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Ahead of West Brom’s match with Derby last weekend, James Shan revealed that he knew his best Albion team.

However, his starting XI against the Rams in their 3-1 defeat was anything but their best. For starters, it lacked Chris Brunt, one of the most impressive men under Shan since he took the reins.

But the main issue was not his exclusion. Instead, it was the switch of formation, something that was arguably the Baggies’ downfall as they were defeated in their final game before the play-offs.

At times, playing with two up front in Jay Rodriguez and Dwight Gayle has been devastating, but with one of them shifted out wide once again last Sunday, it didn’t go well.

On the chalkboard

Where do we begin with Jacob Murphy? The Newcastle loanee clearly has talent, but his performance against Derby only provided yet more evidence of why West Brom simply aren’t as good when they play with wingers, and it wasn’t his first disappointing display of the campaign.

There was one small glimpse of what he could do, performing an intelligent cut-back for Gayle, but in missing a shot on goal and boasting a quite frankly awful pass success percentage of 67%, he displayed why he can’t be relied upon in the play-offs.

Shan has mixed his formations and system since being given the managerial role and it’s in a 3-5-2, not a 3-4-3 that he went with last weekend, that has worked the best.

Given the midfielders Albion have at their disposal it’s baffling that the manager would think anything other than a bulky midfield would be wise.

There is a distinct lack of quality from wide areas, with Kieran Gibbs on the left the only man to really provide anything from that area of the pitch in recent weeks.

With this in mind, playing with wing-backs, rather than more attacking wingers must surely be the way forward.

Sunday could have been used as a real audition for Murphy. Likewise with Matt Phillips who has looked considerably better in the middle, as opposed to on the flanks. However, both disappointed.

If Shan does know his best team, we’ll get a glimpse of it in the play-off semi-final next week.

But if it’s the same system to the one he deployed at Pride Park it won’t only be incredibly surprising, but also deeply concerning.