After having finished the year 2024 well, the Olympians receive a poorly ranked Le Havre to continue their march forward and consolidate their place as runner-up to PSG.
Pol Lirola is suspended while Bamo Meïté, Geoffrey Kondogbia, Amine Harit, Valentin Carboni and Faris Moumbagna are injured and Pierre-Emile Højbjerg is ill. Ruben Blanco, Chancel Mbemba and Emran Soglo who should leave during the winter transfer window are still away from the group. Roberto de Zerbi still lines up a 5-3-2 with Geronimo Rulli in goal, Quentin Merlin in the left lane, Luis Henrique on the right, the trio Michael Murillo/Derek Cornelius/Leonardo Balerdi are the three defenders (the last one wearing the armband captain), Valentin Rongier and Bilal Nadir are the most defensive midfielders with Adrien Rabiot more offensive; Mason Greenwood and Neal Maupay are the two attackers.
Jeffrey de Lange, Ulisses Garcia, Roggerio Nyakossi, Lilian Brassier, Darryl Bakola, Ismaël Koné, Jonathan Rowe, Keyliane Abdallah and Elye Wahi are on the bench while Théo Vermot is not on the match sheet.
As expected, Le Havre plays very low and OM has the ball. In a system more like 3-5-2 or even 3-3-4, Rongier opened the scoring before the half-hour mark with a long shot then Nadir and Maupay drove home the point before the break.
In the second half, De Zerbi made a lot of turnovers, the Marseillais progressed with two more goals from newcomers, Wahi and Garcia. The HAC reduced the score at the end of the match by André Ayew, one of the great Olympians from one of the greatest families of OM players, receiving a standing ovation from the public.
Man of the match
Valentin Rongier (7.5): with the absence of the Dane, he had to take over the role of midfield boss that he still had a few months ago and he did it perfectly with presence in the midfield but also a precise long shot to open the scoring, turning the match on its head.
The other players
Geronimo Rulli (4): an intervention during a very quiet 90 minutes that he missed (but where were his defenders?) during a lost aerial duel with Ayew. For the rest, almost nothing to do except a few balls.
Luis Henrique (5.5): in the right lane and therefore more of a midfielder/winger, we saw him make a nice acceleration followed by a blocked cross and precise passes for Murillo on the third and fifth goals. He also took corners from the right.
Quentin Merlin (6): last passer on Nadir's goal and on that of Maupay (with an aerial duel in front of the goal), he calmly managed his match defensively.
Ulisses Garcia (not rated): entered for the last 20 minutes in place and position of Merlin, he scored on his first ball while in the center forward position after a smart run and call into the box.
Michael Murillo (6.5): the right stopper had a very sluggish start to the game with a borderline back pass, a pitiful opening and a gross loss of the ball. On the other hand, he was decisive offensively with an overflow and a cross at the start of the third goal. Author of a long shot off target per half-time, he made a superb opening on the fourth goal and made an overflow and a decisive cross for the last. In short, despite this defensive role, he becomes more and more decisive offensively, especially against regrouped teams where he comes to the surplus and brings impact by overflowing on the right of the defense.
Leonardo Balerdi (6.5): the captain alternated between good interventions and a few errors (in particular he was pitifully caught on a long clearance from the Le Havre goalkeeper). Note also that he was not marking the Le Havre goal but, overall, he did a good job of stopping the few Norman attempts.
Derek Cornelius (6): left stopper with Kondogbia's injury, he gave a correct performance, without embellishment.
Darryl Bakola (not noted): he replaced the Canadian defender for his first professional appearance for around ten minutes in the central attacking midfielder position without having time to put himself forward.
Jonathan Rowe (not noted): the Englishman took Rongier's place and played 20 minutes while the match was over. He brought impact and desire as usual.
Bilal Nadir (7): surprise starter with the absence of Højbjerg, he played in an unusual defensive midfielder role. He started with a good opening for Merlin then made a very precise cross shot for the 2-0 for his first professional goal. He was booked before the break for too forceful an intervention on Ayew and did not return in the second half, probably to spare him as he returns to competition after a long absence and to avoid a second yellow. With these 45 minutes, he now establishes himself as a potential candidate in the middle.
Ismaël Koné (5): entered at the break in place of Nadir, he played higher at first then dropped back when Rongier left. He failed to stand out.
Adrien Rabiot (6): finally at his usual position, he started with a long shot off target then placed a header from a corner returned by a Norman. Lower (defensive midfielder) after the break at the entry of Koné, he made a good defensive return and finished the match even lower (left stopper) at the exit of Cornelius.
Mason Greenwood (6): he took the corners from the left but above all kicked a free kick very well before making a nice long shot from nothing next to the post in the middle of the first period. After a good, poorly exploited counter ball and some technical inaccuracies, he made a great pass for Maupay and delivered a decisive pass from outside without control on the fourth goal. He ended his meeting with a strike on the goalkeeper.
Neal Maupay – The Best Of Neal Maupay (7): he jumped to avoid hitting the opening shot (a bit like in Lyon where he ducked on Rowe's memorable shot), he above all placed a precise header for the 3- 0, killing the match before the break. Author of a great number in the area at the very start of the second half where he did not target his shot, he shortly after made an acrobatic recovery deflected by the goalkeeper onto the crossbar. He came out right after.
Elye Wahi (not noted): entered for a little over half an hour in place and position of Maupay, he was present in front of goal for the fourth goal then we no longer saw him.
The Marseillais therefore outclassed the very limited Normans thanks to a fairly quick goal which helped to break the deadlock in the match and make the difference.
The individual performances, except that of Geronimo Rulli (requested only once) were good and Valentin Rongier, for having broken the Le Havre barrier, was the best Olympian.
We will have to continue like this until the end of the season, starting with the trip to Rennes next weekend.
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