Analysis: What is the solution to West Brom's home form?

The initial pain from a dismal Saturday which saw the Baggies lose ground on all of their promotion rivals has now subsided.

One weekend does not make or break a season, this side is still just four points off the top two and there are 36 left to play for.

In isolation, losing 1-0 to a well-oiled Sheffield United team, who arrived at The Hawthorns striving for promotion, bang in form, and with an extra three days to prepare, should not send alarm bells ringing.

After all, this was the first time this season Albion had lost to one of the three teams currently above them.

But the problem is that this result cannot be taken in isolation.

Regardless of how weary the team was, and there were some tired performances on Saturday, both mentally and physically, Albion’s home form is becoming an increasing millstone around their neck.

It’s five home games without a win in the league, and just one win in eight since that eye-catching 4-1 victory over Leeds back in November.

That game has provided the blueprint for this team ever since, and the system has worked wonders away from home.

But as we near another fixture with Marcelo Bielsa’s men, it’s obvious 4-3-3 is not working on home soil.

Without a recognised No.10 in the side, the Baggies struggle to break down determined and resolute defences on their own patch.

Without Harvey Barnes as one of their wide forwards, they lack the necessary gold-dust to pick the lock in this formation.

Matt Phillips’s return was supposed to breathe new life into this team and this system and, while he showed glimpses, he is wasted up top with his back to goal.

Phillips is best running at defenders from deep and, if Darren Moore chooses to persists with this formation, he is better served in the midfield three where he was before rather than the front three, where he played on Saturday.

At home though, the formation needs changing. Dwight Gayle missed a chance you would normally bet your house on him scoring, but he couldn’t recreate Jay Rodriguez’s goal against Middlesbrough.

However, he remains an unnecessarily peripheral figure out on the wing.

When attacks come down the opposite flank, he can drift into the box and threaten.

But when they come down his side Gayle is not in the position your most natural finisher should be.

Albion relied far too much on Mason Holgate on Saturday. If the home side were going to score, it would have probably come from the right-back's efforts.

Where was the invention from midfield? Where were the runners?

Sheffield United ran off the back of Gareth Barry, who, for the first time this season, looked his 38 years.

Barry wasn’t the only one running on fumes. Rekeem Harper, Jay Rodriguez, Ahmed Hegazi, the spine of the team was bent over double.

It was a game too far, said Moore afterwards, and following seven in 22 days there is no doubt truth in that statement.

It was the first time, after all, that Albion had failed to score at home in the league since Boxing Day 2017.

But Chris Wilder’s vibrant 3-5-2 accentuated the foibles of Moore’s 4-3-3.

United’s midfielders were willing runners, capable of getting beyond the ball and filling the opposition box. It led to the goal.

His front two were busy, and while they were marshaled well for most of the game, they constantly threatened.

Compare that to Albion’s flat midfield which relied on an 18-year-old with less than a dozen senior starts under his belt to burst forward and help the attackers.

Compare it to the forward line, which had Gayle out on the wing, and an over-worked Jay Rodriguez up front.

Moore is somewhat in a catch-22. Gayle and Rodriguez both need to play, and a two-man partnership up front together would be welcome.

But replicating Wilder’s 3-5-2 would be dangerous because the back-line looks so much more assured in a four than a three.

All that points to a return to the 4-4-2 that worked so well for Moore in the Premier League.

But which of Albion’s central midfielders would be trusted in a two-man axis rather than a three?

It’s too much to expect from 38-year-old Barry or 18-year-old Harper.

A 4-2-3-1 with Phillips and Jacob Murphy hugging the touchlines would provide strength in the engine room but who at No.10?

James Morrison and Wes Hoolahan are the obvious choices but have not featured much this season. Rodriguez would be an option.

But does Gayle have the physical presence to lead the line in such a system?

“It’s up to us to try and find ways and means,” admitted Moore after the game, who pointed out that such formation change needed time on the training pitch. Time he simply hasn't had during this congested run of games.

Of course, there is also the matter of the opposition. Albion’s last four home games have been against Norwich, Middlesbrough, Nottingham Forest and Sheffield United.

Three of the top five and another who should be higher than they are.

The Baggies have six remaining games at home. Two are against teams in the bottom three, the other four are against mid-table outfits.

That does not negate the need for something more inventive in the final third, because those teams will no doubt sit deep at The Hawthorns too.

The big difference on Saturday was that Sheffield United carried out their task with conviction. Albion looked unsure.

There’s no doubt Moore and his coaching staff are working wonders away from home. But if they do not fix the home form then their chances of finishing in the top two will evaporate.

The fans did their bit on Saturday, and they answered their manager's rallying cry with an electric atmosphere at kick-off.

But thanks to a mixture of fatigue and formation, their team could not respond in kind.