Alex Mowatt - Getting back to his very best with West Brom
After receiving a nomination for the September Player of the Month award in the Championship, here's a quick look at Alex Mowatt's fantastic start to the 2024-25 season for West Brom.
There’s a case to be made that so far in the Championship this season, West Brom’s Alex Mowatt has performed as one of best players in the division overall, and potentially the best midfielder.
Now 29, Mowatt had enjoyed prior spells with Barnsley, Leeds United, Oxford United and Middlesbrough before moving to the Hawthorns, and although some of those didn’t pan out as expected or hoped, he’s now found a real home in the Midlands.
Since originally joining the club in July 2021, he’s gone on to make 93 competitive appearances for the Baggies so far, but it’s been at the beginning of this campaign in particular where he’s arguably produced at the highest level of his career to date.
If you’ve watched a West Brom match so far this season, it’s fair to say that midfielder Alex Mowatt has probably stuck out as their most important player. Whilst forwards Josh Maja and Tom Fellows have smashed in the goals and racked up the assists to this point, the former Leeds United youngster has gone about his business in a quiet, yet assured fashion.
Under manager Carlos Corberán, West Brom have played in a 4-2-3-1 set up this term, a system which sees the wide full backs push up the field to create overlapping opportunities and allows the single central attacking midfielder to latch onto the lone striker in order to influence play in the central attacking third areas. But to allow this set up to flourish, there’s one key caveat, the central midfield partnership needs to be as strong as possible and be able to get through the demanding workload.
Mowatt has been able to offer that desired level of output in particular, and as such, West Brom have delivered 17 points across their opening nine league games of the campaign, enough to see them sit in 4th spot ahead of October’s international window.
Sat on the left of that midfield pair, it’s clear to see that the 29-year-old has been given more responsibility by his head coach this campaign, and has been asked to operate in a deeper area of the pitch than compared to 2023-24. That’s evident from the below heat map - accounting for all of his outfield touches thus far - which highlights just how deep his playing position has been in 2024-25.
That’s something that has really helped to unlock Mowatt’s overall skillset, not least so through his passing ability which has aided his side in both retaining possession when needed, but also in helping the Baggies to quickly advance up the field when the time is right.
His passing numbers across the board have been exemplary to this point, especially when ranking him against fellow midfielders in the competition.
After nine matches, the West Brom star had recorded the third-most successful passes amongst all Championship midfielders (565), whilst he additionally ranks third for most successful passes made in the opposition’s half (288) by the same metric.
His ability to aid the Baggies’ transition into the more advanced areas of the pitch can be highlighted by the fact that he also ranks joint-second for most successful passes ending in final third (137) amongst all Championship midfielders too, with his 84.57% passing accuracy figure in that regard clocking in as one of the strongest in the competition.
If that isn’t enough, Mowatt’s vision and overall range means that he can play much longer if needed as well, as referenced by the fact that he’s racked up 39 successful long passes in the league in 2024-25, the most of any player.
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Operating in a deeper role this term means that the Yorkshireman has shouldered more of the responsibility in helping to shield his backline throughout matches from a defensive stand-point too, something that he’s done to a consistently high level to this point.
In terms of overall totals in the division, he isn’t that high on the list in the defensive categories, most likely due to the fact that West Brom have averaged 57.2% share of the possession in their matches, a figure only Leeds United and Swansea City can better.
That said, his 22 tackles recorded are the most of any Baggies player across league play, whilst Mowatt ranks fourth overall for possession won in the Championship amongst all players (54) - something which showcases both his intelligence and anticipation to be in the right place at the right time when called upon.
There’s additionally his tally of three goals in the Championship this term which have also done a lot to increase his stock at this point of the season. In total, that’s already one more than across all 43 of his league appearances combined last season for the Baggies.
His brace against Portsmouth in a 3-0 victory was particularly memorable, the first a well-placed, curved finish from 20 yards into the top far corner before he added a lovely direct free kick strike from just outside the area.
He remains as a player who doesn’t take a lot of shots overall, as seen by his total of just seven to this point which have accumulated just 0.4 xG in total, but his talent in regards to finding the back of the net from mid-to-long range means that he remains dangerous throughout matches, acting as an additional problem for opposition defences to worry about.
Whether his goalscoring form will remain at these heights is still to be seen, but instead Alex Mowatt will be measured on his ability to win the crucial midfield battle for West Brom nine times out of ten for the remainder of this campaign.
If he can manage that, and his teammates can continue to thrive as a result, simply put, the Baggies will remain as promotion dark horses throughout the 2024-25 Championship season.