View: Why is West Brom winger not performing as well as last season?
When Grady Diangana signed for West Brom from West Ham in the summer it seemed like a great deal for the Baggies.
West Ham players and fans were furious that they had let one of their prized assets go and Albion fans were ecstatic that they had secured the services of one of the key men who got their club promoted.
But since he became a Premier League player Diangana hasn’t quite had the same impact at the Hawthorns compared to his impact in the Championship. He only has one goal in the league and is yet to register an assist.
The stats show that Diangana is performing worse in the Premier League than he did in the Championship. Now, this is to be expected. He is making a step up in quality for the first time and it’s no surprise to see Diangana drop in quality.
For example, last season Diangana was successful with 54.8% of his total actions, but this season that has dropped to 50.6%. Similarly, his expected goals rate (xG) has dropped from 0.19xG to 0.07xG. (Wyscout)
This is to be expected when a player moves to a tougher division, but some stats can help to explain why Diangana hasn’t been as effective this season.
If you look at the below heatmaps, you will see that the winger is playing further back this season, as a result of the Baggies having to do more defending than they did last term.
Diangana’s heatmap for 2019/20:
Diangana’s heatmap so far this season:
As you can see the 22-year-old isn’t getting forward as much as he did last season, which will have an impact on his attacking return.
Some stats also suggest that Diangana’s performance is being affected by his teammates. For example, Diangana is yet to complete a cross this season, on the surface this looks bad but you have to remember that until Karlan Grant signed, he has had no one to aim at.
The stats do show that Diangana has underperformed compared to last season, but this is mainly due to him playing in a harder division where he is having fewer chances. But it’s worth remembering that he can still produce something out of nothing and moments of quality, as he did against Everton.
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