A feeling of injustice among lovers of Olympique de Marseille, reinforced by a public position taken by the club. OM published a press release late on Tuesday in which it “demands more respect for it and more consistency in future decision-making in order to guarantee the fairness of competitions”. In question, the goal of Alexis Sanchez refused by the VAR during the defeat against Lens, Saturday evening (2-1) while an almost similar contact between Joris Chotat and Johann Lepenant during OL – Montpellier, Sunday, n did not lead to the intervention of video refereeing.
More generally, “Olympique de Marseille is now forced to react as the club is facing a large number of contentious decisions already having a major impact on the course of its season”, adds the club in this press release. . For the supporters, this feeling of injustice takes on a name, that of Clément Turpin, the referee of Saturday’s match, reputed to “smoke up” OM in popular Marseille belief (and favor OL, but that’s is another debate).
Twice as many matches refereed this season
We took a closer look at OM’s statistics when the club has been refereed by Clément Turpin over the past five years. The first element that challenges is that the referee has already led four OM games this season, against two in the previous four seasons. That’s twice as many reasons for OM to feel cheated, or not, and as many for the supporters to criticize their refereeing. The referee has led 12 OM games over the last five seasons, for a record of five wins, one draw and six defeats, i.e. 41.6% wins when Turpin is on the whistle, against 52.6% wins on average over the last five years.
Regarding expulsions, the Marseillais receive on average a red card every 633 minutes, against a red card every 270 minutes when they are refereed by Clément Turpin, who therefore seems more severe on this point. On the other hand, the Marseillais obtained four penalties in their favor, against two for their opponents when they were refereed by the international referee over the last five seasons.
While OM have a lower winning percentage under Turpin and an above-average number of red cards, it shouldn’t be forgotten that they usually referee the biggest games. This 2022-2023 season, he officiated for Lens – OM, OM – PSG, OM – Nice and PSG – OM, i.e. four Marseille defeats.
“Monster but necessary work” from the Stats OMP website
Difficult to get an idea by taking the statistics of a single team, over the last five seasons when Clément Turpin referee since 2008. But not impossible, since the OMP Stats website, who has been compiling all of OM’s statistics since the 90/91 season, is looking into the question by analyzing all the matches refereed by Turpin since his debut. Yes, you read that right, every match, “monstrous but necessary work,” according to its owner.
“I actually like clearing up some preconceived ideas. It has long been said that McCourt was a black cat so I challenged myself to watch all the results when he was present in the stands. And that’s not really the case. There, apparently Clément Turpin would not carry OM in his heart, I want to check it statistically, over the long term, since 2008-2009”, explains this enthusiast of statistics on OM, also a partner of France Bleu Provence. .
Answer Thursday evening
His work arouses interest, while he claimed 20 likes on Twitter to embark on this tedious work, he received more than 1,000. “I didn’t expect such enthusiasm,” he says. So here he goes in the analysis of the twenty games refereed on average each season by Turpin, for which he looks at the outcome of the match, victory, draw or defeat, the number of cards distributed and the penalties awarded or conceded. “To find out if a team is clearly more advantaged when it is refereed by Clément Turpin,” he explains.
Result ? Stat OMP has so far analyzed the first six seasons of Clément Turpin, until 2014/2015. “So it’s too early to say, but for the moment there is nothing to cry foul,” he says. OM supporters will quickly find out since he has set himself the goal of finishing his work for Thursday evening. “Afterwards, everyone is free to interpret the statistics as they see fit,” he warns. Looking forward to Thursday, anyway.