This is a remark that has often accompanied our thoughts about Hatem Ben Arfa, still without a club three months after resuming L1. The former international is a player remarkably interesting when he talks about football, since his days in Lyon, which makes a disappointing career all the more regrettable and his behavior not always in line with his talent.
OM too cautious for Hatem
Asked by The team for a debrief of this “classic”, Ben Arfa, passed by the two clubs, was not satisfied with a superficial analysis. He even pointed out the wait-and-see attitude of Marseille players, one evening when a first victory at the Vélodrome against PSG since 2011 finally seemed possible.
“I did not find Marseille from previous matches in the ambitions, as if they were afraid of Parisian cons. It wasn’t OM that made me love it since the start of the season. After the expulsion of Hakimi, the PSG gave up the possession. At ten or eleven, however, a team like Paris, it does not change much when it has the ball. But Marseille did not take its fate in hand. OM approached the match more in victim mode than conqueror. And even at eleven against ten, they were not more so. We did not feel a real danger. I think OM missed their game. Usually OM matches are beautiful to see. Not this evening. Looks like OM have disowned their state of mind. “
No better on our side. After having resisted well in the first half, Marseille did not take enough advantage of Hakimi’s expulsion at the very start of the second half, only obtaining a real opportunity in numerical superiority. Of course, there was the speed of Kylian Mbappé in front, but given the form of Neymar and the underuse of Messi on the right side, the tricolor world champion was indeed the only Parisian danger to watch closely. In short, there was perhaps better to do, as Hatem Ben Arfa suggests.