At the Velodrome stadium,
The most striking episode of OM – Strasbourg on Sunday evening? “What was decisive was the red card. In my opinion the referee should not give it, he was wrong. As a player I know the difference between touching and pushing. The player was hit and he fell to the ground, there was no red. Last week there was already the mistake of not whistling a penalty on Sanchez, we are seriously affected by these injustices”.
When a coach, in this case Igor Tudor, pours out an arbitration decision in a post-match press conference, it’s not a good sign. And the Marseillais actually conceded a draw (2-2) against the RCSA on Sunday evening at the end of the 27th day of Ligue 1, after a crazy end to the match. But rather than pouring out on the arbitration, shouldn’t the Marseille coach make his own criticism and that of his players?
“Not able to keep a score”
Because the Marseillais also made mistakes, starting with that of conceding two goals in less than two minutes by the bomber Aholou, first on a molested strike (88th) to lob Pau Lopez, before propelling a mine under the bar of the poor Marseille goalkeeper (89th). “We are not able to keep a score, we are at home, we win 2-0. Over there, in the first leg, it was the same and we already got equalized at the end and it’s very annoying”, lambasted Valentin Rongier, when his coach admitted that “with this 2-0 we thought it was done, but it’s not.
Like these two defensive changes made by Igor Tudor in the 80th minute with the exits of Alexis Sanchez and Ruslan Malinovskyi for midfielder Mattéo Guendouzi and defender Eric Bailly. It was from there that we saw the Marseillais curl up in their surface, without succeeding in getting free. Before those fateful billiard shots in the final minutes. “These were logical changes, knowing that the opponent was going to play with longer balls at the end, which is why I brought in Bailly and Guendouzi”, justified the Croatian coach afterwards. Except that the two goals precisely came from long balls, as he himself admitted at a press conference.
OM had however shown character until this costly end of the match thanks to these warriors Chancel Mbemba (49th) and Alexis Sanchez (76th) when they had been playing at 10 since the 30th minute. And if the expulsion of Balerdi can be considered severe, the real error of the Marseillais on Sunday evening is indeed the work of the Argentinian defender. How stupid to put your hand on Diallo’s body in the middle of a race, and therefore to take the risk of destabilizing him as he goes alone towards the goal. Especially when you know that it is already the 4th expulsion of Balerdi in the jersey of OM. “We’re pissed off, I feel like we’re making the same mistakes a lot these days, and we can’t afford it. We take this red, we are not going to go back on it, but at 2-0 at home we have to keep the score and we did not succeed, ”insisted Valentin Rongier.
“Marseille did not have a goal action”
Igor Tudor’s men could already consider themselves lucky to be leading like this, 10 against 11, but above all with almost no action in the game. Mbemba scored following a free kick from Malinovskyi repelled by Sels , when Sanchez took the law into his own hands from the penalty spot. “Marseille did not have a goal action, they scored on two set pieces. Our goalkeeper did not have to make a stop in the game, ”insisted Frédéric Antonetti, the Strasbourg coach.
And that’s perhaps the most worrying thing, the opponents have been reading OM’s game better and better for several games. “I’m too hot to give a deep analysis, but I think we got a point to stay at the top of the standings. It’s normal that the teams prepare better against us, we have to be better to win the match. It will be interesting until the end of the championship,” concluded Igor Tudor. With the return of the whistles after this draw, unlike the elimination in the Coupe de France against Annecy, the OM coach and his men have less and less room with their supporters. As in the standings, on Lens, 3rd at two small points.