View: Stats make for grim reading as totally ineffective West Brom player flops v Fulham
Matheus Pereira had an especially bad game as West Brom lost 2-0 to Fulham on Monday to extend their winless run in the Premier League.
Goals from Bobby Decordova-Reid and Ola Aina mean the Baggies have now gone seven Premier League games without picking up three points this season.
The result is obviously disappointing but it was the performance that was the most worrying aspect of Monday’s encounter.
The poor Albion showing was personified through Pereira’s torrid performance. The Brazilian is usually so lively against poorer sides like Fulham, but on Monday he was unrecognisable in the Baggies attack.
It’s obvious to anyone who watched the game that Pereira had a poor evening and the stats confirm just how bad it was.
Before he was substituted off in the 58th minute, Pereira made no successful dribbles and only managed one touch in the opposition penalty area according to Wyscout.
The 24-year-old also made no progressive runs and only won 22% of his offensive duels, for an attacking player, these stats are simply unacceptable in the Premier League.
He also struggled to find his teammates on the few occasions he had the ball. Pereira registered a 57% passing accuracy and only 40% of his forward passes found their intended target which is incredibly poor when your side is looking to you to start attacking moves.
All in all only 31% of Pereira’s total actions against Fulham were successful, meaning more often than not whatever he attempted ended in failure.
The poor performance from Albion’s summer signing has reignited the debate over the Brazilian’s best position. Pereira started on the right-hand side against Fulham and drifted across the pitch where he equally had no success.
The heatmap above shows that Pereira was clearly trying to cut inside and play behind Karlan Grant who lead Albion’s attack. We, and plenty of Baggies fans, think that Pereira’s best position is the number 10 role, playing just off the striker.
But Slaven Bilic seems to disagree as he continues to play the winger on the right-hand side. But, Pereira playing out of his prefered position is no excuse for the terrible performance he gave on Monday night and there needs to be a huge improvement from him when his side take on Tottenham next weekend.
In other West Brom news, Bilic has claimed that only two players showed the right levels of commitment against Fulham.