James Berrett on the season ahead
Midfielder James Berrett admitted today that he is one of those players who enjoys pre-season training as the lads prepared themselves for what is expected to be an intense week.
“I quite enjoy the running side of things,” he said. “It's part and parcel of football and we all know we need to do it. We all get on with it and it's good to be back with the lads and getting on with things again.
“I've kept myself fit through summer so I feel ready for it. Usually when the season finishes I give myself a week or so off and then gradually build things back up. I go to the gym as much as possible and as pre-season gets closer you do start to work harder to make sure you’re prepared.”
“It does help that I've been here a couple of years now because I know what to expect,” he admitted. “Whatever we do between now and August, the focus is on the first game of the season. Everybody is looking to be in the team against Leyton Orient and everything we do is with that in mind.”
As far as last season was concerned, the midfield playmaker echoed the thought of his team mates as he looked back on what was a disappointing campaign.
“We all know we didn't do what we wanted to do last season," he told us. “We'll be doing everything we can to put that right.
“We'll learn from the mistakes we made and try and improve on the things. We weren’t consistent enough, we can’t get away from that, so hopefully we’ll sort that out and have a successful season this time round.”
“On a personal level I want more goals and I want to improve my overall performances,” he said. “I think I struggled a bit in the first half of the season and that was frustrating for me.
“I want to get closer to the level of performance I put in during my first couple of seasons and push on from there.”
“We didn't seem to click as a team during the first half of last season,” he added. “If we could explain why that happened then things would have been different and we would have put it right earlier. What we can say is that the experience will help the lads because we know if something like that does happen again we are capable of putting it right.”
“My only real target is to be in the team,” he continued. “I think that has to be everybody's aim because if you’re involved then it means you're doing something right.
“It’s a big season for me because my contract runs out at the end of it. I'm not thinking about that at the moment though because if I play the way I know I can then it should take care of itself.
“I'll start thinking about it towards the end of the season but, right now, I'm just looking forward to playing football.
“I would be happy to stay because my first two seasons here were brilliant. Hopefully we can do something like that again this season and we can put a few smiles back on faces. The rest of it can wait until we know where we’re at.”
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