The talking points from West Brom’s 2-1 defeat to Swansea City

West Bromwich Albion succumbed to their second defeat of the season as they lost 2-1 to Swansea City.

Karlan Grant put the Baggies in front but second-half goals from Joel Piroe and Jamie Paterson meant that the visit to South Wales ended with no points in the bag.

The defeat means that West Brom have been displaced from the top two as Fulham overtake Valérien Ismaël’s men.

Here are the talking points from a dismal night at the Swansea.com Stadium.

No Mowatt No Party

The absence of Alex Mowatt was evident given the lack of creativity in the middle of the park. Mowatt was brought off midway through the second-half in the win over Birmingham with a toe injury and there will be a hope that he makes a swift return.

Jayson Molumby did okay as he deputised but Mowatt has been key to what West Brom have been doing this season.

Statistically, Mowatt is ranked as the fifth best performer in the league by FotMob, giving him a 7.73 rating, which highlights his impact since his move from Barnsley.

Swansea City hoodoo

Valérien Ismaël really can’t get the better of Swansea City. Last season he came up four times against the Welsh side and lost on three occasions, including a semi-final defeat.

At half-time with the score 1-0 to the Baggies, it looked like that might have changed but a second-half capitulation changed that.

It’s been a good start to the season for West Brom, but they are going to have to beat the teams at the lower end of the table to make for the smoothest return to the Premier League.

The brand of football

Yesterday West Brom finished with an Expected goals (xG) of 0.83, despite having one more shot than their opponent. FotMob says that West Brom had a 60% pass success rate and only 159 of their passes were accurate compared to Swansea’s 450.

The home side were expected to have more given their commitment to possession based football but yesterday West Brom were allowing Swansea to play their game, even when they were losing.

In his post-match analysis of the match, Ismael’s comments on the performance and tactics was: "My expectation is that we come quickly into the final third and that we push the line high and have an aggressive defence so that the opponent cannot push out of pressure.

“We didn’t make it well, and it’s the reason Swansea came back in the game and they started better in the second half. "You need to find a way to stay compact and organised.”

At the start of the season, the tactics were working a treat but now there may need to be a tweak to get back to a consistent winning formula.

Grant living up to expectations

It was another goal for Karlan Grant last night, putting him clear of Callum Robinson by three goals as their top scorer. Robinson assisted Grant for the goal and the two from that goal looked like they were going to cause more problems. It’s been a slow start for Grant at The Hawthorns but he’s now putting the performances in and the goals are coming too.