Martin Keown slams ‘Sloppy’ Matheus Pereira during first half of West Brom v Aston Villa
Martin Keown has taken aim at Matheus Pereira during the first half of the Sunday night clash between West Brom and Aston Villa.
Albion came into Midlands Derby fixture at Villa Park off the back of a crushing 3-0 defeat to Leicester City on Thursday, and Sam Allardyce would have been hoping to see a strong start from his charges.
But Villa were at it from the get-go and Albion were found severely lacking in midfield once again.
Pereira, so often the magic man this season who can sprinkle stardust onto any occasion, was at fault early on when he gave the ball away in the middle of midfield to spring a Villa attack, though he did score from the penalty spot later in the half.
That didn’t go unnoticed in the BT Sport commentary box, ex-Arsenal defender Keown criticising Pereira for some careless play just after lead commentator Ian Darke had labelled the Brazilian Albion’s “key” player.
“Again though West Brom giving it away, that was sloppy [from Pereira],” Keown said after Villa’s attack came to an end.
Price to pay with MP
We all know Pereira can create something out of nothing at times but the other side of him is that he can be careless with the ball.
That’s why he’s better off playing as far up the pitch as possible, but the flip side is that we need his creativity from deep as we often labour when bringing the ball out from the back.
It was the most awkward time for Pereira to make a mistake, just as Darke was waxing lyrical about him, and we were lucky not to be punished for it.
He bounced back though, scoring a penalty and whipping some dangerous balls into the box before the first half concluded.
He’s rapidly proving himself to be a reliable Premier League performer, now he just needs to cut out errors like the one at Villa Park on Sunday.
In other West Brom news, Tony Pulis signing to exit West Brom in summer and three other players also set for axe, according to report.
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