He is undoubtedly going to get decisions wrong being so inexperienced as a full-time manager, but if he can show that he is learning on the job, then Albion supporters will be optimistic that he is the right man to lead the club forward under the Shilen Patel project.

From this, Mason should be making a raft of changes to the Albion XI in order to take the game to Leicester and have a great chance of getting three points.

Being at home, Albion must be on the front foot and be determined to dominate possession, so their most creative players should be getting the nod and aiming to make a difference to get their form back on track.

This encounter should bring starts to the likes of Josh Maja to support Aune Heggebo up front, while Mikey Johnston and Samuel Iling-Junior must be added from the off to give the Baggies much-needed width and to test the resolve of the Foxes’ full-backs all evening.

Meanwhile, George Campbell doesn’t look to be the answer at right-back despite impressing a few weeks ago at Stoke City, so it appears the perfect opportunity to play a more natural right-back and hand Alfie Gilchrist his debut in the blue and white stripes.

The same could be said for Charlie Taylor too. Callum Styles has been filling in at left-back for a long time now, and could be better suited slotting into midfield and offering more attacking output from his most natural position, while Taylor is such an experienced head and would add even more guile to the Baggies backline.

This is something Mason must consider ahead of their fixture under the lights against Leicester if they are serious about claiming three points and getting firmly back into the promotion conversation, otherwise it could be another long evening in the Black Country and early doubts may creep in about whether the 34-year-old is the right coach to bring success.