James Morrison urges West Brom to be more clinical as solution sought for attacking woes
James Morrison has warned Albion must become more ruthless in attack if they are to beat the drop.
The Baggies have struggled to find the net all season, scoring just 35 goals in 36 Championship matches.
Morrison shook things up for last weekend’s 1-1 draw at Sheffield United, pairing Aune Heggebo and Daryl Dike together up front.
But while Albion’s performance was an improvement on recent weeks, it still required a 25-yard strike from defender George Campbell to salvage a draw.
Morrison, who saw Isaac Price miss a golden chance when the game was goal-less, knows the Baggies cannot depend on spectacular goals from centre-backs in every match.
He said: “Hopefully when we get to that end of the pitch, we can have a bit more quality and a bit more calm and create more chances and sustain attacks.
“Ultimately, over the season we have needed five or six chances to score one.
“The easier chance (on Saturday) was Price. You are hoping that one goes in.
“We had plenty of crosses going into the box and corners, so it is a case of needing a bit more quality, or maybe on a different day it would have dropped for us.”
Heggebo, a £4.75million signing from Brann last summer, is the club’s top scorer in all competitions this season with 10 goals but has not found the net in his last 16 appearances.
Dike, meanwhile, was making only his second Championship start of the season and is still to get off the mark for the campaign. Josh Maja, who dropped to the bench at Bramall Lane, has scored only three times, while half of Price’s six goals for the season were netted in the first three matches.
Morrison’s attacking options have not been helped by the loss of Karlan Grant and Mikey Johnston to injury.
January’s 3-2 defeat to Middlesbrough is the only time the Baggies have scored more than once in a match during their 12-game winless streak.
Those factors all played a part in Morrison changing the set-up in Sheffield as he explained: “My thinking behind it was we have been trying the same way and it has not been working.
“We wanted to give Sheffield a different problem. Their centre-halves would not want to play against Daryl and Bo.
“The first ball that went up Daryl knocked the centre-half down. We wanted a release pass up there and try to get balls in the box because we need to score some goals to get points.
“The fans like to see us doing it in a way where we can be seen to be having a go and trying to attack the goal.”
The 78 minutes played by Dike was his longest outing since he completed 90 minutes in a 3-1 defeat at Rotherham in April, 2023.
“I’m pleased for Daryl,” added Morrison. “I would have liked to have kept him on but I have to think of the bigger picture and also wanted to freshen it up.”
