Has Jonathan Greening been a hit or a miss since joining West Brom?
After three years in the service of Middlesbrough Football Club, Jonathan Greening was recruited by West Bromwich Albion last summer, with the Baggies looking to retain their Premiership status on their return to England's top division.
Despite being written off several times by the media, The Throstles achieved their objective and were the only freshly promoted team to avoid an immediate return to the Championship.
Having played just 25 league games for Middlesbrough in 2003/2004, Greening missed just four league matches for The Baggies last term, getting the first team football that every professional footballer craves.
Greening showed little enthusiasm for getting on the score sheet for Albion, demonstrated by the former York City player hitting just 13 shots at goal throughout the campaign. Instead, the man most likely to play Jesus in a West Brom nativity play provided the ammunition for other players with his quality passing and high crossing frequency.
Only Stewart Downing (11 assists) supplied the final pass for more Premiership goals than Greening outside of The Premiership's top two teams, following a season without an assist in his final year at Boro. Although Greening's passing completion dropped form 85 percent to 81 per cent last term, this was still 10 percent higher than West Brom's overall passing percentage of 71 percent.
Greening also increased the number of balls played in from wide areas dramatically in the blue and white of West Brom, upping his crosses from two per game to nearly eight per game. Once again, only former team-mate Downing could surpass this making 359 centres to Greening's 270.
The biggest blot on the 26-year old's record last season was his red card against Aston Villa, which caused him to miss three vital games in West Brom's run-in.
As West Brom prepare for their third Premiership campaign, Greening will be looking to repeat last season's feat of finishing 17th or above and push his way into Sven Goran Eriksson's plans for next summer.
| Season | 2003/2004 | 2004/2005 |
| Team | Middlesbrough | West Brom |
| Appearances | 25 | 34 |
| Minutes On Pitch | 1,603 | 2,839 |
| Goal Attempts | | |
| Goals | 1 | 0 |
| Shots On Target | 4 | 9 |
| Shots Off Target | 3 | 4 |
| Shooting Accuracy | 57% | 69% |
| Chance Conversion | 14% | 0% |
| Passing | | |
| Goal Assists | 0 | 9 |
| Total Passes | 668 | 1,142 |
| Pass Completion % | 85% | 81% |
| Crossing | | |
| Total Crosses | 51 | 270 |
| Cross Completion % | 22% | 21% |
| Dribbling | | |
| Dribbles & Runs | 62 | 162 |
| Dribble Completion % | 77% | 65% |
| Defending | | |
| Tackles Made | 62 | 93 |
| Tackles Won % | 77% | 71% |
| Blocks | 14 | 10 |
| Clearances | 30 | 30 |
| Interceptions | 10 | 19 |
| Discipline | | |
| Fouls | 25 | 39 |
| Offside | 3 | 5 |
| Yellow Cards | 5 | 4 |
| Red Cards | 0 | 1 |
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What do you think? Has Greening been a hit, a miss or is the jury still out? Have your say.
