Mason must find a way to blunt the Blades

When he was Baggies boss, Carlos Corberan had an interesting analogy to describe the balance that coaches have to strike between defending and attacking.

The Spaniard compared it to a blanket; pull it up too high and your feet get cold, but pull it down too low and your upper body is cold.

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The suggestion was also made that few coaches have the perfectly sized blanket to keep everything toasty warm, so trade-offs between attacking threat and defensive solidity must be made.

It is a problem Ryan Mason has wrestled with at Albion all season.

Earlier in the campaign, his side had one of the better defences in the league in terms of xG against but were toothless in attack.

So much so that between Isaac Price’s strike against Watford on 22 October and Aune Heggebo’s headed winner against Oxford United on 8 November, six and a half hours of football were played in which no West Bromwich Albion player scored.

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It was a problem that needed addressing, but now questions are being asked whether Mason has moved the blanket too far in the other direction.

Since breaking their duck, Albion have conceded 12 goals in their past five games. Only Charlton have conceded more in the same period.

The goals are flowing a bit more freely at the other end. Albion have scored nine goals in their past five matches, but all too often those goals are coming when the Baggies have given themselves a mountain to climb.

In the past three games, Mason’s charges have gone at least two goals behind before responding. The division’s form team, Southampton, ruthlessly exposed the Baggies’ beleaguered defence on Tuesday, racing into a 3-0 lead inside just 35 minutes.

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None of which bodes well for the under-pressure Mason, as his team’s next opponents are the second-most in-form team in the Championship – Sheffield United – who will arrive at The Hawthorns on Friday boasting 14 goals and 14 points in their past six games.

Many believe a third consecutive defeat could spell the end for Mason, with Baggies fans expressing their dissatisfaction with their manager in recent weeks.

If he is to avoid such a fate, he will need to find a way to make the blanket quite a bit bigger for a chilly December night at The Hawthorns.