Allardyce singles out Diagne for West Brom attacking failings
Sam Allardyce singled out Mbaye Diagne when discussing the lack of a clinical finisher at West Brom recently, pointing to his offside record.
The Baggies failed to overcome Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park on Saturday, with the club having gone their last three Premier League games without having scored a goal.
Albion remain floundering in the relegation zone, and with both Newcastle and Brighton recently picking up points they are now 10 points from safety.
With Crystal Palace needing a penalty to beat Albion on Saturday, Sam Allardyce has clearly seen his side’s defensive efforts improve.
However the Baggies just don’t offer the same quality up front, with Allardyce specifically drawing attention to Diagne when discussing Abion’s missed opportunities.
As reported by Express & Star, Allardyce said: “At the moment we don’t have that clinical finisher.
“We can look at Mbaye (Diagne) and say if he had been onside more, he might have got five or six goals that would have made a difference to us.
“If he had been a better finisher when he was onside, he might have scored seven or eight goals.
“But unfortunately that hasn’t happened for him and he has only got one goal. And the rest of the team haven’t been able to contribute either based on the amount of chances they are creating for themselves.”
Pointing the finger
Though Allardyce appears to have laid some of the blame squarely at Diagne’s feet, he makes a solid point.
Every team in the Premier League needs to score goals to win games – it’s one of the most obvious yet crucial pillars of playing football. If a team doesn’t have the right talent to ensure that chances and opportunities are taken, that team is always going to be in trouble.
That being said, you cannot blame the misfiring forwards entirely. Albion aren’t blessed with the most talented squad in the league, and that includes their midfield and their defence, which while improved still has a long way to go before being adequate enough for this competition.
Signings in the winter window like Okay Yokuslu and Ainsley Maitland-Niles have certainly helped, but they can’t do it all unfortunately, and even if Diagne had scored more frequently the odds would still likely be stacked against Albion.
We’re not completely out of the running yet, even if it doesn’t too good at this current moment in time, and Diagne still has nine games to show Baggies fans what he is about.
In other West Brom news, Allardyce has admitted that he has a dilemma over Callum Robinson and Karlan Grant.
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