West Brom made it four games unbeaten and continued to hold sole possession of the Championship lead at the weekend as they were held at the Hawthorns.

The Baggies drew 2-2 with Nottingham Forest in an encounter which was marred by controversy – there were two own goals, a late equaliser and an even later strike disallowed.

But, as Albion hold a four-point margin over their title rivals Leeds United and a seven-point gap to the playoffs, manager Slaven Bilic isn’t completely exempt from a rising problem.

His system tweak that has led to their upturn in form has had a drastic consequence on midfielder Romaine Sawyers with him being asked to play a deeper, less effective role.

Over the past couple of matches, Sawyers has been a target of fans’ criticism with many calling for him to be dropped and this outing was no different.

And they may well have a point.

Against Forest, the 28-year-old failed to record any key passes, lost possession six times, won just one of his seven duels and didn’t contribute defensively in any facet, per SofaScore.

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It’s fair to suggest that he was fairly anonymous aside from putting up his regular passing accuracy numbers (94%).

Sawyers is averaging 1.5 tackles, 0.9 key passes and 0.5 interceptions per game this campaign yet on Saturday, he was some way off the mark.

It’s as if this deeper role removes any sort zest he has to his game and he’s merely there to be the pass-master, but he needs to help out defensively as well.

Are you a Championship expert? How much did each of these big-money signings cost?

At Brentford, the Baggies academy grad was played a little further forward where he was able to display his attacking qualities with averages of 1.6 key passes and 0.8 dribbles per game, via WhoScored – two statistics that have regressed substantially since his return to the west Midlands.

Bilic should either look to play him in a better-suited role or drop him for someone like Rekeem Harper, who has the tenacity and drive to influence the game as a box-to-box midfielder.

And in other news, West Brom’s Rekeem Harper issues Matheus Pereira verdict on Instagram…