Robbie Mustoe believes that Matheus Pereira has to be the man that Sam Allardyce builds his team around if West Brom are to stand any chance of staying up.
The Baggies picked up a huge victory in their efforts to stay in the Premier League over the weekend as they defeated Black Country rivals Wolves 3-2 at Molineux.
Pereira managed to get two goals on the day, both from the penalty spot, and speaking on the latest edition of The 2 Robbies Podcast (47:22), Mustoe noted that whilst this team could be going through a number of changes this window as Allardyce moulds the team into what he wants, that the Brazilian has to keep his place in the team:
“This team was built by Slaven Bilic to be more attack-minded more entertaining. If you sit back with big Sam, which is what he normally does. Maybe they haven’t quite got the players to do that. We’re in the middle of a window right now and maybe they’ll bring in more players… I like Pereira. Pereira has a special talent and it’s got to play all the time. He’s got to play all the time, no matter what big Sam does”.
Is Matheus Pereira a Premier League-level player?
YES
NOT SURE
Mustoe is right to place his faith in the 24-year-old. He showed last year just what a creative talent he can be as he racked up 20 assists in the league, and whilst he might still be struggling to adapt to the league, those numbers are just hard to ignore.
With Allardyce’s teams tending to focus on the defensive side of the ball, his attacking skillset cannot be forgotten through all of this, and he is someone that the club should be looking to build around.
And with West Brom having scored the joint-third fewest goals in the league this season, Pereira is going to have to reproduce that magic a lot more frequently this season if they are to have any chance of staying up.