After a great start to the season, OM experienced a slight slump with two negative results against Strasbourg and Angers. A dynamic that frustrates Daniel Riolo, who criticized the character of the players but also of Mehdi Benatia.
A challenging week for OM before the international break. After 5 days, the Phocaeans had an idyllic start with 4 successes including a stunning one in numerically inferior Lyon. The most optimistic already saw themselves tickling PSG at the top of the championship. However, OM have just disappointed greatly in the last two matches. There was a logical setback in Strasbourg 1-0, against a team in great form in Ligue 1. But, on Friday, OM did worse by conceding a 1-1 draw at home against bottom-place Angers.
Riolo gives Benatia a character lesson
A misstep against the SCO which enrages the most loyal Olympian supporters but also Daniel Riolo, despite being known to be closer to PSG. Marseille’s superb start to the season made him want to believe in it for OM. His disappointment was therefore immense on Friday evening, making him use the term “ professional misconduct » to qualify the OM match against Angers. For Riolo, the Marseillais lacked character and desire to win. He did not hesitate to attack Mehdi Benatia. He finds that the numerous and repeated complaints of the Marseille sports director are harming his team.
« I think that Friday evening, we were in the middle of professional misconduct for OM. In my eyes, OM has no right to miss a match this year. […] Character isn’t just yelling in the locker room, getting angry on the pitch and saying that the referees are crooks who steal from us. Character is you enter the field, Angers does not exist. Angers is breakfast, we eat you quickly without the toast, you don’t exist Angers. Angers is not coming to a draw everywhere in a full Stade Vélodrome. I want to continue to hear OM say: we are playing the title. But attitudes must follow “, he blurted out in After Foot. A tackle which confirms that Mehdi Benatia went a little too far in his criticism after OL-OM, Marseille’s last success to date.
