And suddenly, the beautiful mechanism jammed. Dashing at the start of the season (six wins in its first eight games) and carried by refreshing recruits, Olympique de Marseille is now marking time. Unable to win any of its last four Ligue 1 games, the Marseille club is playing its European future in precarious arrangements against Tottenham, Tuesday, November 1, in the Champions League. “The players deserve to have this final at home”; believes Igor Tudor, the Olympian coach. OM have to win to qualify for the round of 16. But the workforce seems to have touched its limits.
The draw conceded in Strasbourg (2-2) on Saturday evening highlighted the dysfunctions of Marseille. Conquerors for seventy-five minutes, the Olympians scuttled themselves in Alsace. “Particularly sad and disappointed” after this misstep, Igor Tudor was singled out for his risky coaching. The entries of Nuno Tavares, Valentin Rongier and Isaak Touré disrupted a collective that had been oiled up until then. “That’s not the question, we have to win regardless of the changes”evacuated the Croatian technician.
Nevertheless, the management of replacements has been questioning since the start of the season. Only three of the twenty-nine Marseille achievements, L1 and C1 combined, were the work of entrants. These goals were also scored against Reims (4-1) and Auxerre (2-0), when the advantage was already recorded. It is also in these two unique meetings that assists were distilled by substitutes. Clearly, the offensive contribution off the bench is insufficient, and does not allow OM to get out of compromised situations.
It was crying in Frankfurt last Wednesday, where the entrants Cengiz Ünder and Luis Suarez did not weigh to concretize the sterile domination of Marseille. It is not for lack of trying, however, since Igor Tudor has made his five changes 16 times in 18 games. All these evils are not, either, solely attributable to entrants. OM, who scored 38% of their goals in the second half, are generally struggling to finish their matches.
90’+3⎪#RCSAOM –
Equalization of Strasbourg.
– Olympique de Marseille (@OM_Officiel) October 29, 2022
“Tudor has an interest in rotating its workforce more for the good of the players, won over by physical and nervous fatigue”warned the club’s former physical trainer Didier Faruggia, in Provence end of September. Players like Jonathan Clauss, Chancel Mbemba and Mattéo Guendouzi never rest. If they remain efficient, they sometimes end up on the kneecaps, like the international piston. “I’m not used to chaining every three days, it takes time to adapt”declared Clauss after a draw against Rennes (1-1).
In Tudor’s defense, the fallback solutions are limited. Only Issa Kaboré is for example a specialist in the role of piston and covers two positions on the bench. Other substitutes, such as attacking midfielder Gerson, are set aside. Essential during the second part of last season, the Brazilian is, with Dimitri Payet, a symbol of the management without qualms of the Croatian. He has only played 18 minutes in the last five games, which annoys his father and agent.
Proof that all the Marseille worries of the moment do not come only from the management, players are also showing signs of shortness of breath. Promising in his debut, Nuno Tavares worries defensively and is no longer decisive. The real contribution of Jordan Veretout, crowned with an international status and a safe bet in Serie A, is long overdue. It must be said that his association with Valentin Rongier is limited, in fact, by the similar profile of the two men. Defender Samuel Gigot, willful but terribly clumsy, has already received two reds.
Offensively, striker Alexis Sanchez is still doing well with 6 goals. But the Chilean often appears isolated. At almost 34 years old, the ex-Barcelonian, left to rest in Strasbourg, has difficulty stringing together matches. There too, the alternatives do not rain. Colombian striker Luis Suarez, almost a neophyte at European level, is not enough.
The hasty departures of Cédric Bakambu (Olympiakos) and Arkadiusz Milik (Juventus) at the end of the transfer window deprive Igor Tudor of a profile of a real number 9 of fixation, capable of going up the block and fixing the opposing defense. Placardized then revived in Alsace, Bamba Dieng seduced by opening the scoring. A good way to give ideas to his trainer, who could include him more regularly in the rotation.