2023-12-17 08:42:07
The defeat at Brighton on Thursday ended the nice series of four victories in a row for OM, who now have two Ligue 1 matches, Sunday against Clermont and Wednesday at Montpellier, to finish the year 2023 well and know what that he can hope for in 2024.
Asked after the Brighton match about the possibility of seeing OM face “his” AC Milan in the Europa League play-offs, the club where he spent 13 years as a player and two as a coach, Gennaro Gattuso sighed and brushed aside these prospects too much. distant.
“Do you think that this evening I’m thinking of Milan? I’m thinking of Clermont and Montpellier, that’s all. The defeat hurts me, for the moment. We’ll see. We’ll find who we fall on”said the Italian technician, disillusioned.
In fact, the upcoming jump-off in February further increases the schedule of a team which since the start of the season has gone from crisis to crisis and has exhausted itself chasing its objectives without achieving them, like his immediate elimination in the preliminary round of the Champions League.
Unable to eliminate Panathinaikos in August then come out on top of their Europa League group, OM therefore perhaps do not have too great European ambitions to nourish, in a competition where there are still teams of the caliber of Liverpool, AC Milan, Benfica or AS Roma.
Physically weakened at Brighton, like several of his teammates, midfielder Jordan Veretout also quickly turned his attention to the championship.
“I think we didn’t have a bad match. It was a very good Brighton team but now we have to get our heads up because there are still two games before the break and they are very important for us”judged the ancient Roman.
Europe is therefore put on hold for the moment and OM has logically turned towards Clermont and Montpellier, two appointments that are a priori very affordable, the Auvergne being last in the ranking and the Héraultais only 14th.
Because even if the recovery of Marseille’s situation in Ligue 1 is precarious, Gennaro Gattuso’s men, sixth, remain on an encouraging series of three consecutive successes and have moved closer to European places.
Monaco’s home defeat on Friday (3rd) against Lyon also showed that the Top 4, qualifier for the new Champions League formula, was perhaps not so inaccessible.
Before taking a few days of rest, the Marseillais therefore still have two efforts to make, which could well give meaning to their season. With four or six points, they would indeed complete this first half of the season with limited damage given the turbulence they experienced.
But even against Clermont on Sunday, nothing will be easy for OM. After having borne great fruit against Lyon (3-0) and in the first period at Lorient (4-2), the 3-5-2 installed by Gattuso, perhaps reluctantly for this fan of four-man defenses, has effect was less convincing after the break in Brittany then in England.
Above all, the Italian coach, who manages a tired and limited group in quantity, spoke twice after the match of a “lack of quality” to explain the difficulties of his team in Brighton.
Built for Marcelino with mass departures and numerous arrivals, the Marseille squad is what it is. Between the CAN and the transfer window, it risks being further upset in January. But until then, OM still have six points to take.
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