Grady Diangana says he’s “really enjoying” his football so far this season and revealed boss Steve Bruce has given him “plenty of confidence”.
The dazzling winger has produced a number of thrilling pieces of skill already in 2022/23 and has arguably been one of Albion’s best performers in the opening handful of matches.
Diangana has started the last four Sky Bet Championship games and delivered a man of the match display on Saturday as the Baggies thrashed Hull City 5-2 at The Hawthorns.
And the exciting 24-year-old believes he has started the campaign in positive fashion and wants to continue causing opposition defences problems.
Grady said: “I think we’ve started the season well in terms of our performances, but we’ve obviously not got as many points as we all wanted.
“We’re playing the right way and we’re creating lots of chances, we’re just not putting the chances away.
“I think personally, I’ve been quite consistent and I’m trying to be as much of a threat as I can be, creating opportunities for myself and for my team-mates.
“I’m really trying to cause the opposition lots of problems every time I step onto the pitch.
“I’ve been really enjoying my football. I’ve been working on my strengths in terms of trying to make them better and I’ve also been working on my weaknesses because I want to improve in certain areas.
“The boss has given me plenty of confidence. He chats to me a lot and he’s always trying to get me to just be myself and cause teams problems.
“It’s a certain feeling, a certain vibe that you feel, when you know you’re on the right path. I’m just trying to make sure that every game I play in, I’m in that zone.
“Hopefully that zone lasts for a really long time. I’m trying to take things day-by-day and game-by-game at the moment.”
John Swift and Jed Wallace arrived in B71 over the summer and both have already shown signs of why the club were so keen to secure their signatures.
Grady believes the new additions have bolstered Albion’s attacking threat, insisting the forward players in the squad are all on the same wavelength.
“I definitely feel as though the arrival of Jed and Swifty have helped all of the attacking players in the group.
“For me personally, I like to play with other players who like to pass and move quickly and link up with others on a regular basis.
“Swifty especially, because he plays closer to me on the pitch, has been amazing to have. He’s got great technical ability.
“I’m starting to understand Jed too and the type of player he is and the things he wants to do on the pitch.
“It’s going to make my life easier knowing what he wants to try and do when he’s got the ball at his feet and it works the other way too.
“They’ve both got so much quality.
“I don’t think a lot of people will realise to be a creative player that can affect games in a really positive way, you need others who are on the same wavelength as you and have similar ideas.
“There needs to be an understanding between you and other players where you all know where which player wants the ball, which area that specific player is most dangerous in and which runs he likes to make. Understanding all of these things, as well as others, helps massively with how creative you can be as a team.”
The Baggies have back-to-back away fixtures coming up at Huddersfield Town on Saturday afternoon and then Wigan Athletic on Tuesday night.
Diangana says last weekend’s emphatic triumph at home to Hull was “coming” and has challenged his team-mates to go on and earn six points from their next two matches.
“The way we are playing, as soon as the goals start coming regularly, I think we’ll find it easier to win matches both at The Hawthorns and away from home.
“The important thing for us is to keep going and to keep working hard every day on the training pitch.
“We had a feeling that a result like the one we got against Hull was coming.
“We have to take that momentum into the next two games on the road now because we want to be coming back with three points in each of those matches.”
