Interviews

Gross: Young players fitting in perfectly

Ferguson, Sarmiento and Moran caught Pascal’s eye in 4-1 win over Everton.

By Charlie Hanson • 04 January 2023

By Simon Davies
Evan Ferguson celebrates with Pascal Gross after the German chipped in Albion's fourth.

Pascal Gross is delighted with the success Albion’s young players are enjoying.

Jeremy Sarmiento and Evan Ferguson made their first Premier League starts of the season in the 4-1 win at Everton on Tuesday, while Andrew Moran came on for the final 15 minutes for his league debut.

“They’re doing really well in training every day,” Gross said. “They’re great young players. In your first Premier League games, maybe the nerves can affect you, but Evan played a great game. He’s fighting, he’s playing good football and he fits right into the team.

02:17

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PL Highlights: Everton 1 Albion 4

“Andy is a brilliant player as well and I am really pleased that he got his debut.”

The German notched his sixth goal of the season with Albion’s fourth on the night, as he continues his fine form in the engine room.

“I am happy when I can score. We had a good performance. My strength has always been my consistency and I have tried to do that to help the team and lead by example.”

The 31-year-old puts his success down to the clarity of Roberto De Zerbi’s approach.

03:46

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De Zerbi: Ferguson can become great striker

“We know what we’re doing. I try to focus on the game – if you’re not playing well or you’re not organised then it can get stressful. We’re really organised, we train every day and then try and do the same on a matchday, there’s just more people watching.

“We approach every game the same, we have a game plan and we want to win every game – that might not happen at this level but we always try. But we played some good football, the first half [against Everton] wasn’t perfect but the second half was a lot better and we deserved to win the game.

“We tried the same against Arsenal and it doesn’t always go your way but you’ve got to be positive. We’ve got a really good idea of how we want to play football and that makes it easier.”