West Brom: Ryan Mason urged to make big Baggies decision involving Josh Maja & Heggebo - "something has to change" | OneFootball

FLW’s West Brom fan pundit has expressed his thoughts on Josh Maja and Aune Heggebo playing together in a front two.

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…

West Brom’s struggles under Ryan Mason continued after his side were held to a 1-1 draw against local rivals Birmingham City in midweek.

The story of Albion’s season so far has been a lack of firepower at the top end of the pitch, with the Black Country left to rue missed chances in the second half to kill their opponents off in the West Midlands derby.

After going in front courtesy of an early strike from Alex Mowatt, the Baggies fluffed a number of massive opportunities, with Isaac Price failing to make Blues pay in 3v1 and 2v1 scenarios, while Mikey Johnston scuffed a left-footed effort wide towards the latter stages of the game.

As Albion so often have done, they paid the price for not showing a ruthless edge, as Marvin Ducksch’s glanced header meant the spoils were shared in front of a rather flat crowd at The Hawthorns.

The ex-Tottenham Hotspur coach is still under massive pressure to turn West Brom’s fortunes around. The 34-year-old isn’t a popular figure among the Albion faithful during his early tenure, with a mix of poor in-game management, inconsistent results and an underwhelming league position leading some to believe he isn’t the right man to lead the club forward.

As mentioned, much of the Baggies’ downfall has been their inability to put teams away. Mason has stuck with a 4-2-3-1 formation ever since he entered the dugout at The Hawthorns, with it seeing his side record just 17 goals from their opening 17 league games, ranking them 19th in the division for goals scored.

So is it time for Mason to tweak the formation and experiment with a two-striker formation, particularly when Daryl Dike’s minutes from the bench are being hindered as Josh Maja and Aune Heggebo have shared the starting role so far this season?

With this in mind, FLW’s West Brom fan pundit has outlined whether he would like to see this tweak for when Albion take on Swansea City this weekend.

Ryan Mason advised to make West Brom formation tweak that involves Josh Maja and Aune Heggebo

Speaking to Football League World, West Brom fan pundit Callum Burgess believes boss Ryan Mason has to move to a two-striker formation in order to see an influx of goals at the top end of the pitch, insisting he has nothing to lose by trying something different.

Callum said: “I think in order to try and add some more goals to the team, it’s definitely got to be something to consider playing the two of them up front together.

“You could potentially have Price out on the wing with Johnston on the other, with the two of them up front, and I think that could be an option that would work for us, but I think I’d also like to see Daryl Dike play a part as well. He’s not featured much at all under Mason.

“With the strikers we’ve got in Heggebo, Maja and Dike, we’ve definitely got to start adding more goals to the side.

"We’ve played 17 games and only scored 17 goals, so it’s clear something has to change, and experimenting with two strikers up front in the shape of Maja and Heggebo, it’s definitely got to be something to try.”

Ryan Mason needs to show some proactiveness to turn West Brom slump around

It’s been a tough start to life for Ryan Mason in his first full-time managerial role, experiencing the hardships that come with coaching in one of the most relentless divisions in the world.

Albion are still navigating their way through challenging financial difficulty, proven by the high-profile sales of Torbjorn Heggem and Tom Fellows this summer, which has left Mason with a weaker squad to inherit than his predecessors have.

But there are still a group of proven Championship players that can push higher than where they’re placed at the moment, and you do get the feeling the playing system isn’t quite getting the best out of them collectively.

While Aune Heggebo is showing signs of improvement in front of goal and is showcasing his talents, he’s still a player that likes the ball into his feet and someone to play off to transition attacks together.

The same can be said for Maja, who showed in the first half of last season his silky touch and link-up play, dropping deep to move the ball to his teammates, while galloping into the advanced areas of the pitch to score the chances that were created.

Both Maja and Heggebo could form a fruitful partnership with their similar attributes, and it could be a way of helping drag Albion up the pitch and maintain possession on a more consistent basis than they are currently doing, as they have dropped points too many times by letting opposition teams come onto them.

Since the Nigerian international has returned, he has looked a shadow of the striker that was seen last season, but that can happen when you're constantly chopped and changed between starting games and being on the bench, so he could find his magic again if some continuity is shown in his playing time.

On paper, West Brom still have one of the more talented forward departments in the division, and making such a slight tweak could make all the difference in Mason’s men becoming a free-flowing outfit moving forward.

The Albion faithful have not been impressed with Mason’s inability to change things during his short time as boss so far, but there’s an opportunity to win them around if he shows some flexibility in his tactics against the Swans.