After eight defeats in their first eight Ligue 1 games, Arles-Avignon began to recover with the arrival of a new coach, Faruk Hadzibegic. Craftsman of the rise last season, striker Kaba Diawara believes more than ever in maintenance.
What speech did Faruk Hadzibegic make when he arrived?
The coach took control of the group during our internship in Spain in early October. He took the time to talk to left-behind players like me. He wanted to have men to rely on, able to speak in the locker room and talk to the younger ones. This is the role I occupied last season, I only took it up with his arrival.
How do you explain this sidelining at the start of the season?
I wasn't even on the game sheets. The club had decided to take another direction with 18 arrivals. With others, I paid the price for the operation. The club may have thought that I did not have the level for Ligue 1.
How did Hadzibegic manage to revive a drifting team?
The man had to be stung. We no longer made the effort for the boyfriend. I'm not saying we all need to love each other, but we need respect between us. When you decide to defend as a block, it has to start from the center-forward to the goalkeeper. When there is no clear pattern of play, there are always smart kids who try to take advantage of it to make less effort. And we paid it cash at the start of the season.
Was the team close to letting go?
I felt that we were not far from going into a spin between all the arrivals of the summer and the real-false start of Michel Estevan (Editor's note: the trainer of the climb). Now when we take a goal, we straighten our sleeves and we start again.
Was there a communication problem between the new players and players like you who had given the club access to Ligue 1?
There is already a very stupid thing. In a French club, you have to speak in French. It is up to the player who happens to adapt and speak the language a minimum. When I played abroad, I wasn't going to speak French with my partners. Some new ones did not make the effort. And then we didn't force them either. The club tended to put them above us. Everyone had to question themselves, but especially the new ones. They are the ones who arrived with better wages. The conditions were not met so that old and new can get along well at the beginning
Is this failed start to the season, will he not be crippling for the maintenance?
We believe in.
We lost but we see that the championship is not launched.
The 5th is never just 12 points away from us.
Everything is possible.
In any case, we couldn't be worse than at the start of the season.
We'll have to be very careful with us, Arles-Avignon is a wounded animal.
Sunday, you face Bordeaux one of your former clubs…
Bordeaux, it's always special for me, it is the club of my professional beginnings and the one with whom I was champion of France in 1999. When I find the Girondins, I always think back to all those good times.
Soccer
League 1
Arles-avignon