Nîmes Olympique: enough of the waste!

À l’instar de Freddy Mbemba, les Crocos hésitent trop souvent à s’essayer à la frappe. MAXPPP – Vincent Poyer

In Dijon (1-1), where victory was within their reach, the Crocos again lost precious points on Friday evening, with a view to maintaining their position.

In this tight National championship where "there is not a single easy match" (Bompard), all points count, and the Crocos could end up regretting those they have let slip away in recent weeks, at Niort, at Antonins against Marignane-Gignac and at Dijon on Friday evening.

"Châteauroux who creates a little surprise by beating Martigues, Marignane who wins against Versailles, the other teams advance. In our situation, we cannot afford to give up points along the way, each one will be important, insists Waly Diouf. Many would have signed for a draw in Dijon but we have to be ambitious to get out of the red zone."

The 27th day and the National ranking

only 5 points earned over the last five days

Performing at the start of the return phase (11 points taken out of 15 possible), Nîmes Olympique has been stalling for five days (5 points out of 15, only one victory). But, like their central defender, the Crocos want to “see the glass half full” and retain their “ability to come back to score”, & ;quot;mental and solidarity" (Thoumin) displayed to achieve this.

"I keep hope, resilience, it is there, said Frédéric Bompard. When I see the disappointment of the players in the locker room, I know that they are not giving up."

"Nîmes is not a team of painters, it’s a good team with good players, they are not at the rank they are deserves: the words of Benoît Tavenot, DFCO coach, are pleasant to hear but they will not win places in the ranking or matches.

The finish in question, again and again

In Dijon, if she tightened her guard at the back after conceding three goals during her previous trips to Nancy and Niort – Diouf: "We know that maintaining strength will require a good defensive base" –, the Nîmes team once again sinned in the finish and it’s not just a question of the penalty missed by Sané.

At eleven against ten, the Crocos "used the width well and made the Dijonnais" (Bompard) but, as Diouf regrets, they did not have a plethora of opportunities. It would have been necessary to combine even more on the sides, even more to center to put the DFCO in more difficulty.

Don't hesitate to strike

“Away, you don’ don’ need to have a lot of chances, replies his coach, but when you don’ score, you have difficulty winning matches& ;hellip;" And the Gard technician regrets that his players – we think in particular of Mbemba – don't try their luck hard enough. "I keep telling them: “Knock !” We have the impression that we have to get the ball behind the line to score…hellip; As soon as there is a shooting window, you have to stop procrastinating and strike. How do you want to score if you don't hit ? It’s implacable logic… They (the players) are young and they sometimes lack experience, that's what makes…"

"Persevere and persevere again"

"You have to persevere and persevere again to force destiny again. Success will be at the end of the effort, concludes Waly Diouf who was eager, Friday evening, to meet as quickly as possible in Épinal to remove this bitter taste in the mouth. There are no questions to ask, with humility, with organization and a strategy, we will move clearly to win."

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