West Bromwich Albion’s upcoming fixtures in March look tricky on paper as Tony Mowbray’s men have two daunting away trips to automatic promotion rivals Leeds United and Burnley in quick succession.
With the Baggies’ poor away form in the tricky Championship also only seeing them pick up a slim four victories from 17 outings on the road, these games will be a big character-building test for the West Midlands side in their quest to cement a playoff position.
Mowbray will just have to hope that his usual star performers in Tom Fellows and other standout individuals can deliver the goods, with his side in danger of slipping out of the top six if they fall victim to more and more disappointing results.
Mowbray’s standout West Brom talents
The 61-year-old will be crying out for even more from faces such as the Everton-linked Fellows, considering Josh Maja doesn’t look any closer to being back in the main XI owing to injury.
Whilst the 12-goal striker has been absent throughout his return to date, Mowbray has still been able to call upon his 21-year-old ace, who actually boasts 11 assists himself in league action this season.
The homegrown talent also has two Championship strikes next to his name with the Hawthorns masses often left in awe at what their young winger is capable of.
He is joined in the midfield ranks by a more experienced head in Alex Mowatt, who is also enjoying a fine season in terms of goal and assist output, with the ex-Leeds man up to eight in total in the second tier.
Despite both of their continued glowing displays, there is one former Baggies dud currently outperforming the pair in his native country, after failing to ever get going in the West Midlands.
The goal-shy West Brom flop who’s now shining
Cast your minds back to January 2020 and the promotion-chasing side then must have thought they’d won themselves a steal landing a new, exciting attacker for just £1m.
Indeed, former Hull City sensation Kamil Grosicki would relocate from the Tigers to call the Hawthorns his new home mid-campaign in search of a Premier League promotion, with 25 of his usually sublime 26 Hull goals coming in the Championship.
Unfortunately, his time at West Brom would end up being rather forgettable and short-lived, with the Polish ace turning all goal-shy in his new surroundings, far removed from his audacious best donning Hull orange and black.
In total, the 5 foot 11 forward would only amass an underwhelming return of one goal and five assists from 19 Baggies appearances, before heading back to his homeland with boyhood outfit Pogoń Szczecin in a free transfer switch, a move which has now resulted in Grosicki seeing his out up-and-down playing days in style.
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Grosicki’s G/A numbers since rejoining Szczecin |
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|---|---|---|---|
|
Season |
Games played |
Goals scored |
Assists |
|
24/25 |
23 |
7 |
8 |
|
23/24 |
43 |
16 |
17 |
|
22/23 |
40 |
13 |
10 |
|
21/22 |
27 |
9 |
7 |
|
Sourced by Transfermarkt |
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Glancing at the table above, Grosicki has certainly made up for lost time with the club that handed him his first senior opportunities, with a stunning 45 goals and 42 assists picked up across four campaigns.
This season, his combined haul of 15 goal contributions means he is bettering both Fellows and Mowatt, with that grand amount also bettering Maja’s 14 goals and assists in the league, albeit in a far less taxing environment in the Polish top tier.
Still, the ageing attacker will just be glad he’s managing to still strut his stuff so late into his career, after failing to ever settle at the Championship promotion hopefuls.
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