The international break comes at the right time for Olympique de Marseille (OM). Or not. Held in check by Angers (1-1), Friday October 4 in the evening during the 7e day of Ligue 1, the Marseillais will have two weeks to erase this poor performance from their memory, or on the contrary, rehash what did not work against the red lantern of the championship, who still has not won a single match.
What is certain is that OM, beaten the previous day in Strasbourg (1-0), is slowing down and going through its first slow period since the arrival of Roberto De Zerbi. Because the Italian coach had asked to bounce back and show that the defeat in Alsace was only a “incident along the way”. We also had to pick up with Paris Saint-Germain − who will go to Nice on Sunday − and Monaco − traveling to Rennes on Saturday −, who are advancing to the top of the rankings without looking behind them.
It’s a failure. Failed like the match delivered by his men on Friday, probably the poorest of the season. Facing Angers and despite the gloomy atmosphere at the Vélodrome, with two sectors closed by the disciplinary committee of the Professional Football League, Marseille were clear favorites.
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Two red cards
De Zerbi had injected a little novelty with the tenures of Neal Maupay, Valentin Carboni and Ulisses Garcia, but in fact not much happened, or almost nothing, until the 26e minute and the logical expulsion of Angevin Lilian Raolisoa for a big foul on Garcia.
With numerical superiority, OM then thought they would find the spaces they were missing, but things did not go as planned because Maupay was in turn excluded for two yellow cards collected in three minutes.
Michel Platini recently proposed playing matches ten against ten to make football more attractive and Friday’s meeting suddenly became an opportunity to test the proposal of the former legendary playmaker of the Blues. But the experience was not very conclusive. Until the break, OM had the ball three-quarters of the time and increased their shots, but without ever really creating any danger.
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Opposite, Angers very quickly began to try to gain time, already, and it all ended at the break under a big “bronca” from the public which was undoubtedly aimed at everyone, the Angevins, the referee and probably also OM, really very average since his exploit in Lyon.
“We must now accept criticism”
Marseille, however, managed to open the scoring, thanks to the Englishman Jonathan Rowe, who scored at a time when Angers kept falling back under pressure (1-0, 51e). But Marseille was unable to hold its advantage for long, and Angers came back thanks to a beautiful free kick from Farid El Melali (1-1 54e) after a fault from Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, less sovereign for two matches.
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This is also the case for Mason Greenwood, the trigger for Marseille’s good start to the season and author of a terrible match on Friday, with an avalanche of bad choices.
until the end, Marseille still pushed, of course, notably with the debut at the Vélodrome in the OM jersey of Adrien Rabiot. Amir Murillo even thought he scored, but the VAR showed that he had touched the ball with his hand (68e).
In the end, OM let points slip away and the euphoria which had won over Marseille after the improbable success brought back from Lyon (3-2) has clearly subsided. “I accepted the compliments after the good results, now I have to accept the criticism”declared, handsome player, Roberto De Zerbi. “We must be aware that we are trying to build a great Marseille and that it does not happen suddenly. We have to go through matches like the one in Strasbourg and the one this evening”explained the Marseille coach.
After the truce, the Marseillais will go to Montpellier to get back on track. It is then Paris Saint-Germain who will come to the Vélodrome, against whom the slightest deviation will not be tolerated.
