The dilemmas Steve Bruce has following West Brom’s 2-0 loss v Sheffield United

Steve Bruce tasted defeat in his first game in charge of West Bromwich Albion as they fell to a 2-0 away defeat to Sheffield United yesterday evening.

His tenure got off to the worst possible start when Billy Sharp’s deflected shot found its way past recalled shot-stopper Sam Johnstone in the 20th minute – and matters were made even worse just over five minutes before half-time when Jake Livermore’s late challenge on Conor Hourihane earned him a red card.

A man down and a goal behind, Bruce’s first half-time team talk had to be nothing short of perfection if he wanted to take anything from the Blades who are currently in a good spell of form under Paul Heckingbottom.

Unfortunately, they were unable to grab that crucial equaliser, with United doubling their advantage in the 80th minute when Sharp added his second of the night to all but secure the three points for the hosts.

This latest result has consigned the Baggies to ninth position in the league, a hugely disappointing situation considering they went unbeaten in their opening ten league games of the 2021/22 campaign and this result will leave plenty of dilemmas for Bruce to contend with.

We list just three of those below…

Who comes in to replace Livermore with limited options?

Some would argue Livermore’s obvious replacement is Jayson Molumby with the latter starting on the bench yesterday evening – but Adam Reach was largely ineffective and in an ideal world – Alex Mowatt may have been pushed into an advanced midfield role with Molumby and Livermore behind him.

Mowatt certainly has the pedigree and attacking threat to play that role after scoring eight times and recording seven assists in 44 league appearances last term for former side Barnsley – but they will