The president of Olympique de Marseille, Pablo Longoria, recognized Thursday on RMC radio “an error” in analysis and admitted having to be “self-critical” for having chosen this summer to appoint the Spaniard Marcelino as coach. “I have to do my self-criticism. It was a mistake not to have analyzed enough and I minimized the impact of switching from one style of play to another,” the Spanish leader said in an interview.
This summer, Longoria chose Marcelino, a long-time friend, to replace the Croatian Igor Tudor, who resigned. Marcelino left the club in September, following a very tense meeting between representatives of supporter groups and club management. This meeting plunged OM into crisis but the first matches of the Marcelino era, advocating a more cautious game than Tudor, were very disappointing. Now coached by the Italian Gennaro Gattuso, OM are only tenth in Ligue 1.
“Am I weakened? I do not believe “
“When Marcelino asked me what I thought about the change in style, I told him I wasn’t concerned. We saw that it was a very superficial analysis on my part. Some players had internalized the way of playing from last season. And the move to a very organized game as Marcelino wanted to do, or as Gattuso wants to put in place, is something that we took lightly,” added the OM president.
While he took a few days off at the height of the crisis in September, Longoria also reaffirmed that he was committed “for the long term” to head OM. “From the moment I made the decision to continue, I intend to invest in it over the long term. The opposite would be irresponsible, unfair, unconscious and a lack of respect for the institution of OM. Am I weakened? I do not believe. I have a lot of energy, a lot of desire,” added Longoria.