West Bromwich Albion are now off the top of the Championship perch as Michael Carrick’s Middlesbrough got the better of the Baggies at the Hawthorns by a solitary goal.
In truth, it wasn’t the most action-packed spectacle in the West Midlands, but Hayden Hackney would manage to coolly slot home a chance late on for the away side to be crowned slim 1-0 victors.
There were many underperformers on the night from West Brom’s perspective, with two defeats now worryingly picked up on the spin for the early promotion chasers, after they had once set the pace for the division.
The main West Brom underperformers vs Boro
It was a very poor display from the attackers at Carlos Corberan’s disposal, with just one shot on target accumulated come the full-time whistle.
The likes of Jed Wallace and Karlan Grant were notably below-par down the wings, as the Baggies captain failed to create chances galore for his teammates with just 14 accurate passes registered, whilst Grant failed to complete a single dribble from four attempts.
Moreover, it was another weak showing from Darnell Furlong after his own goal away at Sheffield Wednesday – who is usually one of the first names on the Spaniard’s teamsheet – with the Baggies number two uncharacteristically sloppy on the ball by squandering possession a costly 16 times.
But, one performance, in particular, will have been heavily scrutinised under the microscope post-match more than others, as Josh Maja failed to ever spark into life.
Maja's performance vs Boro in numbers
It was a strangely wasteful performance from the ex-Fulham striker, who had this golden opportunity put on a plate for him by Alex Mowatt deep into the second 45 minutes, only for his connection to be all off.
Before Tuesday night’s game, Maja had seven goals in seven for the Baggies in league action, but struggled throughout in a bid to make it an unbelievable eight from eight against Carrick’s visitors.
Minutes played
90
Goals scored
0
Assists
0
Shots on target
0
Shots off target
3
Big chances missed
2
Possession lost
12x
Accurate passes
10/17 (59%)
Total duels won
4/10
It wasn’t just Maja’s ineffectiveness in front of goal that would make for grim reading when digging into his numbers post-match, with the 25-year-old also poor on the ball with possession lost 12 times across his flat 90 minutes on the pitch.
The Nigerian attacker was also weak when asserting himself into duels, away from those possession numbers, with only 40% of his duels successfully won on the night to truly cap off a dire individual showing leading the line for Corberan’s men.
It will be intriguing to see if the Baggies boss decides to drop Maja for West Brom’s next Championship clash this weekend against Millwall, with the former Huddersfield Town manager well aware that bold calls such as axing the usually potent centre-forward could get a reaction out of his troops, who have now surprisingly tasted defeat twice in quick succession.
Still, Corberan could also stick by the 25-year-old for the test of Neil Harris’ men on Saturday, with Maja leading the way for most goals scored in the division even after this quiet showing.
The last two games will have acted as a big wake-up call for the West Brom manager, as the Baggies now find themselves outside of the top two positions and bruised ahead of more challenging Championship clashes to come.
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