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This article is part of Football FanCast's The Chalkboard series, which provides a tactical insight into teams, players, managers, potential signings and more...
West Brom are enjoying life under Slaven Bilic this season as they sit fourth in the Championship table, having not lost any of their opening six matches.
This weekend they head to Craven Cottage to face Fulham, who too are in the promotion hunt following relegation from the Premier League last season.
Saturday’s early kickoff is the first for both teams after September’s international break played havoc to the schedule in the last ten days or so.
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It’ll be a tough test against the Cottagers considering they are just two points behind the Baggies and average the highest number of possession of any side in the league at an average of 63.8%, per WhoScored.
The biggest concern is the fact that West Brom have not yet kept a clean sheet.
On the Chalkboard
The Croatian’s comments this week could be a hint towards where it has gone wrong defensively this season, telling Express & Star: "Zonal gives you a little bit of extra security. You are covered, everyone has got their own areas. But what we are trying to do is mix it up."
Bilic seems to favour a system which utilises zonal marking, but if the side had actually kept out a goal once in a while, there wouldn’t be any eyebrows raised over it.
The Baggies have let in seven goals so far this campaign, which compared to the rest of the league isn’t a lot, but it is still an issue, particularly for a team chasing promotion.
Four of those have come from set-pieces – that’s over 50%.
West Brom fans will want to cover their ears for the video below...
It is something that needs improving, otherwise, it may put their quest for Premier League football at risk.
Sheffield United went up last year recording 21 clean sheets in 46 matches while West Brom faltered in the playoffs, having kept just nine of them.
As Sir Alex Ferguson once famously said, “Attack wins you games, defence wins you titles,” and that's something that needs to be abided by in the Championship for West Brom.
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