West Brom made two changes to their starting line-up for Friday night’s visit of Millwall, with James Morrison recalling Alex Mowatt for the first time in seven games and handing Daryl Dike a start ahead of Josh Maja.
Mowatt wore the captain’s armband in his first start since the defeat at Oxford, while Charlie Taylor dropped out and Callum Styles returned at left-back. The move for Dike was designed to give West Brom a more physical outlet against Millwall’s giant centre-halves, Jake Cooper and Caleb Taylor, and the inclusion of three central midfielders raised the possibility that Morrison was changing the shape as well as the personnel.
West Brom listed O’Leary, Imray, Phillips, Campbell, Styles, Molumby, Diakite, Mowatt, Price, Dike and Heggebo in the starting XI, with Griffiths, Gilchrist, Taylor, Whitwell, Bostock, Jimoh-Aloba, Mustapha, Sule and Maja on the bench. The selection left open the prospect of either a 4-4-2 diamond or a 4-3-3 with Isaac Price operating off the front two, and Jayson Molumby could have been pushed to the right of midfield.
That uncertainty came against a Millwall side that named an attacking line-up of its own, including a rare start for Theirno Ballo alongside Mihailo Ivanovic and Josh Coburn. The shape of the contest reflected the same basic problem for West Brom: whether Morrison wanted extra control through midfield or a direct route against Millwall’s back line, with Caleb Taylor returning to The Hawthorns as part of the visitors’ defensive strength.
The immediate issue for West Brom is whether Mowatt’s return restores balance or simply forces another adjustment in a side already experimenting with its structure. Friday night’s selection suggested Morrison was willing to change both the personnel and the plan to meet the challenge in front of him.
