Despite the good performances in the L1 against Valenciennes and Monaco, the midfielder is wary of this first away match in the Europa League in Copenhagen.
How are you feeling at this start to 2010?
Ok, the team is winning and I’m feeling good. The good results help and we hope that it will continue. But in football things are always fragile, you always have to ask yourself questions. When I’m called upon, I give everything that I have for the team. We have to be more consistent and continue the good performances.
OM’s performances against Lens and Monaco were quite different. How would you explain that?
The Coupe de France match was played in a strange context, it wasn’t easy. Things were different in the league. Against Lens, the pitch was in poor condition. After the defeat, we wanted to get back to what we had managed against Valenciennes and continue in the same vein. The three points against Monaco were very important.
Does that leave you with regrets in view of the match against Lens?
At the moment we have a very busy schedule we are playing matches every three days, we cannot dwell on a disappointment. We have to move forward and the coach found the right words telling us to move on and concentrate on Monaco, which we did. We didn’t have time to think about it too much. Against Lens, we were disappointed as it meant we had one less competition to play in, but we didn’t have time to cry over spilt milk. We had to move forward as we had matches coming up very quickly.
What do you know about your next opponents, FC Copenhagen?
We are heading off into the unknown, but we have been warned. They aren’t playing in any competitions and have just finished a tournament in Spain. But we know that their side is made up of Danish internationals, we might not necessarily know them but they are good footballers. Instead of focusing on our opponents, if we concentrate on our performance we can do something good over there.
There are eight matches before the final of the Europa League. Doesn’t that seem too far away?
A final has to be deserved and we need to put in a good run. There are a lot of steps to get over and the first ones will be the most difficult. It’s up to us to put in a good performance for the first leg away from home. The final is a long way away but we are impatient to get into action in this competition as it is important for us.
Are you not worried that these matches in the Europa League will have an effect on the L1 matches?
We have a big squad and everyone will have their say, afterwards the coach will make his choices. It’s better to play matches than training sessions. There will be fatigue because of the efforts put in and the travelling, but I don’t think that it will be a problem.
What does the Europa League mean to you and the squad?
It’s a European cup competition with big matches to be played and big clubs to be faced. We mustn’t take Copenhagen too lightly. The coach has warned us that they won’t be easy to play against and they know how to play football. There are some big clubs in the competition like Liverpool who came from the Champions League. It’s a big competition, we’re ambitious and we want to go as far as possible. In the last two seasons we went out to Shakhtar and Zenith, we want to make up for that by going as far as we can. It won’t be easy and it all starts against Copenhagen. The context will be difficult, it will be cold but we have to keep doing what we do well, especially as far as our team spirit is concerned. We are proud and won’t let anything go, we manage to win matches in the final minutes or stoppage time. We mustn’t let our heads drop and keep looking for a win.
Your understanding with Lucho Gonzalez, which is new as you haven’t played much during the first half of the season, is working well. How do you explain that?
We’ve worked on it in training. Lucho is a great player, I try to move a lot to give him solutions. He has incredible vision. For the moment things are working well and I have a great understanding with him. We know all about his qualities, his style is fantastic. Sometimes we don’t expect it and then he drops the ball at your feet with laser precision.
