West Bromwich Albion seem to be on the right track to avoiding relegation down to League One after winning successive matches in the Championship for the first time in 2026.
James Morrison took the job until the end of the season after Eric Ramsay was relieved of his duties and has masterminded two wins and two draws in the last four games.
The Baggies decided to part ways with their last head coach because he failed to win any of his nine matches in charge of the club after leaving Minnesota United to replace Ryan Mason.
Morrison has done an excellent job as the interim boss, winning the last two games against Hull and Bristol City, and looks set to lead the team to survival.
Getting a tune out of Isaac Price has played a key role in the team’s upturn in form, with one goal and 11 chances created from the attacker in the last three games.
How James Morrison has unlocked Isaac Price
During Ramsay’s time in charge of the Baggies, Price played as a right-sided wing-back in a back five and as a regular right-back in a back four on several occasions.
Playing him as a wing-back or full-back nullified his attacking threat, reducing him to putting in the odd cross from rare overlapping situations, and it made him look less effective than he was.
Morrison, though, has moved him to a left-sided midfield role in a 4-4-2, giving him the license to roam infield or stay wide to take his full-back on, and it has unlocked his attacking potential, scoring for the first time in 11 matches against Hull recently.
No player has created more chances than Price (11) in the last three league games for the Baggies, which shows that his creative qualities are finally shining through after being hidden away in Ramsay’s system.
The Northern Ireland international is now finally showing why he is the club’s most valuable player on Transfermarkt, at £8.6m, and Morrison deserves the credit for providing him with the correct platform to shine.
Whilst Price is in good form and impressing on the flank for West Brom, there is a former Baggies left winger who is even better than the Northern Irishman.
The former West Brom forward who is even better than Isaac Price
The club have had some terrific talents at The Hawthorns over the years, and one of those talents has just earned a call-up to Thomas Tuchel’s England squad.
Harvey Barnes, who earned his Three Lions call-up this month, spent the first half of the 2018/19 campaign on loan at West Brom from Leicester City.
During his time with the Baggies, the English forward scored nine goals and provided seven assists in 26 Championship matches before the Foxes decided to recall him in January 2019, over seven years ago.
It was a short, but sweet, time for him at The Hawthorns, as the left-sided winger delivered goals and assists on a regular basis as a young player looking to make a name for himself.
Barnes went on to score 45 goals and assist 32 goals in 187 appearances for Leicester before Newcastle swooped in to sign him for a fee of £38m after the Foxes were relegated from the Premier League in 2023.
The 28-year-old star has scored 28 goals and provided 13 assists in 113 games for the Magpies to date, and has been on fire in the Champions League for his side this season.
|
25/26 Champions League |
Harvey Barnes |
|---|---|
|
Appearances |
12 |
|
Starts |
9 |
|
xG |
4.14 |
|
Goals |
6 |
|
Big chances created |
7 |
|
Assists |
4 |
Barnes has more goal contributions in the Champions League (11) than Price has managed for West Brom in the Championship (nine) in 39 outings, which speaks to the difference in quality between the two attackers.
At the time of writing, the Newcastle star is valued at roughly £28m by Transfermarkt. That is significantly more than the £8.6m that Price is valued at, making Barnes more valuable than every single player in the Baggies squad.
It is a shame that West Brom supporters were only able to enjoy his talents for half of a season, because he showed real promise in his loan stint and has gone on to become a player good enough to earn a call-up for England.
Hopefully, the Baggies will be able to identify more young talents with the same potential as Barnes, and either keep them for an entire season or even sign them permanently in future transfer windows.
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