‘Fantastic players’ – Charlie Austin blown away by West Brom trio
Charlie Austin has been blown away by the performances of Grady Diangana, Matheus Pereira and Matt Phillips since he joined West Brom in the summer transfer window from Southampton.
The 30-year-old striker scored his first league goal for the Baggies in the 4-2 win against Cardiff before the international break while Diangana, Pereira and Phillips have been regularly hitting the back of the net themselves and also chipping in with assists.
Austin is delighted to have three talented attacking midfielders playing behind him in Slaven Bilic’s 4-2-3-1 system and has been especially full of praise for Phillips.
“Grady and Matheus are fantastic players,” Austin said, as quoted by the Express & Star.
“They are only young. We’ve got a good mixture throughout our team, players who are not even in the squad still to come in.
“But Matty offers so much for us. Matheus and Grady are getting praise because they are new whereas Matty has been here for three, four years.
“He is a fantastic player. He will be key for us as well – not just those two.
“He creates so many goals and he’s got three or four already and he is a wide man.”
West Brom find themselves top of the Championship standings because there is clear quality in every position on the pitch, but their attacking midfield trio of Diangana, Pereira and Phillips has been especially key in the opening months of the season.
According to WhoScored, the trio are Albion’s three highest-rated players after 11 matches, which highlights their importance to the side.
Diangana currently ranks joint-third for dribbles completed per match in the second tier [2.6] while Pereira ranks seventh for key passes per match [2.2].
If these three players continue their fine form then Austin is bound to start firing goals more regularly as West Brom aim to secure their return to the Premier League.
In other West Brom news, fans have urged this Albion player to sign a new contract with the club.