It’s clear to see that life for Ryan Mason at West Bromwich Albion isn’t going particularly well.
The Baggies had a stronger start to the season with wins at Stoke and Wrexham. However slowly and surely, results are becoming worse and more and more inconsistent. West Brom currently sit in 15th on 18 points one of their more shaky starts in recent times. So what’s going wrong for such a promised young manager?
After poor financial records under the ownership of Chinese business man ‘Li’ it has been a rocky start for new boys Shilen Patel and his entourage. Patel has had to deal with strict EFL financial rules, needing to sell to balance the books, which lead to the low sale of Starboy Tom Fellows to Southampton for just £8,000,000. This came towards the end of the window meaning there wasn’t any appropriate backup bought in. Ryan Mason mainly focused on defensive incomings with the likes of Mepham and Campbell. Whist looking good on paper, this was arguably not what the club needed.
Lack Of Experience?
Ryan Mason isn’t exactly an experienced manager at any level of football, despite being the assistant under many giants like Postecoglu and being an interim manager in both 2021, nd 2023. So is it just a lack of experience, and taking on too much? It’s not that simple, games have shown that Ryan Mason is able to guide his team to victories and look a solid team. Whether it’s disagreements at training or higher up falling outs, something is just not clicking anymore for Ryan Mason and the Baggies.
Player Confidence?
It’s far too obvious that new comer Aune Heggabo is not settling into life in England as the club may have intended for him to do so. Heggebo has become a fan favourite with his charisma and likeableness, however it is not currently transferring onto the pitch, which Mason needs. Aune has just 1 goal and 2 assists in 14 matches, not exactly an out and out striker as intended when he was bought in from Brann. Other forwards such as Mike Johnston and Samuel Illing-Junior have settled back in nicely but are not getting the service they require to boost the team and it’s performances. Plays are being easily read and intercepted before they can make anything of it.
Another Injury Crisis?
Yet again West Bromwich Albion have been lumped with an extensive injury list with the likes of Dike, Maja, Molumby, Collier, Bany and Wallace all nursing injuries which are inevitably bringing the squad depth and power down way below than what it should be. Huge squad injuries like this lead to the inability to rotate the squad and effectively rest key players when needed. This leads to tired legs and even poorer results. This with a combination of lack of experience is not tiding well for Masons’ newly inherited challenge.
Busy Busy Baggie Boys.
it would be a fair analysis to state that the schedule for Mason has been far from quiet, with many weekend games and midweek games following, this leads to not being able to fully work on any issues that may be within the squad, only having a day to train before having to travel down to the next opponent. Mason has outwardly expressed his disliking to the congested schedule and has credited this with the poor results. Teams have always been faced with heavy schedules, and long away days before now meaning that Masons’ inexperience could be throwing him off with confusion and insecurity within the team.
Mason has recently said that a lot of the poor results have come down to his training and management which could be shown as a sign of weakness. However, for a young manager such as himself it is a positive outlook.Being able to accredit mistakes to yourself and not the team shows willingness and determination which is exactly what the new owners are looking for.
So what are your thoughts? Is Masons time up, or does he need that little bit longer to adjust?
