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da esoccer bet： This article is part of Football FanCast’s In Numbers series, which takes a statistical look at performances, season-long form and reported transfer targets…
For a long period of time, Filip Krovinovic was West Brom’s only summer arrival.
The Croatian arrived on loan from Benfica before Albion went out and brought in four players on a permanent basis.
First through the door was Kenneth Zohore, a powerful Danish striker from Cardiff who unfortunately for the Baggies, enters the club off the back of a season where he scored just once.
Yet, more impressive signings have followed in terms of Semi Ajayi, Darnell Furlong and Romaine Sawyers.
The business they’ve wrapped up has been particularly shrewd as they’ve targeted proven Championship players who may well be able to get them out of the division.
There is still a lingering issue in the lack of goals following the departures of Dwight Gayle and Jay Rodriguez but there are reasons to suggest that the Baggies could actually become a more combative side in 2019/20.
Zohore is a player blessed with a presence in attack, winning 2.2 aerial duels per game in the Premier League last term. As for Semi Ajayi, he is a colossus in the air, succeeding with 4.3 aerial duels every 90 minutes whilst also making two tackles per match.
Sawyers, meanwhile, made 1.3 tackles on average each outing.
Furlong, though, is another aggressive player and that can be seen in the 4.7 aerial duels he won per game despite playing at right-back for the majority of the previous campaign.
It’s been an interesting summer strategy from Slaven Bilic who has seemingly developed a ploy to sign players who are both strong physically whilst at the same time, being equipped for the Championship.
The former QPR man is fine evidence of this approach. Last season he played 25 times in the second tier which included an outing where he won a gigantic 17 headers in one match.
Check out what happened when Thogden mixed with some of Montenegro’s craziest ultras in the video below…
He was particularly impressive in this aspect of play, winning seven duels in two games and a further six in a handful of fixtures.
And it’s that attribute that could make the Baggies trickier to break down in the upcoming term.
Last season they conceded 62 goals, the joint-most of any side in the top ten so it’s clear they’re going to have to improve in terms of their approach, especially defensively.
Their ploy to sign Ajayi and Furlong, therefore, will specifically aid their cause when defending in the air alongside someone like Ahmed Hegazi.
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