Senegalese media share one aspect Sunderland star Habib Diarra must improve on
Habib Diarra has been representing Senegal in September’s international break
Since joining from Strasbourg for a club-record fee, Diarra has impressed for Sunderland without doing anything much of note.
Aside from a well-saved effort in Sunderland’s 3-0 win over West Ham on the opening day of the season, the midfielder is yet to come close to immediately influencing a result.
With that said, there have been plenty of signs of promise at the Stadium of Light, though after his display in Senegal’s 2-0 win over Sudan, his one deficiency has been highlighted
Habib Diarra gets 6/10 in Senegal outing vs Sudan
Goals from Kalidou Koulibaly and Pape Sarr secured a win for Senegal on Friday night, with Diarra named in the starting 11.
Just as he has done since joining the Wearsiders, Diarra was constantly looking for the ball and looking to drive forward with it, without it ending in too much success on this occasion.
Via Senegalese news outlet DSports, the midfielder got a 6/10 rating, where it was also highlighting where his game needs to improve.
Alongside his rating, they said: “Less influential than in his previous matches, but he held his own. Still needs to improve his consistency.”
More than anything, Sunderland fans will be delighted at the fact that Diarra has got through the first encounter without injury.
Which other Sunderland players are on international duty?
Sunderland, in the space of a few years, have gone from a League One side with very few intetnional players, to a Premier League outfit whose squad gets disambled during the interntional break.
Reinildo has already suffered defeat away with Mozambique, while several others were in action on Friday.
- Granit Xhaka – Switzerland
- Noah Sadiki – DR Congo
- Simon Adingra – Ivory Coast
- Bertrand Traore – Burkina Faso (unused sub)
After such a bright start to life back in the Premier League for Sunderland, getting these players back to Wearside fully fit will be the goal, while also hoping that they return in good form.
An away encounter against Crystal Palace beckons for the Black Cats when they return.
Sign up for the Mackem News WhatsApp channel and turn on notifications to have all the latest, breaking Sunderland AFC news sent straight to your phone