Ghana striker, Asamoah Gyan is hopeful of overcoming a difficult start to his career in France after the season kicked off over the weekend. Gyan played in his competitive debut for Stade Rennes in the French top flight and lasted for just 45 minutes in the high scoring 4-4 draw with Olympique Marseille. The Black Stars forward has told KickOffGhana.com that he really enjoyed the opening 20 minutes his competitive debut. “The first 20 minutes was really good for me,” he said. “I was actively involved in the game, but once we went 1-3 down, it became increasingly difficult for me and I was hardly involved afterwards.” The game against Marseille was Gyan’s first at a competitive level since appearing in Ghana’s quarterfinal win over Nigeria at the 2008 Nations Cup in January. Gyan was knocked down by injury and feels the long layoff has affected his conditioning for games. “I need to work on my conditioning for games because having been out for so long it will take time before I come back into shape. It is the aspect I need to improve in and then I am confident the goals will come.” Gyan, who joined the French side from Udinese is hopeful of meeting the challenges ahead when he reaches full fitness level. “There is a lot of expectation on me here and I feel if I am fully fit I am capable of meeting them. But I won’t set myself a goal target yet. All I want now is to get back in the best shape physically and recover fully from the long layoff.”