The international break comes at the right time for Olympique de Marseille (OM). Or not. Controlled by Angers (1-1), on Friday, October 4 in the afternoon during the 7my matchday of Ligue 1, the Marseillais will have two weeks to erase this bad performance from memory, or on the contrary, repeat what did not work against the red lantern of the championship, which has not yet won a single game.
The truth is that OM, defeated the day before in Strasbourg (1-0), is slowing down and going through its first slow period since the arrival of Roberto De Zerbi. Because the Italian coach had asked to recover and show that the defeat in Alsace was just a “incident on the road.” We also had to get back on track with Paris Saint-Germain, who travel to Nice on Sunday, and Monaco, who travel to Rennes on Saturday, advancing to the top of the table without looking back.
It’s a failure. Failed like the match played by his men on Friday, probably the worst of the season. Against Angers and despite the gloomy atmosphere at the Vélodrome, with two sectors closed by the disciplinary committee of the Professional Football League, Marseille were the clear favorites.
Two red cards
De Zerbi had injected a bit of newness with the mandates of Neal Maupay, Valentin Carboni and Ulisses García, but in reality not much, or almost anything, happened until the 26th.my Minute and the logical expulsion of the Angevin Lilian Raolisoa for a big foul on García.
With numerical superiority, OM thought they would find the spaces they were missing, but things did not go as planned because Maupay was sent off for two yellow cards collected in three minutes.
Michel Platini recently proposed playing ten-on-ten matches to make football more attractive and Friday’s match suddenly became an opportunity to put the former legendary Les Bleus playmaker’s proposal to the test. But the experience was not very conclusive. Until the break, OM had the ball three quarters of the time and increased their shots, but without creating any danger.
In front, Angers very quickly began to try to buy time, now, and everything ended at half-time under a great “anger” from the public that was undoubtedly directed at everyone, at the Angevins, at the referee and probably also at OM, really very mediocre. since his feat in Lyon.
“Now we must accept the criticism”
Marseille, however, managed to open the scoring, thanks to Englishman Jonathan Rowe, who scored at a time when Angers continued to fall under pressure (1-0, 51st).my). But Marseille could not maintain their lead for long and Angers recovered thanks to a beautiful free kick from Farid El Melali (1-1, 54my) after a foul by Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, less sovereign for two games.
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This is also the case of Mason Greenwood, the trigger for Marseille’s good start to the season and author of a terrible game on Friday, with an avalanche of bad decisions.
Until the end, Marseille continued to press, of course, especially with Adrien Rabiot’s debut at the Vélodrome in the OM shirt. Amir Murillo even thought he had scored, but the VAR showed that he had touched the ball with his hand (68my).
In the end, OM let points slip away and the euphoria that had taken over Marseille after the improbable success achieved by Lyon (3-2) has clearly diminished. “I accepted the praise after the good results, now I have to accept the criticism”declared the handsome player, Roberto De Zerbi. “We must be aware that we are trying to build a great Marseille and that this does not happen suddenly. We have to face games like the one in Strasbourg and the one this afternoon.”explained the Marseille coach.
After the truce, the Marseillais will head to Montpellier to get back on track. Then Paris Saint-Germain will arrive at the Vélodrome, against whom the slightest deviation will not be tolerated.
