Michael Appleton: West Brom will be strong on the break

No Championship team has scored more goals on the break than the Baggies this season.

Appleton acknowledged the loss of Harvey Barnes in January removed one of the side’s main strengths, but the coach brought in to help caretaker Jimmy Shan for the play-offs still believes the Baggies have players capable of breaking at speed.

He reckons the front two of Dwight Gayle and Jay Rodriguez working with wing-backs Kieran Gibbs and Mason Holgate could cause Villa problems.

Matt Phillips has also proved dangerous on the break this season while Stefan Johansen, who beat Villa in the play-offs with Fulham last season, is a midfielder with an eye for goal.

“I was speaking to the players about it, the counter attacking pace up top and in wide areas from full back and wing back could and hopefully will be the difference between going up and not going up,” said Appleton.

“At the end of the day, there’s no magic spell to finding the best formula to win a game, but the club and the team have won enough games this season to know what they’re strengths are and if we try and stick to them over the next few weeks hopefully we’ll be successful.”

Appleton admitted the two-legged contest opened up different tactical possibilities, especially with Albion knowing they have home advantage for the second leg.

“Once you get to the end of that first game it’s only half-time,” he said. “There’s lots of ways you can approach it, obviously I won’t give anything away.

“Do we get to half-time and reassess? Do we split it into four quarters? The fact the games are so close together makes the preparation after the first game leading into the second game hard.

“Have you overcooked it? Have you done enough? Do you change personnel? All of those factors can be challenging for a manager.”

Villa are expected to come flying out of the blocks at Villa Park on Saturday lunchtime, but Appleton knows from his own playing days at Albion that teams have to be switched on for the whole 180 minutes in a play-off semi-final.

“You can also lose it in the last five minutes of games, as I know too well,” he said. “As a player here we were 2-0 up against Bolton at home (in 2001), cruising.

“We dominated the game, but conceded two in the last five minutes and ended up going up to the Reebok Stadium and lost convincingly.

“There’s going to be a lot of twists and turns, I’d like to say to the fans to stick with the team and be patient. Hopefully we can come out strong in the second leg.

“If you look at the two separate games, they’re going to be completely different, and not just because one’s at home and one’s away.

“There’s that much tension and pressure on both sides, it wouldn’t surprise me if one was end-to-end attacking football and the other was the opposite.

“What we’ve got to do is try and find a bit more control as a group over the two games, we need to know what our destiny is and how we play.”

Appleton has been brought in by Shan specifically for this occasion, to offer experience and guidance during the pressure cooker of the play-offs.

After being an assistant to Roy Hodgson at The Hawthorns, he went on to manage Portsmouth, Blackpool, Blackburn and Oxford.

Although he never managed in the play-offs, he took the Us to two EFL Trophy finals at Wembley and hopes that experience will help.

“These games will be very different to the league games because there’s that much at stake,” said Appleton. “They’ll almost feel like Premier League games, the reality is both clubs should be in the Premier League anyway.

“There’s going to be a lot of tension, a lot said and spoke about in terms of what teams get chosen.

“Both sides are aware of the play-offs, the type of atmosphere that’s going to get generated in the two games will probably be something Jimmy has never experienced.

“(Fellow coach) Steven (Reid) has experienced it as a player, and the more people you have around you can tap into will help.”

Having spent a decade at the Baggies before his return last month, Appleton is keenly aware of the long-running rivalry with Villa.

He was at the club when Albion beat Wolves across two legs in the play-off semi-final in 2007 and says a local derby takes the ferocity of the games to a higher plain.

“It certainly does and obviously the run Villa are on at the minute, there’s an incentive there for us to put that to an end,” he said.

“But it’s one of those situations, having that fourth spot can be quite key because you have that secnd leg at home. It’s good to know what you need to do.”