Roberto De Zerbi explains the highly contested choice Geoffrey Kondogbia

As has been the case since the start of the season, Olympique de Marseille has once again proven that it knows how to be effective away from its bases. Unable to win more than one match at the Vélodrome, the club coached by Roberto De Zerbi has just achieved a fifth success in Nantes (2-1), in six trips. Enough to allow Adrien Rabiot's teammates to redeem themselves a little after their defeat against PSG (0-3), but above all to take second place in the ranking, ahead of AS Monaco.

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But if OM returned from Nantes with three points, Geoffrey Kondogbia's performance in central defense once again got people talking. Guilty of too loose marking on Tino Kadewere's equalizing goal, the former Valencia resident managed to keep his starting place alongside Leonardo Balerdi while Derek Cornelius and Lilian Brassier, two professional central defenders, were on the bench. An observation that Roberto De Zerbi returned to after the match. And according to the Italian, Kondogbia would still have room to overcome its competitors.

Brassier is not ready yet

«I made so many changes at the back because Merlin couldn't play more than 60 minutes, Lirola had cramps and Cornelius got hurt and had to come off. Kondogbia plays in defense because I look for quality and personality, especially in the central positions. The game starts from there. I believe that Brassier will manage to play with personality, to do what I want, that is to say in the game, handle the ball, look for players between the lines. But he definitely needs to improve. The idea of ​​the game is that everything starts from the defenders, whether there are two or three. They must have personality, courage, quality. And that's why I choose Kondogbia. He's not a defender, he's a midfielder. That's why he plays to give something extra in terms of quality“, he said.

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Finally, to those who wonder if RDZ is not too worried about seeing its centrals find themselves too often in a one-on-one situation, the Italian sent a message to everyone, including his central. “The OM defenders must agree to play one on one with courage otherwise they have nothing to do in this club. Then we have to play better with the ball. We have to manage it better, control the match better. If you control it, when you lose the ball, you are ready to defend. If you don't have it, when you lose the ball, you are more likely to concede goals. Afterwards, my Marseille will always be offensive, that's my style. When I play away, I don't come to score 0-0. I play to win matches“. It's said.