but where did the Marseille madness at the start of the season go?

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Remember. Last summer, Marseille was one of the main attractions at the start of the season. Driven by a crazy attack and twists and turns, the Olympians were promised a spectacular exercise. Some even caught themselves imagining a remake of the 2014-2015 season, when OM chained river scores under Marcelo Bielsa. Since then, water has flowed under the Old Port, and Marseille has now lost this madness. The hard-to-snatch draw (1-1), Sunday January 16, against Lille reduced to 10 for an hour, is an illustration of this.

Against LOSC, OM had the ball (86% possession in the second period), shot on goal (22 times, but only 5 shots on target) and crossed (44 times), but only posed a danger episodic on the cage of Ivo Grbic. Apart from the last five exciting minutes, Marseille did not manage to pack the match. An annoying habit taken by the Olympians for more than three months. The defeat against Lens (2-3) at the end of September thus acts as a turning point.

At the end of this unbridled match against the Sang et Or, Jorge Sampaoli secured a sometimes porous defensive animation, even if it meant being less ambitious in the game. And it works, since Marseille today displays the rearguard the tightest in Ligue 1 with 16 small goals conceded. But, the other side of the coin, OM stalled in attack and scored little (only two games with more than one goal since September). With 28 goals scored, the Phocaeans have only the 10th attack in Ligue 1, despite their third place in the standings.

Purring in the game, Marseille was put to sleep by LOSC on Sunday. It was however up to them, led against a team in numerical inferiority, to make the game. By multiplying the side passes, they monopolized the ball by offering often boring sequences. Translation of this lack of imagination: the Olympians centered enormously, for a success rate not exceeding 22%.

Going through the flanks can be useful, especially with a lanky centre-forward like Arkadiusz Milik. But to do so much against a defense led by control towers Sven Botman and Jose Fonte was counterproductive on Sunday. Above all, this abused strategy to the point of caricature testifies to a crying lack of imagination in the Marseille game. Moreover, Sampaoli was not mistaken in speaking of “monologue” Olympian after the game. Sunday evening, OM especially drooled a stereotypical and boring game in sequences.

“In the last 30 meters there were a lot of opposing players”,

Jorge Sampaoli, OM coach

at a press conference

It is also from an individual feat of Cengiz Ünder that the light came (75th). By wrapping his shot from the right at the entrance to the area, the Turk gave his team a draw. Once again, the raw talent of its players allows OM to get by. This was already the case in Nantes (0-1), on a long shot from Gerson, or in Strasbourg (0-2), after a returned scissor from Bamba Dieng.

Last Friday, a miss from the opposing Bordeaux goalkeeper Benoît Costil allowed Marseille to open the scoring (0-1). Before this twist of fate, the Olympians had been unable to offer anything against the Girondins who had been martyred by the whole of Ligue 1 this season. “We hope that this playful team, which created a lot of chances, will return very soon. We have to overcome this fear”, said Jorge Sampaoli after a painful victory against Troyes (1-0).

A month and a half later, Marseille still does not have the key and will have to be more creative to remain efficient. Because OM are still in contention in the Coupe de France and the Europa League Conference, while the workforce showed some signs of fatigue in the depths of last fall.

The arrival of Cédric Bakambu could help solve the problems “efficiency in front of goal” (dixit William Saliba on Prime Video), but the Congolese striker will not be able to express himself fully if the Marseille animation purrs. Behind conductors Payet and Ünder, the other creative elements of Marseille can no longer hide.


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