Igor Tudor formalized his departure at the head of OM after several days of reflection. His coaching term had started badly with whistles when his name was announced at the Vélodrome for the first day against Reims. It will also end in a negative way, with a coasting end to the season and the feeling of an unfinished adventure. Because in the midst of all this, the Croatian was able to offer one of the most attractive games in Ligue 1 with a rare intensity and a perfectly oiled collective. Like Alexis Sanchez, able to press relentlessly, when the Tudor machine was at 100%, she was relentless.
At a press conference, this Thursday, June 1, Tudor delivered his farewell message to Olympique de Marseille. “It was an honor to work within the club, within this family with unique supporters. On a personal level, I have grown. I leave the club in a better situation in which I had found it. I am leaving for private and professional reasons. I did not sign with another club. I’m not angry with anyone. »
??Pablo Longoria: “We accepted and respected Igor Tudor’s wish not to continue with OM. The club thanks him for his good work, with a lot of respect, and a lot of values: requirement, rigorous work. We are very happy with his season. »
In terms of results, the results are necessarily mixed: last place in the Champions League in an accessible group, elimination in the quarter-finals of the Coupe de France by Annecy (L2) after leaving PSG, but also a third place in L1 which will force the Marseillais to go through the preliminary rounds of the C1.
For Marwann Belkacem, an attentive follower of OM, the passage of Tudor on the Canebière will remain unsatisfactory whatever happens. “The feelings are ambivalent, because, on the one hand, OM continues to validate the progress of the Longoria project with a second podium in two years. But the season remains frustrating given the resources invested. After Annecy, there was a fracture, the supporters are very divided on this year and the Tudor case. »
Arrived last summer in place of Jorge Sampaoli who had decided not to continue the Marseille adventure following disagreements on the transfer window, Tudor decided to impose his paw directly. And his strict speech was not favored by all OM players, in particular executives Gerson, Payet or even Guendouzi.
“You have to balance the responsibilities, underlines Marwann Belkacem, because part of it belongs to the management. Last year’s key players under Sampaoli, like Gerson and Payet, weren’t compatible with Tudor’s game. But the Croatian had a management style that exhausted his players. Some have seen their playing time drop dramatically. Guendouzi has been focused on over the course of the season: a whole series of variables explain why OM have not been able to give their full measure over the past few weeks. »
But others appreciated these months spent alongside the Croatian, who wanted to import the requirement he knew well at Juventus, as a player and then as an assistant more recently. “I have never known a coach with so many implications,” said Valentin Rongier. He brought rigor to the club, he was very involved with everyone. He told us this morning, we were surprised. These are the vagaries of football. It’s up to us to adapt and move forward,” insists the Marseille captain.
Marcelo Bielsa, Michel, Rudi Garcia, André Villas-Boas, Jorge Sampaoli, Igor Tudor… OM will therefore soon have their tenth coach in ten years. Even under the Longoria era, the instability on the bench did not stop. “Each summer, the president must finance his transfer windows with departures to take the next step, but his ambitions must be aligned with the current workforce. We cannot erase all the investments over each year to start from scratch, Olympique de Marseille must still find this essential coherence to get closer to the elite, ”insists Marwann Belkacem.
For now, several names have been put forward to replace Igor Tudor this summer. Marcelino, the former coach of Valencia, Vincenzo Italiano, stationed at Fiorentina, but also Franck Haise, who is popular at RC Lens, have been cited as possible choices for OM. But with the certainty of having to do a “reset” this summer, Pablo Longoria will again be expected at the turn, to see if his OM is still credible to play the leading roles.