'Wilting' West Brom must eradicate weak mentality

Basketball legend Kobe Bryant once said: "Everything negative - pressure, challenges - is all an opportunity for me to rise."

It is an opportunity the West Bromwich Albion players desperately need to take sooner or later because, at present, they are wilting in the face of a challenge.

Saturday's loss at Oxford United means the Baggies have completed two entire calendar months without a league victory.

It was a defeat that spoke volumes for the character (or lack thereof) within this squad of players.

Two weakly-defended set-plays led to Albion being 2-0 down inside half an hour and despite a 19-year-old academy product clawing the Baggies back into the game, his more senior colleagues could not match Ollie Bostock's levels of bravery and desire to mount a serious offence on the Oxford goal.

Interim boss James Morrison was visibly seething after the game.

He called out his centre-halves, his goalkeeper, the lack of bravery in attack and the lack of focus in defence.

Morrison then delivered this telling line after BBC Radio WM's Steve Hermon asked if the team are mentally fragile at the moment: "Yeah, exactly that. We give them freedom and options to play, but when it gets a bit tough, we aren't there in the moments to deal with it."

It's not the first time an Albion boss has questioned the players' mentality.

Tony Mowbray's parting words upon leaving Albion in April 2025 were to say that you cannot question the talent of the group, but you can question the character.

A busy summer in which 10 senior players left and nine arrived was, presumably, intended to address that problem (as well as pressing PSR issues). It did not.

Albion started well but that was with Torbjorn Heggem, Darnell Furlong and Tom Fellows – once that trio departed, the Baggies' form soon dropped off a cliff.

Yet the issues that dogged Albion from that point on seemed less about a lack of quality and more about poor mental resilience.

For much of the season, Albion have led the Championship chart for mistakes leading to opposition shots and goals.

In terms of finishing, only Sheffield Wednesday and Blackburn have currently underscored their xG by more than the Baggies.

You might say profligacy in front of goal is not necessarily an indicator of a poor mentality - it might just be an indicator of poor finishing.

However, Isaac Price started the season as the player overscoring his xG the most in the Championship.

At the start of his loan in 2023-24, Mikey Johnston scored almost every shot he took.

Last season, Josh Maja was 20% over his xG at the point he was injured.

All three are now among Albion's worst culprits for not scoring the goals they should have this season, according to the data.

In terms of ability, this is not one of the worst Albion squads in history.

However, if they cannot find the mental strength to pull themselves out of the mire, that is exactly what they will become because a second relegation to the third tier in our history appears very much on the cards.

Therefore, I leave the players with some advice from Arnold Schwarzenegger which I hope they take to heart: "Strength does not come from winning... when you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that is strength."

See more from Chris Hall at Albion Analysis