West Brom manager's confident 'toe-to-toe' Leeds United warning ahead of Elland Road clash
Leeds United welcome the promotion-chasing Baggies to Elland Road on Saturday.
West Brom manager Tony Mowbray heads into Saturday’s Leeds United trip full of confidence with the aim of going ‘toe-to-toe’ with his hosts.
The Baggies head to Elland Road in good shape with Saturday’s relatively comfortable 2-0 win over Oxford United sending them above Blackburn Rovers and back into fifth. An 11-point deficit to Sunderland is evidence of a gap between the top-four and those below but Mowbray’s side can lay claim to being the best of the rest.
All involved will be hoping to avoid a repeat of the reverse fixture back in August, with Leeds hunkering down to draw 0-0 at the Hawthorns having conceded six goals in their opening two games across league and cup. Then-West Brom boss Carlos Corberan was more than happy to oblige but since coming in last month, Mowbray has adopted a more forward-thinking approach.
Mowbray excited for Leeds
All of his eight games in charge so far have produced two goals or more, with caution thrown to the wind in comparison to Corberan’s pragmatic approach. And a trip to league-leaders Leeds, who are unbeaten in 16 and the division’s top-scorers by some margin, isn’t going to change that.
"I like those games! I don't like them if we get beat and come away with nothing,” Mowbray told the Express and Star of Saturday’s clash. "I like to go there and show them what a good team we are, what good individuals we've got and how organised we can be. Go toe-to-toe with them almost, let's see how we get on."
West Brom’s attacking improvement has even come without 12-goal top-scorer Josh Maja, who underwent surgery last month following a leg injury. But the knowledge of his lengthy absence was at least well-timed, with Mowbray able to sign former Blackburn striker Adam Armstrong on loan from Southampton.
Armstrong impact
Leeds were very briefly linked with interest in Armstrong on deadline day but reports of a loan switch were quickly quashed, with focus at the time on his Saints teammate Cameron Archer. In the end, a move to the Hawthorns was confirmed after the deadline had passed and it’s been a decent match since.
Armstrong scored on his debut but hasn’t found the net in three matches since, with West Brom a little wasteful in recent weeks. But that’s something Mowbray hopes to address before the season is out - starting at Elland Road on Saturday.
"It's frustrating, because I say to them if we have 20-odd shots every game, increase the more on target, we will win games two, three, four nil,” he added. "The job is to almost sell the product to them really - because they had the product to them for two or three years that helped them to relative success, the play-offs last year. I'm not saying anything is right or wrong, it's just different."