In front of the Press on Thursday, the Marseille captain looked back on OM's recent results. Even if he feels that certain things went wrong, he has faith in the team and its potential.

Mamadou, what is the mood like in the squad after the difficult week that has just gone by and finished with the defeat to Monaco?
It’s ok. A lot of players have gone off on international duty, so the group is smaller at the moment. Obviously there is a lot of disappointment, but we’re trying to move on. We’re going to try and take advantage of this week to get our strength back and prepare for the match against Nancy.

Does your situation in the league worry you?
We’re not in any danger, let’s not exaggerate. We have suffered two defeats in a row, but the most difficult to accept was the one against Monaco. We slipped up and it is something that we experienced last season. What we need to do is to remobilise and put a quick stop to this poor run.

What are the solutions?
We mustn’t panic, but stay united. Even if we are not in top form, we have to do all we can to not lose. Winning by the smallest margin or in the worst case drawing a match, but we mustn’t lose.

"We cannot dismiss all the work that has been done, some stuff wasn’t and we have to change that "

Do the recent results annoy you?
It annoys everyone. In life you get what you deserve and maybe we didn’t put enough efforts in. When everyone returns we will be able to talk about this. If everyone pulls in the same direction, we will find it easier to take points and not lose in the way we did against Monaco. Our mentality has to be irreproachable and our engagement at 100%. All the other teams will want to beat us and we will have to be ready. We cannot dismiss all the work that has been done, some stuff wasn’t and we have to change that.

As captain, do you intend to be speaking to the squad?
No. I’m waiting for the whole squad to be present and we can then discuss it together. For the moment things aren’t ideal, and not everyone will be able to take advantage of this week to recuperate, we hit a wall after Monaco.

How do you explain the defensive difficulties and the number of goals conceded?
It’s not just the defence, the whole team has to work on that. It’s also the job of the forwards and midfielders to close down the opposing midfield and defence to stop them playing long balls. We all have to take a look at ourselves. We need to use our first half performance against Madrid as a reference. If we play like that in the L1 we will be a lot sdtronger than we are at the moment. I would have liked to have seen what would have happened in Madrid if we’d managed to hang on another ten minutes without conceding. They would have had to open up and there would have been a lot more space. We could have maybe scored and changed the match, but in the Champions League you have to make the least amount of mistakes as possible. We always seem commit one which is fatal.

"They (the new recruits) need time to adapt, but I have the utmost faith in them "

Do you still believe you can qualify for the last 16?
Of course I do. Look at Liverpool two years ago, they started off really badly but finished up top of their group. We cannot get worked up too much, there are still four games to go, we will do all that we can to win at home and get points from our away games. But, it won’t be easy.

The new recruits were in difficulty last week, how do you explain that?
They are in a new setting, a new club, with a different style of play. They need to adapt. The club decided to rebuild the team and we have a lot of work to do in order to build up automatisms. It’s not like Bordeaux or Lyon, whose squads barely changed, we have had eight new arrivals. They need to adapt as quickly as possible but it’s not easy. When I arrived at OM (in 2005), I started off well in the Intertoto Cup but found things difficult afterwards. I took time to adapt, but afterwards things went well. They need time to adapt, but I have the utmost faith in them. We need to help make the adaptation happen more quickly.

How can you do that, is it mental?
You need to be strong mentally, but you also need your team-mates help. Everyone goes through this type of period. It happened to Ben (Cheyrou) and to a lot of others as well. The only player to have adapted straight away was Steve (Mandanda).

To conclude, what do you think about the problems that your friend Souleymane Diawara had last week and how did he deal with them?
A lot was made about virtually nothing. He didn’t spend the night in jail, he was at the police station for three hours, maximum. He wasn’t drunk and hadn’t had an accident. He just went to pick up a friend from the station and was controlled by the Police. He was fine afterwards, he was unlucky for the first goal against Madrid and he didn’t deserve to pick up a red card later on. Souley is one of the new guys and he will need time to adapt. Once he has done that, we’ll see the Souley of Bordeaux, I have no worries about that. I’ve known him for a long time and he knows how to differentiate between his job and what goes on outside of that sphere. He knows how to focus when he steps onto the pitch.