View: Summer signing could face fight to get back into West Brom starting XI
OPINION
After how well he started for West Brom since his summer loan switch from Benfica, it would have seemed unthinkable that Filip Krovinovic would be struggling to get a game for Slaven Bilic by October.
Krovinovic’s arrival in early July was met with a lot of excitement by Baggies fans who were eager to see what Bilic could get out of a Croatian attacking midfielder who had been signed up from one of the top clubs in Portugal.
The 24-year-old looked as though he would be a mainstay of the West Brom midfield, especially as he completed 90 minutes in the club’s first five Championship matches of the campaign.
However after back-to-back draws against Reading and Derby, Bilic took the decision to drop Krovinovic to the bench ahead of the game against Blackburn at The Hawthorns.
It seemed as though it was an inspired decision as Matheus Pereira came into the starting line-up and took Krovinovic’s role as the number 10, playing in the centre of the attacking midfield trio along with Grady Diangana and Matt Phillips.
Pereira assisted two goals as West Brom went on to win 3-2 versus Rovers. By that point in the season, Krovinovic had two assists in five starts but Pereira had now taken his tally up to three having only made one start.
Based on stats by WhoScored, it is easy to see why Bilic is still using Pereira over Krovinovic in the central attacking midfield area.
Although the Croatian playmaker has averaged more passes per game and has a higher pass completion percentage, Pereira has averaged more key passes and managed to supply more assists.
At the moment, Pereira is undroppable.
Not only is the Brazilian playing well, but West Brom are top of the league and went into the international break off the back of an impressive 4-2 win against Neil Warnock’s Cardiff.
It is still early days this season and Krovinovic may still have a big role to play as Albion aim to return to the Premier League.
However, for now, it sure seems as though the Benfica loanee is fighting a losing battle to get back into Bilic’s starting line-up.
In other West Brom news, Charlie Austin has heaped praise on these three Albion players.