Newcastle United need Mo Diame to step up – stats show he is

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The Senagelese midfielder looked to be approaching his best against Birmingham.

Newcastle United might have been handed a reprieve recently but a repeat is not guaranteed.

Jonjo Shelvey initially copped a four match ban for his immature spat with Nottingham Forest’s Henri Lansbury earlier in the month, only for the FA to overturn the decision and allow the midfielder to play a starring role in Saturday’s 4-0 win against Birmingham City.

However, Rafael Benitez can hardly sleep easy, with Shelvey set to face an FA disciplinary panel next week after being charged of using abusive and insulting words towards Wolves midfielder Romain Saiss.

Shelvey has maintained his innocence but a five game ban looms, meaning he could be absent for fixtures against Sheffield Wednesday, Nottingham Forest, Blackburn, Brentford and Birmingham in the FA Cup.

Consequently, the gradual improvements displayed by marquee summer signing Mo Diame could hardly be better timed.

The £4.5 million summer signing from Hull City admitted that he needed to ‘wake up’ after ‘sleeping’ through the season so far, per The Chronicle; moments of class a la his curling matchwinner in last season’s play-off final have been few and far between.

Yet, against The Blues, Diame was much improved, showing a precision and an effectiveness in possession that has been lacking so far.

“The last game, he was much better in the final pass or decisions. That was really positive. In terms of the attitude, I was happy with that,” Benitez told The Chronicle afterwards.

And the stats betray a player increasingly at ease with his surroundings on the back of his best performance in the famous black and white.

At St James’ on Saturday, the Senegalese powerhouse doubled his average key passes per game, bettered his average pass completion by 7% and embarked on two of those famous marauding runs that he made his trademark at Wigan, West Ham and Hull, up from a 1.3 seasonal average, per WhoScored.

And then there was the assist, only his second of the season, to set Newcastle, and hat-trick hero Dwight Gayle, on their way. Benitez will be praying, with Shelvey’s immediate availability uncertain, that Diame’s display is more than a one-off.