Valbuena: "Our destiny is in our own hands"
29/04/11 - OM-AJA
Playmaker, flying winger, or even striker, Mathieu Valbuena has never better respected his status of providential man. A strong desire which has repercussions on the results of an OM side once again back on top.
Mathieu, what is it like to recuperate first place?
It’s good for our confidence. Psychologically speaking, it can only give us a boost. Now, it makes no difference, it is on the final day we will have to be first. We knew there was a good operation to pull off. At the moment, Lille have stalled, they have a little more difficulty. But there is also Lyon who have not let go. They are a great team that is hungry for victories. In the final sprints, they are always present. We have seen that last year. But above all we need to focus on ourselves. We have our destiny in our own hands. We will have to be as consistent as possible to keep our title.
After Nice, you're at home to Auxerre, another team from the lower reaches of the table...
In the second half against Nice, we created good play, showed more mobility. Even if we had problems in the first half, we know that our opponents do not come at the Vélodrome to play flowing football. We’ll see that against Auxerre as well. They are a difficult side to play against, who will sit back to wait and hit us on the counter attack.
"Maybe we wait too much for the second half, or to take a slap to start playing and reacting"
Recently we have seen you play everywhere. Do you know what is reserved for you this time?
No I do not know, we are not yet aware of the team composition. For the final of the Coupe de la Ligue, I played alone up front, while against Nice, I was there as a playmaker. It depends. It will be based on what is the best for the balance of the team. It is up to the coach to see what he thinks is best.
It was after the entry of Jordan Ayew up front, the passage of André to the left, and you to the right that things began to change...
Yes, that's where we had our best period and that we scored three (final) goals. We will have to see if we can reproduce that again or not. But I think that it's down to our mindset, and the football we created that put Nice in difficulty.
There is also the return of the famous relationship between you and Lucho!
We had to refind this complicity. We knew it was not lost, but there were automatisms to find again. It went very well. We saw that when we played simply, we brought a lot of movement and mobility, we could make beautiful things happen. So yes, it is always done intermittently. Maybe we wait too much for the second half, or take a slap to start playing, and react. We will have to progress in view of that.
"If we are champions, I'll get the glasses out again!"
You move from the status of hunter to hunted. How are you approaching this transition?
We have arrived in the final sprint. It is up to us to put in all the ingredients to remain in that position. The mindset is really super-important. It's always very hard to confirm after an extraordinary year. We have gone half way by retaining this Coupe de la Ligue, now it is up to us to achieve the most difficult, the title. This is our daily grind. I hope we will succeed, we have all the qualities to do so.
The group is not satisfied yet then?
There is strength, but also the determination of all and the entire group wants to achieve the win. When you win a Coupe de la Ligue, a trophy, it makes you even hungrier. It can give us a boost. When you are new and did not experience last year, you want to enjoy this experience. For those of us who have been through it, it stayed in our memory. It is up to us to make the efforts to manage it. When you win a title, we want to taste it again. It's so beautiful.
And those famous glasses you brought out during the parade last year, do you still have them?
If we are champions, I’ll get them out again!
Credit: Olympique de Marseille (www.om.net)
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