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West Brom – What’s changed? Hodgson Vs Clarke | Stats Analysis

West Brom - What's Changed

When Steve Clarke arrived at West Brom last summer, there was a lot of doubt surrounding his appointment as head coach. West Brom were going from one extreme to the other as the hugely experienced Roy Hodgson left to join England, being replaced by someone going into their first season as the main man.

Many pundits were backing West Brom to be relegated, suggesting that they would struggle without the presence of Hodgson, who is regarded as a safe pair of hands and who does such a good job of organising sides defensively and making them hard to beat which is a great starting point for any team wanting to survive in the Premier League.

As it was, these pundits were completely wrong. Steve Clarke and West Brom have exceeded all expectations to finish 8th in the Premier League, the best of the rest if you will. So what aspects of West Brom have changed under Steve Clarke?

Attacking

The main difference between Clarke’s West Brom and Hodgson’s West Brom is the focus on attacking. Clarke has encouraged Albion to move more men forward when attacking and really go for the kill when they are on the attack. Under Hodgson, it was a far more regimented approach. The full backs rarely got involved in play, whilst one central midfielder was always left to cover the back four. Whilst it made Albion harder to beat, it was less exciting.

The statistics certainly back this theory up. West Brom have scored 8 more goals under Clarke and average 68 minutes per goal whilst Hodgson’s side averaged a goal every 80 minutes. Whilst Hodgson’s side had more shots, Clarke’s West Brom has a better shooting accuracy and a better conversion rate for both chances and clear cut chance

However, Clarke’s West Brom side were more reliant on one player for goals than Hodgson. Romelu Lukaku was The Baggies top goal scorer with 17 this season, meaning he scored 32% of West Brom’s goal. Peter Odemwingie was West Brom’s top scorer under Hodgson with 10 goals, meaning 22% of the goals were scored by one player.

West Brom Goal Attempts Comparison

It is not only the amount of goals where the difference in style can be seen, but also how they were scored. Under Hodgson, West Brom scored 11 goals from set plays where as under Clarke only 5 goals have come from set pieces. In contrast, Albion have scored 30 goals from open play under Clarke with only 23 from open play under Hodgson.

Hodgson’s side did exceed Clarke’s team in terms of number of chances created but the more important statistic is the amount of clear cut chances that were created by Albion under Clarke. They created 69 clear cut chances with an excellent conversion rate of 42% where as Hodgson’s Albion created 54 clear cut chances with a conversion rate of 39%.

West Brom Creativity Comparison

Passing/possession

These statistics also demonstrate a difference in the style of play between Hodgson and Clarke. Marginally more passes were played under Hodgson’s side, although the completion rate of Clarke’s side is 2% higher. But the most important statistic when considering the difference in styles of play is the direction of passes.

Hodgson’s side played nearly 50% of their passes forward, which indicates a more direct style of play compared to Clarke’s side who played 39% of their passes forward with 23% of passes going to the right and left. This indicates a more patient style of play and perhaps how much more attacking responsibility the full backs have under Clarke.

West Brom Passing Comparison

Defending

As mentioned, Clarke has preferred a far more attacking style of play which unsurprisingly means that his side have a poorer defensive record than that of Hodgson’s team. Under the now England manager, Albion conceded 52 goals, on average conceding 1.32 goals per game meanwhile under Clarke have conceded 57 at an average of 1.5 goals per game. Clarke’s side have also committed far more defensive errors(22), compared to Hodgson’s team that made only 7 errors in the whole season.

From the statistics it is clear that Clarke has changed the outlook of the West Brom team from one that sought to contain the opposition and take a point where necessary, to one who attacked teams and wasn’t scared to possibly lose 3 points if it meant there was a chance of getting the win by being more attack-minded in the final throes of the game.

[box_light]All of the stats from this article have been taken from the Opta Stats Centre at EPLIndex.comSubscribe Now (Includes author privileges!) Check out our new Top Stats feature on the Stats Centre which allows you to compare all players in the league & read about new additions to the stats centre.[/box_light]

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