On October 17, Marseille beat Lorient 4-1 at the Vélodrome in the 10and championship day. This date, if OM managed to stay at the top of the rankings (3and ), his offensive production has been reduced.

With five wins, five draws and a single loss, Jorge Sampaoli’s men have taken points. But of these 11 matches, there is only one where they scored more than one goal, when they won 2-0 in Strasbourg.

The Argentinian technician does not hide the fact that he expects more “sharpness” from his attackers. “We need to have more chances in relation to our dominance and ball control time,” he said on Thursday.

And on Sunday, after another frustrating draw against Lille (1-1), the players themselves admitted to being too harmless.

Lens, a team that presses high

At the Vélodrome, the Provençaux are indeed on a failing streak with only one success in the last six league games, for four draws and one defeat against Brest.

“Teams defending here. It is difficult to approach their goal. On a little space, ”said Spanish goalkeeper Pau Lopez. But against Lens, who came to win 3-2 in Marseille during the first leg, the problem will be a little different.

“It will be an interesting game to see a commentary on playing against a team that is pressing very high and will try not to let us play. They are much better than us in transition and we will see if he has matured in these situations, ”said Sampaoli, who remembers how much his men had been shaken by the Blood and Gold at the end of September.

“On the bench, I understood that things were going badly. Even though we equalized, I knew we were going to lose. »

Soon Bakambu

At the time, Sampaoli could not yet count on Arkadiusz Milik, but the return of the Pole, contrary to what was then imagined, was not really an end to Marseille’s attacking problems.

Difficult to find, often out of time with his partners, the center forward is not at the expected level. “I think he lacks a little something to be the same player as last year. Maybe we don’t find the right tempo to give him the ball and maybe he doesn’t find the right tempo to attack space,” Sampaoli explained.

Then rookie Cédric Bakambu could become a solution. But you will probably have to wait a bit. “We are trying to get him back in shape, he hasn’t played for a long time,” warned the Marseille coach.

The Sang et Or, who executed the new year perfectly, are trying to come back to within a point of the Phocaeans, who have a match to replay in Lyon, scheduled for 1uh or February 10 depending on OM’s career in the Coupe de France.