Arriving this summer in Marseille, Roberto De Zerbi attracted much more than curiosity. Intriguing at Sassuolo, courageous at Shakhtar, he was then scrutinized from all angles at Brighton to the point of cracking Manchester United and OM. He said he chose the Marseille city for the atmosphere of the Vélodrome, but perhaps the ambitious Italian coach was also certain that he would succeed in putting Ligue 1 at his feet by imposing his style. After eleven days, his team is third, nine points behind the Parisian leader. Nothing alarming from an accounting standpoint. But as for the content, everything remains to be proven. Innovative ball releases are desired, the Marseille public sometimes becomes impatient with possession serving more to limit risks than to create them and the fun advocated by the coach in all his former clubs is not yet there. -YOU.
After the heavy home defeat inflicted by Auxerre (1-3) on Friday, the Italian showed another side of his personality, more volcanic: « If I'm the problem, I'm good to go. I leave the money and return my contract. » After coming down a bit, he released another meaningful statement: « I came to Marseille for the Vélodrome. And I can't get the players here to give what I see in training and outside. So it's my fault, it's my responsibility. » Is Roberto De Zerbi breaking his teeth on our good old Ligue 1, with its compact blocks and its transitions? Sometimes decried and reduced to the label of « Farmers League »the French championship remains very difficult to understand.
Others had to adapt
Before him, several foreign coaches also had to go through an apprenticeship, which was not always successful. Having passed through OM between 2021 and 2022, Jorge Sampaoli can attest to this since he was forced to swap his ultra-energetic game for much more calm phases to prevent his team from being caught behind the back. During an interview with Samir Nasri, in April 2022, for Canal+, the Argentinian explained his approach: « It's already been a year and a month since I tried to play a football that you know, different from what is done in this country. Trying to impose another game idea is a challenge for me. » Before that, he had been forcibly vaccinated by a Lens victory at the Vélodrome (2-3) at the start of the season during which his team threw itself into the mouth of the blood and gold wolf whose pressing was perfectly rehearsed. « We are fighting against this football of transitions, where many teams will be better than us. For that, we seek to control the game »he proclaimed after this failure, as if to make it clear that the incessant movements in the opposing half of the field were going to be gradually replaced by the retention of the ball in the feet of Pau López to finally find those damn spaces.
Like Jorge Sampaoli or Roberto De Zerbi, Francesco Farioli, coach of OGC Nice during the 2023-2024 season, arrived with the label of an exciting technician and left many spectators wanting more. If the Gym finished fifth and the Italian's tactical plans were often interesting, it was above all the defensive strategy which disappointed those who expected offensive flights. While Nice only scored 1.18 goals per match in Ligue 1, Ajax Amsterdam of the same Farioli is today at 2.27 goals per match in the Eredivisie, a more open championship where his team has more depth. For his part, Paulo Fonseca also had to rack his brains to stop attacking in vain and allow his LOSC to leave a mark in the recent history of the country.
Bielsa inspiration
Everywhere he has gone, Roberto De Zerbi has tried to offer entertaining football, but it has not yet been seen in France. If OM are currently the second team in the championship to touch the most balls in defense and in the middle, they are only seventh in the offensive zone and tenth in the opponent's area. With 24 goals scored in 11 matches, the Marseille team is not necessarily boring, but does not yet tick the boxes promised upon the arrival of the new coach. Victim of leaks from all sides against Auxerre, Marseille had previously been asphyxiated by Lyon's pressing (before miraculously winning), forced to constantly lengthen against Strasbourg, not to mention the weakness displayed against Paris. Rather than taking inspiration from Sampaoli, Farioli or Fonseca, De Zerbi decided to cite a Marseille idol after the loss against RCSA: « Marcelo Bielsa, one of your former coaches, said that you learn from defeat. And I think we're going to learn a lot from this one. » Now, OM have already lost three times and their coach will have to become more immersed in local customs to hope to last longer than all the coaches who have recently been on this bench.
Mehdi Benatia compliments Roberto De Zerbi
