It’s a common refrain to hear football fans profess: “it was a game of two halves.”
However, not many have reason to repeat the overused phrase every week, unless you are an Albion fan.
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Saturday’s 3-2 defeat to Coventry summed up Albion’s season in microcosm.
The Baggies went into half-time with a 2-1 lead (having led 2-0 after 32 minutes), only to find themselves 3-2 down and a man down just 16 minutes after the restart.
The Baggies are a complete paradox this season. They are the third best team in the first half of the Championship, but the third worst team in the second half.
Put another way, if we only count the first half performances, Albion are competing for automatic promotion, but if we only count the second halves, we are in the relegation zone.
How can a team be so good and so bad for the same 90 minutes, I hear you ask.
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We have a theory at Albion Analysis, it is that the Baggies’ qualities and deficiencies reflect those of their manager, Ryan Mason.
The positive first.
Mason was so highly rated as a manager that serial winner Antonio Conte promoted him to Spurs’ first-team coaching staff.
And his ability on the training ground to prepare this Albion team for games is evident in the way the Baggies start games.
Albion have scored four unanswered goals in the first 15 minutes of the game, and their aggregate score at half-time this season is an impressive 10-5.
Compare that to their second-half record and you’ll see a stark difference.
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Albion’s aggregate score in the second half this season is 6-14, with the Baggies routinely conceding within 15 minutes of the restart and in the final 15 minutes of matches.
This can potentially be attributed to the strange and often hesitant changes that Mason makes.
He was decisive on Saturday, but only to withdraw Mikey Johnston at half-time for “tactical reasons”, despite the winger having provided two assists in the first half.
Mason was less decisive after Jayson Molumby was sent off, allowing 13 minutes and two goals to pass.
When Mason reacted, Albion were a goal down and fans were left baffled that the change was to remove two-goal first-half hero Aune Heggebo.
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Sadly, this is not an isolated incident either, with substitutions in recent matches against Sheffield Wednesday and Charlton having come under intense scrutiny.
This has left many Albion fans wondering whether their inexperienced manager has yet developed the in-game management skills to consistently produce the 90-minute displays Albion need to lift them from their lowly position of 17th in the Championship table.
Hear more from Chris Hall at Albion Analysis
