Bleeding last season, the midfielders of theOlympic Marseille Morgan Sanson-Valentin Rongier bites less. The coming of Nantes, a team they know well, can relaunch them on Saturday (5:00 p.m.) for the 12th day of Ligue 1.
Humiliated and already eliminated in the Champions League (zero points, zero goals), Olympique de Marseille needs all the efficiency of its duo to continue its series in the league, very good, on the other hand.
If they won a fourth victory in a row in L1, the Marseillais would heal their confidence, hurt by the European disaster. The « Canaris », in small form, are perhaps a good opponent to revive, even if the coach André Villas-Boas reminds that they remain on two victories at the Vélodrome. The duo in any case know this opponent well.
ANALYSIS. Ligue 1. FC Nantes: the recipes to beat OM at the Vélodrome
Sanson, tired and who could start on the bench, has already scored twice against FC Nantes in past seasons. As for Rongier, he knows the club by heart, having been trained at La Jonelière.
But to stifle the Canaries, they will have to do better than since the start of the season. “We are like the team, individually we are all less efficient,” said Rongier, admitting criticism.
“And we find ourselves eliminated …”
Last season, second place owes in particular to the efficiency of this duo in recovery, two “mastiffs” stalkers and first raisers. “We should manage to find it (efficiency, Editor’s note), but in 4-3-3, where the runners can press higher”, continues the ex-Nantes.
Last year, “There are a lot of matches that we dominated thanks to our pressing, we recovered very high”, adds Rongier, before offering an explanation. “But the teams know that, they’ve put tactics in place, long balls from defenders for forwards and players going up to play second balls. And Morgan and I find ourselves eliminated. “
The problem is not physical. “The stats of the high intensity races are almost identical to those of last season, I assure you”, pleads Rongier. Is it tactical? Former Sanson coach in Montpellier for two years, Jacques Bayle, assistant to Rolland Courbis, believes that his best place is on the right. “From there, he knows how to make the famous center behind which breaks everything, that was his thing, in Montpellier”, Bayle told AFP. “I find that he is not progressing,” regrets the former technician from Hérault.
“His first quality is the orientation back to the game. With his control + inter-exter +, his gesture to start again, but I have only seen him make this gesture once against Porto. “, Bayle laments.
Sanson “big engine”
“If we were at school, I would say: + Insufficient, + I expect something else from Morgan,” he continues. But “AVB” does not agree. “Left midfielder in a 4-3-3 is his preferred position, to transplant inside on his right foot,” he corrects.
He can also, during the match, bring Sanson up behind the attacker, “for the combinations, the second balls”, details Villas-Boas, “he has excellent timing for that”. The Portuguese is not worried, Sanson “was a very important player last season, but he has not yet started as he wants the season”. “Morgie” managed 2 goals and 2 assists, and his achievements are precious: the goal of the equalizer at the last second against Metz (1-1) and that of OM’s last victory in Strasbourg (1 -0), with a nice volley.
A little feverish Thursday – but the Covid-19 test is negative – he remained at rest on Friday, even though the fever has subsided. Sanson also needs a lot of athletic training, more than the average, he had opened up to AVB to be able to practice. “It’s a diesel,” explains Courbis’ deputy, “it needs a lot of races to feel good”.
Sanson, “it’s a big engine, which never stops, and which knows how to break the lines. He’s like Bernard Bosquier, Didier Couécou or Marcel Dib, in the past at OM: a guy to whom you can always give the ball. And when Sanson is doing well, concludes Bayle, it’s good for the whole team ”.
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