Exclusive: Phillips urges West Brom forward Diagne to work on staying onside
We’re delighted to welcome former West Brom striker Kevin Phillips as our exclusive columnist. Each week he’ll be giving his views on the biggest talking points at The Hawthorns…
Mbaye Diagne needs to work on staying onside at the West Brom training ground after having a goal chalked off against Everton, according to Kevin Phillips.
Diagne, 29, thought he’d scored his second goal in English football to earn the Albion a point against Everton on Thursday night. However, the Senegal international’s late strike was disallowed due to him being marginally offside.
It’s not the first time Diagne has been caught out since joining the Baggies on loan from Galatasaray in January either. According to Wyscout, the centre-forward has been offside 11 times in his first seven appearances for the club.
It means he’s been caught offside at a rate of 1.67 times per 90 minutes, which is the worst rate of offsides in the Premier League.
Phillips isn’t overly concerned by Diagne’s tendency to stray past the opposing defensive line but does feel it’s something the striker should work on in training.
“He was a handful against Everton. He finished his chance really well, albeit being just offside,” Phillips told West Brom News.
“It’s something you can teach and practice in training by doing drills to stay onside.
“When you’re trying so hard and under pressure, you always try to nick that little yard to get one over on the defenders.
“It’s something where you can sit down, rewatch the games and do drills to fix so it’s not a major issue – but it is a slight concern.
“You’d like to see him being a bit more clever, certainly against Everton. If he kept onside, it would have been a goal and the result could have been different. It’s something he needs to acknowledge and work on.
“I went through a spell in my career where I kept going offside, it’s when you try to gamble too early. It’s just about timing and it’s something that can be worked on.”
Diagne has scored just once in seven games since joining Albion on loan in January and that came when he headed past David De Gea in a 1-1 draw with Manchester United last month.
It was an impressive bit of play by Diagne, who outmuscled Victor Lindelof to get to the ball and steer it goalwards.
We’ve seen what Diagne is capable of but this isn’t the first time he’s had a goal disallowed and it’s unlikely to be the last unless he works on his game in training.
In other West Brom news, this Albion player has seen his company strike a deal with a high-flying Championship club.
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