After a first season at RC Lens made of ups and downs and irregular playing time, Andy Diouf installed himself in the midfield of the system of Will Stillalongside ADrien Thomasson. The former Basel player has a string of tenures. But this does not mean that there is total satisfaction on the part of the technician who considers his player capable of going much further.
The staff had a discussion with their community to let them know that they expected even more from them. Will Still explain : ” We spoke to him before the Le Havre match, telling him : “You've been with us for six months, you've been playing everything for six months, there's been a clear margin for improvement in your game, there's been a lot of good things done, but we're going to continue to be demanding of you. You need to improve in certain aspects of your game. » This concerns taking information on balls he receives from behind to orient himself towards the game because it is not always good. There are also sometimes too many touches of the ball, too many moments where he will persist in something that is not there. And then, he must increase his statistics (editor’s note: a goal). »
“I’m going to piss him off until the end”
Despite these faults to be corrected, the results remain good in the eyes of the coach who wants to see him take more place in his team's game: ” It's positive because he keeps playing matches and he has a decent level. But I told him, I'm going to piss him off until the end because he has crazy potential. Now he has to be demanding and hard on himself too. It's good to have made it through these first six months, but now we have to move on to another level. And this level is to be a determining player and more important than what he was over the first six months. He listened, he was open to it. I think he's hungry to want to learn and to want to progress. And if he manages to pass this milestone, to be decisive, to be important and to correct the little faults he has, he will be a very, very good player. He already is, but he will be at a very, very good level for the rest of his career. »
The technician believes that his 21-year-old midfielder, elected best young player in the Conference League in 2022-2023, is reaching a turning point today: “ He finishes his training or post-training phase. And there, he arrives at an age where he must pass the threshold of being a mature player. He's going to be 22, 23 years old. And we know that this is the ideal age to really push and establish yourself as a player, but also to assert a personality. He has all the abilities to do it. He has the physical bulk, athletic ability, personality and intelligence to match. It's very complete and it's up to us to support him on this path because he is perfectly capable of it. » Florian Sotoca adds: “ Andy is a very respectful person, who is in place in the locker room, who has confidence in himself. He's OK with the fact that he could have a lot more stats. He has so many qualities, power quality, physicality, technique… I think Andy has all the qualities to succeed here too. He's had a pretty successful start to the season and in any case we're very happy to have him with us. He shows his qualities in training and in matches, I hope that can reflect on his stats, whether goals or assists. I think that it will come for him and in any case I know the potential he has, I know that he is a very nice boy, very attentive and I am convinced that he will do a second part of the season even better. »
