Olympique de Marseille are clinging to their second place in Ligue 1 and will play part of their European future this week. However, Jorge Sampaoli is at the center of the debate. As much for certain choices that some would call eccentric as for the management of some stars of the workforce.
Olympique de Marseille, like Paris Saint-Germain, is truly a club apart. Unlike other teams in the French championship, such as Lyon, for example, having good results is not really enough to ward off the crises that threaten a sky that is so clear all year round.
As these lines are published, Jorge Sampaoli’s Phocaeans are second in Ligue 1, with a small mattress on their first pursuer, Nice (four points). Hopes are even higher as Clermont will present themselves at the Orange Vélodrome and will travel to Troyes to close this month of February. In addition, the team chaired by Pablo Longoria is still in contention in Europe and will face Qarabag this Thursday in C4.
Nice and Lyon, missed appointments
But as we explained a few lines above, that is not enough and that is perhaps unfair. Lately, doubts are pointing the tip of their noses, especially on the choices of Jorge Sampaoli. While he had two big meetings at the start of the year, El Pelado completely missed it.
Against OL first, the Marseillais opened the scoring and suddenly stopped playing before letting the game slip away (1-2). Against Nice, they also scored first before being opened in two (1-4). If the match against Lyon is quite classic, even if the OM coach did not make his changes quickly, the one against the Aiglons raised debates.
Dubious choices
On the Côte d’Azur, the Marseille defense sank, conceding four goals and showing itself to be more than friable. The choice of the Argentinian technician, to place William Saliba, probably his best central defender, in the position of right side, did more than talk. This line of four central defenders (Saliba, Balerdi, Caleta-Car and Luan Peres) was not really understood.
We can say that this ” invention was fleeting, but nay. Against Metz, penultimate in Ligue 1, Sampaoli innovated again. This time it was Pape Gueye, a training midfielder, who found himself at left-back. The fragility was still felt in Moselle.
The management of Milik and Mandanda at the center of the discussions
The way he manages Arkadiusz Milik’s season is also at the center of the debate. If OM played well without him at the start of the season and he was completely out of form so far, we thought that his hat-trick against Angers would give him some time. Finally, he only came into play, against the Garnets, in the last quarter of an hour of the game. He didn’t understand much either. not holder? There are things I don’t understand, but I do my job “. Add to that the more than fresh relationship with Alvaro Gonzalez, extended last spring and now downgraded in the hierarchy of defenders, and you get a fairly tense locker room.
Finally, the handling of the Mandanda case has also created a stir. Yes El Pelado publicly refuses to designate a hierarchy, it has been a long time since we saw the French international on the lawns, whether in Ligue 1 or in the Coupe de France. However, the numbers speak for themselves. Today, despite elimination from the Coupe de France, OM still have a chance of a title in Europe and above all of reaching the Champions League via a coveted second place which they occupy with ease. A coach is always right when he wins. But until when ?
