Dijon-Delcourt: "Omar Daf will not leave"

Omar Daf can thank Zargo Touré. The Senegal international defender (18 caps) spared Dijon a seventh defeat in their last nine Ligue 2 matchdays. He equalised (52nd minute) seven minutes into the second half of his side's 1-1 draw with Guingamp on Saturday 5 November, in the 14th round of fixtures.

This fifth draw of the season does not lift Dijon (16th) up the table. But it limits the damage, particularly for their coach, Omar Daf, who arrived this summer from Sochaux. A defeat would have put the Senegalese coach under greater pressure, even though his chairman is openly showing his support. "There is a crisis of results. I told the players, it is not a problem with the coach or the technical staff, but a problem with the players," Olivier Delcourt said bluntly in L'Équipe.

"Some of the players are not at the right level" (Omar Daf)

The Dijon chairman drove the point home: "Some do not have the level we expected. I will not leave, the coach will not leave. We cannot carry on like this, for the city, the club, the supporters. Yes, there is shame. We had ambition, that of going up to Ligue 1. If this continues, we will be playing to avoid relegation."

Omar Daf is on the same page as Delcourt. "With a run of eight matches without a win (before this 14th round of fixtures) and elimination from the Coupe de France, there is indeed a feeling of shame," he admits. "Compared with our objectives, we were probably too ambitious. Some of the players are not at the right level."

Even so, the former Lion of Teranga is not throwing in the towel. He says: "We are working, we are taking initiatives to do things outside training. Some of the senior players in the team have spoken up, which is good. And if some feel targeted, it is because they are not doing what is needed."

The Editorial Team - Sport News Africa