Stade Rennes – OM / Sampaoli: “The recruits arrive in intermediate form”
Before the Marseille reception, Jorge Sampaoli was at a press conference this Thursday.
Samba holder Saturday: The group is complete. For Brice, I have not made a final decision. It will probably be taken between tomorrow and Saturday depending on Brice’s state of form.
Fofana and Samba: They are very important players. They arrive during a very difficult transfer window, the winter one. The players arrive with a different rhythm, in the best case after a period of rest. Brice hasn’t played since December 14, almost a month. They are very good players, I hope in the short term, but in the medium term for sure.
Reassuring arrivals for the club’s ambitions: That the club managed to attract them so quickly is a very good sign. They have a certain level. It is a joy for us to have these players who will allow us to rebuild the team, which needs a new dynamic. They can collaborate on this. Our role is for them to reach their good condition as quickly as possible. They arrive in an intermediate form, and we have to see how long I can use them initially.
Mandanda: It’s a complex, internal, locker room theme. As I said after Nice, he is in an uncomfortable situation. We want to provide stability so that Steve is well, and can be competitive to fight for the number 1 position, until the end of his contract, or until the president decides on a contract extension. . The most important thing for me as a coach, I know him well, is that he needs support, stability. And I want to give him that, because the team needs Steve 100%.
Marseille : OM is an old love for me. I really liked this period. Life means that they are my opponent and we will do everything to win even if they are one of the best teams in the championship, very well organized since the start of the season. I don’t want to go back on the decision taken with the club, with whom I had a different vision on certain decisions. Against Rennes at home for my first home match, I arrived in France, and it went very badly. Rennes was much better than Marseille that day. I hope Saturday it will repeat itself.
Rennes loses a lot of duels: Duels are difficult to improve depending on the profile, no matter how you train. Player profiles like in Rennes are not made for duels. Marseille is not only good at duels, it is one of the best teams which eliminates, from its goalkeeper. The dry cleaning will have to be organized, this will be decisive. I believe we must recognize reality, and strengthen ourselves in this reality, like a team which in Nice was good, lost an away match but had a chance of winning without these three individual errors.
Place de Fofana on the ground: He is a player of possession, of position. I talked about it with him. Seko entered the game without yet knowing what we are. I made the decision to bring him in because I like his energy. He moved around a lot, and that’s not good for us because we have to keep our positions in the defensive phase, and not have players moving back and forth. This is our belief, positional play. We talked a lot about him. He can play in what I call the 3rd height, more in the opposing party than at the start of the actions, or in the organization. He needs it because he has a vision of the game Without being definitive, I want him facing goal. I think he can be a supporting forward or a player who will have shooting opportunities. He is not yet 100% to play 90 minutes. You will have to measure your efforts initially.
Capitanat : I like those who show the way. Those who talk, not too much. The captain must be chosen by the players, not by the coach. Otherwise, I will be suspected of choosing a player who tells me everything. I have always said that the captain should be chosen democratically by his teammates. Elections? No, when I arrived the captains chosen at the start of the year were Mandanda, Baptiste (Santamaria) and “Adri” (Truffert). So Adri will continue. Unless the group manifests something else.
Why bring in Gouiri and Gomez rather than Jota against Nice: These are decisions. You are right, I should not have brought Gouiri in, like Fofana. But with this kind of players, we always hope for the light (an achievement). I was waiting for the team to reverse the situation, I thought about which recourse gave me the most possibilities, in a short time. Then when it came time to bring Gomez in, I needed a player who was more impactful, that’s why I preferred that.
Market : We know that we are in a difficult situation with an old configuration which has little to do with my football. In this reality, players can arrive giving short-term solutions, prepared and able to improve the team already made up of players who when we arrived needed time. So we try to improve what we have, with other players arriving, a lot of solutions and quality. But there is no point in bringing quantity if we do not have qualities.
