Analysis: Are West Brom in the right tune to rock in the play-offs?

A home game against Rotherham United with a two-legged play-off semi-final coming up in less than a fortnight – potentially against rivals Aston Villa – is like watching Cliff Richard support Black Sabbath.

It is the easy listening before the heavy metal, the inoffensive charm before the visual attack of seeing two doves having their heads bitten clean off, live on Sky Sports.

Five home wins in a row under Jimmy Shan is some record, especially considering he took over in March when Albion hadn’t won any of their last six in the league at The Hawthorns.

He has set the Baggies back on the right course ahead of the play-offs, but those games are now beginning to consume all thinking.

This victory can only really be seen in the prism of those coming up. What does it mean in relation to those games?

Has it given the Baggies that highly sought-after momentum every club craves going into the play-offs?

Or was this performance worryingly tepid and worrying ineffective considering it was as close to a full-strength side Shan has had to pick from during his tenure.

It was, after all, only salvaged by two quickfire goals in three second-half minutes, even if Albion should have scored at least two more towards the end.

Shan himself has acknowledged it’s dangerous to be blinded by results, and this was a far from convincing performance against a Rotherham side with one of the worst away records in the league.

On the other hand, the Millers were fighting for their lives. They needed a win to stay up, and defeat relegated them to League One.

But Albion stunk of a team in limbo, desperate to stay injury-free, and they only really woke up when they fell behind. They did the bare minimum to get the win.

That painfully slow start has been a common theme in recent weeks, but these are not the same slow starts as before.

Ever since the calamitous 19-minute period at Ashton Gate when Sam Johnstone’s goal turned into a black hole that sucked everything towards it, the Baggies have decided to change the tempo for the first half an hour. Or rather, remove it completely.

Instead of flying out of the blocks, Shan’s men have picked up the blocks both they and their opponents are standing on and hurled them in the bin.

It’s why the most riveting entertainment of this first half was a pigeon flying into a hospitality box in the Halfords Lane stand and getting stuck for a few minutes.

The bird even grazed on the pitch for a while, so sure it would remain undisturbed.

How much does this sort of performance prepare the team for the high-octane rollercoaster of the play-offs?

Things certainly improved after half-time, after Rotherham scored, and after Matt Phillips was introduced.

Following a poor performance from Stefan Johansen and a dynamic one from Harper, Albion’s midfield quandry looks no closer to be solved.

The rest of the team picks itself. Kyle Bartley has improved greatly under Shan, and the back five looks solid enough, while the front two now have 45 goals between them alone, so they play regardless.

But who to pick in that midfield trio is the Rubik’s Cube which Albion’s play-off hopes rest on.

Chris Brunt has been so creative under Shan he is a shoo-in for the deep-lying playmaker role but who to play either side of the club captain remains up for debate.

In recent weeks Johansen, Harper, Phillips, and Sam Field have all made their cases. Jake Livermore and James Morrison, injury permitting, are other options.

If it is to be Villa, Albion will come up against an ominous midfield that is both settled and balanced.

But 45 games into the season and the Baggies still have too many options in the engine room with too many different strengths and weakness.

Phillips is a matchwinner, and there is a understandable school of thought that, if fully fit, he must start.

But Albion would need someone naturally more defensive alongside him like Livermore or Field.

And where does that leave Saturday’s matchwinner, Harper?

Sunday’s game against Derby, another play-off contender, may give a fairer indication of what is necessary.

For all of the “excitement” of the second half against Rotherham, the goalkeepers only made one save each all game.

Marek Rodak tipped over a Mason Holgate effort around the 70th minute. Sam Johnstone held a tame shot in injury time.

Refreshingly, Shan didn’t beat around the bush afterwards. It’s why he’s doing so well, because he calls it how it is.

He admitted it was a poor performance, and that Albion had won ‘ugly’.

Despite that, there was still a moment of clinical beauty embedded in this ‘ugly’ performance.

Harper has now followed in the footsteps of Field and Kyle Edwards this season as an academy graduate who has scored a crucial goal in a league match.

Field did it away at Bolton and Edwards did it at Brentford. Fortunately for Harper, he was able to celebrate in front of the Birmingham Road End.

Even if he ends up leaving at the end of his contract this summer, these were the sort of moments supporters had hoped relegation might bring.

It is another feather in the cap to the academy, and means the Baggies have already scored 12 more league goals this season than their past two campaigns in the Premier League combined.

As for the ever-looming play-offs, only Sheffield United and Aston Villa have won more points than Shan since he took over.

He’s getting results in this weird pre-season preparation Albion find themselves in.

The Baggies have now come from behind three times at The Hawthorns to win matches under Shan.

That resilience could give Albion a psychological boost going into the play-offs, a knowledge that they are never out of the game.

But the quality of the opponent and the pressure on the fixtures is about to ramp up significantly.

The question is, how much does a Cliff Richard warm-up act prepare you for a Black Sabbath bloodbath?