The pre-season friendly matches came to an end with a victory in Lens for OM. Now the team will be preparing for their trip to Grenoble, with the objective of being competitive straight away on the 8th of August.
With a record of 4 victories for one defeat nd one draw during their pre-season friendly matches, OM seem to be in convincing form. Some dark clouds have crossed this month of July, like the injury to Lucho Gonzalez, which is a risk in football, or the first half performances against Saint-Etienne and Lens. «There are large gaps, on a fitness level, between the players who came back at the start of pre-season and those who arrived later. Some players have two weeks less work than others and you can feel it » advances Didier Deschamps as an explication. Despite this, OM have been able to pick themselves up in the second halves of these two matches, going on to win them both thanks to a total implication from all the players in the squad. «All the players, whether they start, come on during the game or do not play at all, have the same focus and frame of mind. That is very important» says the delighted OM coach.
The differing levels of fitness should be ironed out during the month of August. «With one match per week, we will have the time to put more work in. At the end of the month everyone will be at the same level ».
As of Monday, all teams will be preparing for the first match of the L1 campaign next weekend. «This week is for fine-tuning» states Deschamps whose objective is to have his side fully ready for the start of competition, a match that the supporters are waiting for with great expectation. «Whatever happens, we will have no excuses and will have to be ready ».
To be ready is the ambition of every team who, at the start of the season know that "points taken are in the bag ". «We’re on the starting line with the match against Grenoble and then we’re off for 10 months. It’s very exciting. We still have a week to put finishing touches on our preparation and be ready for the 8th of August » concludes the Marseille manager.
