West Brom’s winger Grady Diangana, who has 14 goals this season, came off the bench to assist both goals in their comeback against Watford on Monday.
Grady Diangana has been challenged to keep the same mindset and approach to West Bromwich Albion matches for the rest of the Championship season, following his superb cameo in Monday’s 2-2 draw with Watford, which contributed to both goals in the Baggies’ comeback.
Diangana, who won the penalty that John Swift converted to earn Albion a battling point at Millwall on Good Friday, came up big from the bench, teeing up Brandon Thomas-Asante shortly after his introduction and then feeding Darnell Furlong, who finished from distance in stoppage time.
Diangana is now just one goal away from matching his all-time highest season tally at The Hawthorns, which came under Slaven Bilic while he was still a West Ham United player. Indeed, he has delivered seven goals and seven assists in 30 games this season, an amazing return either side of his lengthy AFCON journey with the DRC.
“Without a doubt, Grady’s mentality is improving significantly,” remarked manager Carlos Corberan. “When one player with his quality competes with mentality, things do not always go as planned; however, if you play with a competitive mentality and do not allow yourself to drop levels that are within your capabilities, the mentality means that he will always perform two or three actions that demonstrate his level.
“Hopefully, we can employ this talent all the time, but it’s vital to have the mentality of insisting, not resisting or giving up. In the last game [against Millwall], he scored a penalty and made an excellent recovery quite near to the box. On Monday, he was involved in two goals. It’s critical that he understands and recognises that the reason he’s making these things is more about mentality than quality.
Albion earned two hard-fought points over the Easter weekend, coming from behind twice to draw and extend their league unbeaten streak to eight games. Since their fatal FA Cup tie against Wolves at the end of January, they’ve only lost once, to Southampton. Albion improved their lead in the play-offs on Monday, after Hull City, Coventry City, Norwich City, and Preston North End all lost.
“It’s important to maintain the unbeaten streak,” Corberan continued. “It’s significant that the team hasn’t lost in the last eight games, and we’ve only lost once in the last 12. We wanted the three points, which is true. The results, rather than comparing to other teams, reveal the level of competition.
“In this competition, you will not have an easy game. We saw Leicester lose to Bristol. Rotherham United, who everyone assumed couldn’t compete, also won their game. Teams who are with us and hoping to make the playoffs were unable to win their games. The Championship has always been challenging. You will not always be able to gain points or play at the desired level.
“Ask my players—we want to play better. It is why we work every day. At the same time, we must be practical. That means we won’t always win, be better than our opponents, dominate and destroy them. You must have the resilience, mentality, and effort to compete; if you cannot be better than your opponent, don’t be worse.”
