I-League: Dempo eye turnaround against Delhi

Panaji: After remaining winless in their last five games, Dempo SC head coach Samir Naik believes his side can get their I-League campaign back on track as they face lowly-placed Delhi FC at the Nehru Stadium, Fatorda, on Wednesday at 3.30pm.
Dempo, who gained promotion this season, got off to a flying start and were placed second after the first five matches. But in the last five games, the five-time national champions have secured only a point.
The dip in form was mainly due Argentine midfielder Damian Perez’s injury and forward Matija Babovic’s transfer to Inter Kashi. Dempo were left with only Syrian centre-back Shaher Shaheen as their foreign player.
Ivory Coast midfielder Didier Brossou and former Real Kashmir FC forward Lukman Adefemi (Nigeria) did feature in the last matches, but the new signings couldn’t do much as Dempo suffered a 0-2 defeat against Kashmir.
“I feel we have been doing good with or without foreigners. They need little time to adjust and get along with the boys,” Samir told TOI on Tuesday.
“Mostly, we have played with one foreigner and a very young team. We have played against teams which have six foreigners with some of them having ISL and I-League experience. Maybe it will be better in the future.”
Dempo are now ninth in the standings with 11 points from 10 games. However, their major concern remains upfront. Dempo have scored the least goals in the league (6). In their first five games they managed to score five times, but in their last five, Dempo have only scored once, against Rajasthan United FC in the 1-1 draw.
“We could have done better in the first two games after the break. But maybe we lacked concentration, and opponents were a little stronger,” said Samir.
However, the Dempo coach is happy with his team’s defensive work as they have conceded 10 goals which includes four clean sheets.
“In the last two games we have been creating chances. We hit the crossbar two times in the last games. We need someone who can finish those chances,” said Samir.
On the other hand, Delhi have problems of their own. The visitors are lowly placed in the standings with nine points. Yan Law’s side have just a point more than bottom-placed Sporting Club Bengaluru.
They come into the fixture after a 2-4 defeat away to Aizawl FC and are winless in their last four games. Delhi faced heavy defeats already this season, losing 0-5 against Gokulam Kerala and 1-5 against Inter Kashi. At 22, they are the team which conceded the most number of goals after Aizawl (23).
“We are in a situation right now where nobody wants to be in but we have to be positive. The points difference is not very much. The I-League has been very unpredictable this year. We still have more than half the league to go. We have a good squad,” said Law.