Exceeded in the Champions League, Olympique de Marseille finds its backyard, Ligue 1, with a trip more within its reach in Strasbourg, Friday (9 p.m.) at the opening of the 10th day.
Can the football porridge delivered to Porto (3-0) be used as fertilizer? OM must recover from the cataclysm that devastated the crops patiently watered by its coach André Villas-Boas for a season to finally find the C1.
Unable to score a goal or a point, also beaten by Olympiakos (1-0) and Manchester City (3-0), OM must not give up.
Pressed for questions at a press conference around the disaster in his hometown, Villas-Boas has “nothing to add, it was a pathetic match”.
“We were not up to par, you saw that it was not the system, not Payet in N.10 … We lost because we were so bad that we reported a shameful and ridiculous defeat », He slices.
But the criticisms that have rained on OM “do not prevent us from working,” he insists. “We know very well that we were not up to the club, me the first. We must wake up ”. “AVB” opened its training session Thursday with a big discussion with its players, to take stock.
“We need to talk to each other” encourages Cuisance
“We need to talk to each other,” says Michaël Cuisance. “Hot, it’s not always good”, but two days have passed. “First,” he explains, “we all have to question ourselves, it’s a pro’s job. Secondly, we have a match tomorrow (Friday), we don’t have time for doubts, we have to talk on the pitch ”.
“We must quickly get back to work,” launches the midfielder, native of Strasbourg. Cuisance wants to put the crisis of confidence into perspective. “All teams go through this,” he tempers.
“Football, we have not lost it, it is not for nothing that we are at OM,” insists the player on loan from Bayern, who will be starting at the Meinau stadium, announced AVB.
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“It’s a question of mentality, rage and the will to win. We have made a good start to the championship, ”he recalls,“ we must continue like this from tomorrow ”.
Indeed, in its pre-square of L1, OM collected more points (15 in eight matches) than at a similar time last year (13 pts) and remains three points from the podium with one game behind.
No need to upset the whole team or “punish” it with double training sessions, according to Villas-Boas.
“We can do a little rotation, but the break is coming, we don’t need to spare any effort. We’re pretty cool after Porto because we haven’t run too much … ”he squeaks with a bitter smile.
Two absent in defense for OM
He will have to carry out “a tinkering”, he quips again, to compensate for the absence of two defenders, Hiroki Sakai and Alvaro Gonzalez.
The Japanese is serving his suspension match in Alsace, since he was unable to do so against Lens, the match having been postponed because the Covid-19 has reduced the Blood and Gold group too much.
“We can not pay in Strasbourg the absence of Sakai, who normally had nothing to do”, plague the Portuguese. But he underlines that Racing, where the Marseillais Mohamed Simakan shines in defense, is handicapped by the absence of his striker, Ludovic Ajorque (suspended).
And if OM do not have the level for the C1, they still master in Ligue 1. Marseille experienced an air gap against Saint-Étienne (2-0 defeat), but beat Paris SG for the first times for ten years (1-0) and remains on two controlled victories against Bordeaux (3-1) and Lorient (1-0).
OM therefore need not be particularly afraid of this less risky “European” trip to the city of the EU Parliament.
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