At the Velodrome stadium,
Olympique de Marseille certainly beat Stade Brestois on Saturday evening at the Vélodrome stadium (2-0), during the 3rd day of Ligue 1, but OM are still looking for themselves. The result absolutely does not reflect the match, as the Marseillais foiled, and were above all dominated. Individualities finally saved them from a group that was much too fledgling.
The quick opener from Chancel Mbemba (4th), on a set piece, was only the sham of a first hour of cataclysmic youngsters. A lot of lost balls, a lot of approximations in the passes and players too far from each other. It’s simple, at half-time OM were dominated in absolutely all areas: possession, number of passes, chances, shots, crosses, and so on. “Our difficulties are not related to a system issue. We started well but we quickly lost easy balls. From there the rival was dangerous on counter-attacks. We were really cut in two, with the four attacking players very far from the others who were in their camp, ”explained Marcelino afterwards.
The Marseillais retreat, Pau Lopez holds the house
In summary and as too often since the start of the season, when the Marseillais open the scoring, they have the annoying tendency to fall back too much. According to Jordan Veretout himself:
“We step back and we suffer too much. Until the first half we suffer, we suffer. We were playing too fast, we were losing too many balls, we couldn’t keep it. We have to be more aggressive, win our duels, we haven’t won any. It’s up to us to be able to kill matches because we’re never safe. »
They finally stayed “sheltered” thanks to their much-maligned goalkeeper after his blunder against Metz last week (2-2), Pau Lopez. The Spaniard made seven parades, his record since his arrival in Marseille, and he was good in the air on the many corners, as on his line with this shot from Camara (27th) or that from Le Douaron (30th), and again the head of Steve Mounié (57th), to name a few.
“It’s impossible to always be at the top level, there are good matches and less good ones. This will do him good. He held us, his efficiency allowed us to always lead to the break at a time when Brest deserved more than us, ”congratulated his coach.
The results, but not yet the collective
The return from the locker room was not better with still as many difficulties in the game, and it was finally the goal of Sarr (65th), who freed the Marseille team with the game precepts dear to Marcelino: a marking in zone, quick recoveries and the most efficient forward throws possible.
From then on the Marseillais had a multitude of chances, but the clumsiness of the OM attackers, combined with the saves of Bizot (70th, 79th, 90+1) deprived them of the third goal. No big deal, the score was already sealed, and above all Marcelino could breathe to have finally found his team: “It was better in the second period and after the second goal, we were the OM we want to be, with less loss of balls, more precision, players closer to each other… If we had been bad all along, I would be worried. We have a lot of chances. »
Above all, Jordan Veretout and his teammates seem to need a little more time. “He’s a new coach, it’s not in a snap that we set up the game he wants to put in place. We work every day, Monday we get back to work to improve, and in the end we will succeed in doing what the coach asks us. Even if tonight it’s not great everywhere. »
As since the start of the season but even with an average game, OM already have two wins in two home games and a draw in Metz. Enough to temporarily occupy 2nd place in Ligue 1, as Jordan Veretout reminded us, just to silence the critics.