Three days before the start of the new L1 campaign, impatience is growing amongst the supporters as it is with the players. "We want to get down to the real work, even during our vacation we had it on our minds" admits Benoît Cheyrou.
With his two years of experience at Olympique de Marseille, Benoît Cheyrou has become one of the senior players in the squad. With his status, he is one of the elements that welcomed the new recruits during the inter-season. «There are a lot of new players to integrate, we have had our training camps that were there for us to get to know each other on and off the pitch ». During pre-season, the OM squad followed training session away on their camps, at La Commanderie and also took part in frendly matches. Six friendly encounters which saw them end up with a record of four wins, one draw and one defeat. «The team is ready, but we can still progress in certain areas, our automatisms could be better, but then again there are a lot of new players. We will be much stronger the better we get to know each other ».
But now after six weeks of pre-season preparation, the OM squad, the old heads just like the new recruits, cannot wait for the real competition to begin. «We want to get down to the real work. We can’t wait for everything to begin. We’ve been preparing for it for over a month. We’ve been waiting for this moment for a long time, even during our vacation we had it on our minds ».
Cheyrou : «Delighted to continue the adventure »
At the start of the week, Benoît Cheyrou, who had two years remaining on his contract, signed a contract extension of two extra years. He is now under contract with OM until June 2013. «I’m delighted to continue my adventure here as I feel very good here, I want to experience things and win trophies here».
With Marseille, the midfielder wants to continue his progression and play a leading role in France and Europe. «I came here to keep on learning and progressing. Over the last two years we have played the Champions League and the top of the table, which is a lot more difficult here than at any other club. I think that I have progressed in all aspects of my game ».
Benoît Cheyrou and his team-mates don’t have too much longer to wait. The Ligue 1 kicks-off on Saturday and OM head to Grenoble. A first game which is always difficult to prepare for as teams do not have much information on their opponents. A factor which doesn’t bother the midfielder. «We shouldn’t ask ourselves too many questions. As OM, we have to impose our style of play and just worry about how we perform».
OM’s last friendly results (a victory against Saint-Etienne and Lens) allows for a certain optimism. But the first half performances of both matches puts things into perspective. «We can still progress a great deal. It won’t be our best match of the season but we will do all that we can to get a result. We are continuing the work we started over a month ago ».
The supporters, present at the training camps, during the matches or at La Commanderie, will also behind the players throughout the season. The training session open to the public show that the fervor is still is great as ever. «A lot of people are on holiday, they come to see us from all over France. We can feel the passion behind us, that can carry us as it has over other seasons. It’s great to see that there are a lot of people behind us » concludes Benoît Cheyrou.
