The http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Olympique-de-Marseille-c40127 coach has come to the defence of his player whose recent performances for Les Phoceens have been patchy to say the least
Usually a gem of a player in midfield for Olympique de Marseille, Benoit Cheyrou is far from that sort of player since the beginning of the new season. And, the midfielder’s performances have not been at the required level.
In the last two Marseille outings, the 31-year-old’s performances have attracted a lot of criticism but his coach, Elie Baup has still got a faith on the player’s ability to return to his usual best.
“He is a high level player who knows the situation. There is no need to dwell on it more than that, he knows what happened,” said the former Toulouse boss.
On Thursday night in a Europa League home encounter against German Bundesliga side Borussia Monchengladbach, it was Cheyrou’s error that resulted in the away team scoring their first goal. However, Baup did not overwhelm his player with criticism considering
that the player is not in a right state of mind.
And against Claude Puel’s OGC Nice this Sunday, the former http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/AJ-Auxerre-c38247 star was once again disappointing. Not in a good tempo and no more transparent in midfield nor a precise passer anymore, Cheyrou has had a poor start to the campaign.
Furthermore, the player’s potential in front of goal seems to have gone as well. Last night, he missed two glorious opportunities. First was a header that missed the goal by six meters while the second was similar to the previous one.
Had Cheyrou converted either of those chances, Les Phoceens would have gone on top of the table with a good lead over Paris Saint-Germain.
Despite the missed opportunity, Elie Baup has sought to protect his player and says that the real opportunities must not be missed by attackers and that Cheyrou is not a goalscorer.
“I’m not talking about an individual, this is the group that is concerned. And then, the real opportunities must be converted by the attackers, not him. I have no question about the player.”
“It’s like a defeat today. It is hard to digest.”
However, Cheyrou’s performances need to improve considerably as Baup will eventually run out of excuses to protect a senior member of the squad.
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