For the first time since 2019, OM will not participate in any European Cup next season. An anomaly, considering all the means deployed in recent seasons, and even more so last summer with the arrivals of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Geoffrey Kondogbia, Illiman Ndiaye, Ismaila Sarr and co. Yes, but there you go, the graft never really took, or else in sequences and then that’s it. If the first city has fulfilled its part of the contract, scoring 17 goals in Ligue 1, including a new one this evening against Le Havre, it has too rarely been supported.
There were some nice parentheses in this team, like this unexpected qualification in the semi-final of the Europa League, ultimately lost to Atalanta Bergamo (4-1 cumulative score), but that remains far too much. insufficient to supplant the rest of this very uneven season. Because no, an 8th place in Ligue 1 does not live up to the ambitions of a club like OM. “The holidays will be good for the body, but also for the mind. Those who return next year will have to come with a different mentality. It’s not enough to be good boys, we also have to show things on the pitch. And what we did this year is not enough”conceded in this sense Jordan Veretout after the meeting this Sunday at the microphone of Canal+.
“Unacceptable” for Pablo Longoria
Obviously, this last outing against Le Havre was also an opportunity to say goodbye to Jean-Louis Gasset, appointed to replace Gennaro Gattuso at the start of 2024. If he keeps memorable memories of the Vélodrome and its atmosphere volcanics, the 70-year-old technician recognized that this season could be described as a failure: “I’m sad, I had got it into my head that we could do it (hang Europe). We took 20 points in 12 matches, it’s this year’s OMhe lamented at a press conference. A failure ? From the moment OM is not in the European Cup, we can say that it is a bad season, I have experienced European evenings, these people, this public, this stadium, deserve Europe every year. But I think everyone will learn from this. There are a few regrets but I had an extraordinary 3 months“, he concluded.
Its president, Pablo Longoria, was blunt. Questioned in the mixed zone after the match, the Spaniard delivered a real rant, describing this 8th place as“inadmissible” : “finishing 8th in the Championship is not enough, it is unacceptablehe cursed. Yes, there is this feeling of disappointment, like all the supporters, the followers of OM, including you journalists. This is not acceptable, we must be self-critical, we have analyzed and we will continue to do so. Now is the time to look to rebuild for next year. We are all responsible, but it is not acceptable to end up in this place. There were more negative moments than positive, and that’s why we are 8th in Ligue 1. We didn’t deserve better and it’s not up to par.» There may still be some movement in Marseille this summer.
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