From Matheus Pereira to Nathan Ferguson: West Brom’s recipe for success

Every recipe comes with a variety of ingredients, but none more so than the one for success. With ingredients including the spice of a prolific goalscorer to a firm defensive line, there is never just one ingredient that is crucial to a team’s success.

When it comes to analysing the most successful teams, there is little to be surprised about how they have reached the peak.

To achieve at any level, managers must be successful in obtaining a perfect blend of talent across each section of their squad.

Leeds United sit atop the Championship by a single point, closely followed by West Brom.

The duo have swapped the leadership role among themselves consistently this season. Since the season’s start back in August, four clubs have been perched on the top: West Brom, Leeds United, Swansea City and Sheffield Wednesday. But it has been West Brom who have been the most consistent, sitting atop the table for 24 matchdays.

Given Slaven Bilic’s side are likely to make a return to the Premier League – they currently have a fresh five-point advantage over third-placed Brentford with five matches to go – but who has been the Baggies master chef’s key ingredients this season?

Matheus Pereira

When discussing West Brom’s clear success this year, it is impossible to miss out Pereira. For most teams, the most important ingredient – the egg and flour mix, per say – is a creative midfielder – Pereira fits exactly that role and has had an excellent season so far.

The 24-year-old Brazillian has been a mainstay of the Baggies side this season with 37 appearances. While his tally of eight goals equates to just 11 per cent of those scored by West Brom in the League – it is his creative contribution that makes him such a fundamental part of Bilic’s side.

Pereira sits atop almost all of the creative metrics available to analyse Championship players.

The wide attacking midfielder consistently looks to play a forward pass to help his side further up the pitch (30 per cent of his passes head in this direction) and it is no surprise, therefore, that he has contributed almost a quarter of all chances created by the Baggies.

His array of passing ability is another firm reason as to why West Brom have had such a successful season. Whether it’s long passing, the accuracy of his passes in the opposition half or even just his quantity of forward passes, Pereira sits well above the average in his position.

Nathan Ferguson

Leeds’ Ben White marginally outranks Ferguson as the top-performing defender in the Championship, but the teenager has had an incredible first season at the Hawthorns.

Ferugson may have left West Brom after refusing to sign a new contract, but the 19-year-old is another to have played a large role in the Baggies’ success. The teenager made his first-team debut on the opening day of the current season and has gone from strength to strength in the West Midlands.

The teenager averaged an impressive 2.57 tackles per ninety minutes when he donned the navy blue and white but, perhaps more astonishingly, he was more likely to produce a successful tackle than the average central defender – Ferguson had a 70 per cent success rate.

When caught napping, Ferguson also proved to be reliable in recovering to clear the danger. On very few occasions have opposition sides managed to take full advantage of his mistakes but, with 6.28 recoveries per match, it is something that he will most definitely want to improve upon because – at a higher level – he will be punished.

Kyle Bartley

A third key player for West Brom this season is former Swansea City and Leeds United defender Kyle Bartley.

The strong defender has proven to be a reliable man throughout the season and a resolute option for Slaven Bilic to call upon in his squad.

This season, however, has seen Bartley produce performance after performance – adding to why the Baggies have had such a successful campaign.

There are a few central defenders that strikers hate to play against. Their physicality and aerial presence make them a near-impossible task to oppose  – Bartley is certainly included within this exclusive list.

He performs his dominance in the air by winning 5.13 duels per 90 minutes – he is successful in just over 70 per cent of all aerial challenges. Similarly, when the danger comes along the ground, Bartley remains Mr Consistency by making 4.86 clearances per 90 minutes and a 79.2 per cent tackle success ratio.

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