By losing at the very end of the match against Tottenham on Tuesday (1-2), the Marseille club said goodbye to Europe on all counts. Which could well cause a serious stir.
«We’re not gonna shoot each other, but…Like Amine Harit, terribly bitter after the defeat against Tottenham on Tuesday (1-2), Olympique de Marseille painfully experienced elimination in the Champions League, which places coach Igor Tudor under immense pressure. How could OM let slip the qualification for the Europa League that their draw against the English team offered them? The Marseillais had in hand what is certainly only a consolation prize, but which opened up new European prospects in February. By attacking without any control in added time, they on the contrary allowed Tottenham to score against in the 95th minute and find themselves with nothing.
Why haven’t the executive players called for calm? Did they know that Frankfurt’s victory against Sporting Portugal in the other match then guaranteed them the C3? Why didn’t Tudor tell their players to make do with what they had? “It’s a blatant lack of communication.», a reconnu Harit. «To tell you that I’m not disgusted that the info didn’t reach us would be lying.” Same speech with Matteo Guendouzi, who spoke of “catastrophic result». «If we had known that Frankfurt was winning, we wouldn’t have gone into the collision, we would have at least kept our defensive line. There was misunderstanding and mistakes on everyone’s part. We will have to assume“, he decided. Tudor took refuge behindthe noise“, without really convincing. “It didn’t help to explain it well to the boys. They wanted to mark“said the Marseille coach.
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Again and again fourth
If the circumstances are special, this defeat returns OM to a place to which it is accustomed in the Champions League, the fourth and last, as in 2013 and 2020 during its last two participations. Tuesday’s defeat is also bad news economically since qualifying for C1 would have brought at least between 15 and 20 million additional euros into the coffers.
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The two victories against Sporting nevertheless restored some European dignity to OM, which put an end to a painful and embarrassing series of defeats in C1. The approach to the matches was also positive, Marseille not trembling in front of Tottenham, neither outward nor in return, and showing themselves generally up to the competition. And OM really came close, with this easy header from Kolasinac yet missed in the 87th minute. “If he puts it on, we are in the Champions Leaguesummed up Tudor. It is therefore difficult to be definitive as to the real level of OM, which went from everything to nothing in five minutes. But the factual observation remains, Marseille finished 4th in a group without terrors and risks regretting the Europa League, an event on its own scale.
Pressure before the World Cup
10 days before the end of the championships to make way for the World Cup, Tudor’s position is extremely precarious before the reception of Lyon on Sunday and the trip to Monaco on November 13. A strong choice of President Pablo Longoria, whose responsibility is also logically engaged, the Croatian technician must absolutely take points against these two direct rivals for qualification in the Champions League, two teams that look like crisis makers. Because OM are also in difficulty in the Championship, with only one point taken during the last four days.
A young coach, Tudor has clear ideas but his reading of matches has seemed flawed lately, with questionable substitutions and regularly suffering second periods. He must also manage Gerson’s discomfort and try to revive Payet, whom he uses very little. “The only way out of this negative spiral is to approach Sunday’s game with the crocs“, judged Harit. “We have no more excuses. We just have to go up the rankings and have a great L1 season».