Football was back at the Stade-Vélodrome. Six days after the serious incidents around the Marseille enclosure which led to the postponement of the match between Marseille and Lyon, the Ligue 1 meeting between OM and Lille took place on Saturday November 4, on behalf of the 11th daytime.
The two teams parted with a score of 0-0 at the end of a match which, if it was not unforgettable, had the merit of bringing the game back to the center of discussions, after the terrible evening on Sunday last, marked by the images of the bloodied face of the Lyon coach, Fabio Grosso, hit by projectiles thrown at the team bus.
After what the Marseille technician, Gennaro Gattuso, called a “defeat for all”, there was no victory for anyone on Saturday and that’s fair enough, Marseillais and Lille having been too harmless to deserve three points.
The result of course suits the Northerners better, undoubtedly more convincing on a collective level and who remain at the top of the table (4th). OM for their part are still stuck in the middle of the standings (8th) and the late match to be played on December 6 against Lyon does not explain everything. The Marseillais have in fact only taken four points in the last five championship matches and they are not advancing.
Yacizi’s forty-meter attempt
Gattuso’s work is bearing some fruit but not enough in attack and Marseille this season has not yet beaten a single team of its caliber, with defeats against PSG, Monaco and Nice, and this draw against Losc.
After having not played for ten days and a victory against AEK Athens which gave the impression of a rise in power, OM entered the match well on Saturday, placed high and very aggressive , thus creating several good situations, notably via Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (5th) or Jonathan Clauss (23rd).
But Lille came back nicely into the match, with the incessant provocations of Edon Zhegrova or the inspirations of Yusuf Yazici, like this forty-meter lob which ended up on the bar after a very advanced and ultra-risky restart from Pau Lopez, the Marseille goalkeeper miraculously killed on the spot.
The last opportunity of the first period fell to OM, when Amine Harit missed his recovery and a golden opportunity on a cross from Clauss (45th) but the impression then was that everything was better controlled on the Lille side.
Aubameyang whistled by his audience
The second period, long uncertain and balanced, was ultimately rather Marseille, but the offensive technical inaccuracies were too numerous to really create danger in front of the Lucas Chevalier goal. The only shots on target were a shot from Jordan Veretout (46th) and a header from Geoffrey Kondogbia (88th). And if the subject begins to annoy Gennaro Gattuso, Aubameyang’s performance, released under unambiguous whistles, was still very poor.
“We are well-paid professionals. So I respect the public who pay for their ticket. I have already been whistled and there is only one solution: react and work,” explained the combative former AC Milan midfielder. “He missed a few passes but I don’t see a player in big trouble. We expect a little more because his name is Aubameyang,” he added of the Gabonese international striker.
Lille for their part didn’t offer much after the break apart from a nice strike from Angel Gomes (80th), Paulo Fonseca’s men seeming satisfied with this away prize point. The Portuguese technician also kept Rémy Cabella and Jonathan David, two of his offensive resources, on the bench for a long time. The Canadian striker, decidedly downgraded, only came on for added time.
For OM, the coming week will begin on Thursday in Athens in the Europa League and end on Sunday in Lens in L1. We will have to try to gain points because if OM have already had a lot of problems this season, their ranking is now another one.