In a crisis of confidence at the Vélodrome, OM put in a great performance on Sunday evening by beating Monaco (2-1) and taking second place in the standings. A match during which certain leaders nevertheless disappointed Daniel Riolo.
Winner of Lens last week, Olympique de Marseille had the perilous mission of continuing at home this Sunday evening against AS Monaco at the Vélodrome. A mission far from easy for Roberto De Zerbi's team, which is experiencing the worst difficulties in the world in front of this audience this season. To try to overcome the curse, the Italian coach had aligned the same starting lineup as against Lens, with Adrien Rabiot higher up the pitch alongside Mason Greenwood just behind Neal Maupay. A winning choice because OM had possession of the ball and ended up winning against the former runner-up of PSG. However, not all of Roberto De Zerbi's choices are unanimous.
That of placing Adrien Rabiot in an attacking midfielder position was notably criticized by Daniel Riolo. On the waves of RMCthe After Foot journalist expressed serious doubts about the complementarity of the three-way midfielder with Hojbjerg and Rongier. In addition, the editorialist highlighted the disappointing performance of Mason Greenwood, who had little impact during the match despite his penalty goal in the final minutes.
Daniel Riolo not convinced by Rabiot and Greenwood
“OM needed a big match to gain confidence. Imagine you do the commando operation and you lose again against a big guy at home. We must measure the importance of this victory for the Marseillais. But strangely, ok they won, but we still ask ourselves questions. There is the performance of Greenwood who is supposed to be a leader player and who does not make masses on the field. It's the beginning of December and we're still wondering who should play certain positions. Maupay is at the forefront of the attack because he is intelligent, he is useful and he knows how to position himself.” Daniel Riolo first explained before continuing.
“But there is this left side invented by De Zerbi with Rabiot higher up. He got Rongier back, so he doesn't know what to do anymore. Hojbjerg, Rabiot and Rongier are one too many in this team. Rabiot is a good football player, but never in his life can he play where he played. In this positioning, this is not doing him any favors. He played in this position, but in an ultra-defensive French team, that is not what OM wants to do. This is not where he will be useful in Marseille” analyzed Daniel Riolo, who is not yet 100% convinced by this OM despite the success against Monaco on Sunday evening. It will take more for the journalist to get excited about this team which, despite its faults and its big margin for improvement, is in second place in Ligue 1 this Monday behind PSG.
