Key substitutes at the start of the season
During his first months at OM, Igor Tudor relied on decisive entrants. Against Auxerre last September for example, OM lead one to zero but remain under pressure. Alexis Sanchez enters and replaces Luis Suarez. He will score ten minutes later, on an action masterfully led by Amine Harit, who also came into play. In the first match against Reims, the scenario was similar. Milik comes out and is replaced by Luis Suarez who scores twice. As for defensive contributions, Igor Tudor did not hesitate to take out certain players at half-time to restructure everything. The 11 starters were certainly very important, but the bench was just as important. Igor Tudor gave real confidence in his group as a whole, even though it was larger.
A less decisive bench
For several meetings, OM have been in difficulty. The starting XI seems to run out of steam a little after the hour mark, yet Igor Tudor seems to give less importance to his bench. If he has found his typical team, he no longer makes the strategic changes at the start of the season, he brings out his incumbents later. During the meeting against Annecy he did not give playing time at the kick-off to certain players like Azzedine Ounahi or vitinhaalthough he played Dimitri Payet. A dangerous strategy since in the event of injury to one of the holders, the substitutes will not necessarily be physically ready. Delicate conditions for elements lacking rhythm and confidence. In addition, with the elimination in the Coupe de France at the beginning of March and in the European Cup last December, the substitutes have less playing time to grab, and the starters need less rest.
Who are the players left out?
For this 2nd part of the season, the squad has been reduced by Pablo Longoria to 19 players, including 2 goalkeepers. The players who accumulate correct playing time are only 13: Lopez, the centrals Kolasinac, Mbemba, Balerdi and Gigot, the pistons Clauss and Tavares, the midfielders Rongier, Veretout and Guendouzi, the offensives Sanchez, Under and Malinovskyi. For the other six, it is problematic. Between his long suspension and his physical glitches, Eric Bailly lack of rhythm and OM go to Reims with the obligation to start a player who has started only once since his red against Hyères in early January. ruben white doesn’t have playing time anymore, but that’s normal for an understudy. Issa Kaboré returns a little bit in the plans of his coach, but has only been established twice in 2023.
But the most glaring problem is in attack. Dimitri Payet is out of shape, he who needs to chain to be on top has never had the chance to do so. Last season’s Phocéen d’Or became the leader of Igor Tudor’s bench. His last two starts against Nice and Annecy ended in two defeats. If the management of the captain is assumed by the Croatian coach, that of vitinha is less explicit. However, he only established OM’s biggest rookie Longoria version once, against Nice. Since then, he hardly plays and is content with entries after the 80th minute of play. A situation shared with Azzedine Ounahi, also lined up once, in Toulouse, which has hardly played since. None of these three attacking elements seem able to meet Igor Tudor’s expectations in the short term, and yet they may have to be called upon at important times. “It is not easy“, was also content to answer the Croatian technician yesterday at a press conference.
