Ligue 1 – Monaco takes revenge on OM at the Vélodrome!
OM are in trouble: beaten on Sunday at home by Monaco (1-0), the Marseillais have taken only one point in the last three days and slip to 3rd place in the standings, with many ambitious people on their heels, including their winners of the day. With two defeats in a row at home, against Clermont (2-0) and Monaco, and a poor point brought back from Troyes (1-1), Marseille could not hope to hold on to second place for long. He abandoned it on Sunday and it is now the property of Nice, winner of Paris SG on Saturday (1-0). OM must have seen this match and know that the Aiglons are carried by a good dynamic.
The objective of a direct qualification for the Champions League is therefore complicated for the Provençal club, which for weeks now has been attacking badly and defending moderately. And the weekend is very described to him, with the successes of several rivals. Rennes (4th) is thus only one point away, while Lille (7th at five lengths), Lyon (9th at six points) and Monaco (8th at six points) have the right to believe in an end to the season at challenges.
“Wet the jersey”
OM are not yet in crisis, but they are quickly arriving in Marseille and for the first time this season, the Vélodrome whistled very loudly on Sunday and shouted “wet the jersey or break up“. The anger of the supporters came to sanction an extremely weak second period, but it would have been severe if the match had stopped at the end of the exciting first period played by Marseille. While the repetition of the matches could weigh on the recent results from OM, Jorge Sampaoli had a week to prepare for the arrival of Monaco and had asked for a team “very aggressive“. It was heard and, under the eyes of its owner Frank McCourt, OM immediately settled very high. Movement, combinations, support even in the box, we saw in the first period things that we hadn’t seen for a long time at the Vélodrome.
Between 4-4-2 and 4-2-3-1, OM relied on Kamara, omnipresent, Payet, active, and Milik who had legs after playing only a quarter of an hour in the two matches last week. The Pole hit above after a nice movement Gerson-Kamara, Rongier then Guendouzi worried Nübel and Payet also shot above the bar (27th). Bakambu, on the other hand, was misguided when it came to concluding several dangerous plays, which allowed Monaco to stay in the game.
Clumsiness and bad choices
Clumsy and generally asphyxiated, the players of the Principality had a distressing offensive production until the 43rd minute and the immense thrill which froze the Vélodrome when Jean Lucas scored after going alone in depth. The Brazilian was just offside, but the warning was clear. Even having played their best 45 minutes in ages, OM remained too inefficient and therefore fragile. Unfortunately for OM, the impression was quickly made in the second half. On an action where Ben Yedder and Volland had fun with the big guys of Caleta-Car and Luan Peres, Gelson beat Pau Lopez. The assistant raised his flag again, but this time he was wrong (1-0, 59th).
Monaco was then doing much better and OM were forced to take even more risks and expose themselves to these famous “transitions” which are the terror of Sampaoli. Facing the opposing goal, the Marseillais did nothing good anyway, between a festival of bad choices and badly hit set pieces. Monaco finally kept their advantage quite calmly and OM are now in doubt. Next week, he will receive Basel in the Europa League Conference, which remains a goal. Then he will go to Brest on Sunday, with no room for error.