'Natural leader' Darren Moore is made for management, says Graeme Jones

After a tiny stutter at the start of the season, the Baggies boss has turned fortunes around with three wins in a row.

It means Moore has only lost two of his 11 games in senior management so far, and one of those was a dead rubber against Crystal Palace on the final day of last season.

And Jones, who turned down a new contract with Belgium to join Moore’s backroom staff this season, says Albion’s head coach is taking to his role.

“He’s a natural leader, that’s his biggest strength,” said Jones. “On a human level he affects everybody because he’s genuine, honest, and consistent, all the qualities a good leader needs.

“But he’s knowledgeable as well. He got promoted four times out of this league.

“You play four games like we have you realise how tough the league is. It lets you know how difficult it is, and what kind of character he is. He hasn’t changed.”

Moore waited all summer to appoint Jones after he helped take Belgium to third at the World Cup.

Friends for more than 20 years, it is a partnership that has already blossomed, but there is no traditional good cop or bad cop.

“Oh I can be both, don’t worry,” said Jones. “Darren can be both too. I think it’s about being honest, about being fair. We’ve both got that understanding.”

After scoring 11 goals in the past two league games against Norwich and QPR, the Baggies face a sterner test away at Tony Pulis’s unbeaten Middlesbrough side on Friday.

“A tough game,” said Jones. “ It’ll be a defensive block that’s difficult to break down.

“He’s changed one or two things in his approach so we’ll have to combat that.

“I would rather look at us than them but you have to pay attention to their style of play but it won’t be easy.

"I must have come up against Tony’s teams for seven years with Roberto (Martinez).

“Unless I’ve got it wrong I think we got beat once. That was to a Jonas Olsson set piece and we had 35 efforts with Everton.

“It’s a decent record, but it’s a new club, we’re in the process of doing things differently. Tony is as well, so it’ll be an interesting game.”

Albion have been playing a new 3-4-1-2 formation in the past two games, and it’s a system that has started to get the best out of Matt Phillips.

“It helps when you’ve got a player like Matt,” said Jones. “I asked him if he enjoyed playing wing back or not and he did, which helps make your mind up.

“A lot of people might not realise we finished the (Nottingham) Forest game with a back three and Matty Phillips scored.

“As a coach if you look long enough and hard enough the facts are there for you.

“I’ve been pleased with how Matty’s taken to it. He played 20 minutes, half a game, and a full game and he’s scored three goals so it bodes well for the future.”