Tops
Scorer for the first time with the French team last Saturday, against Gibraltar (14-0), the right back confirmed this evening that he was the strong man at the start of the season in Marseille. Almost the only player at the expected level for three months. Dangerous from the 2nd minute, he constantly offered a solution in his lane before equalizing with a superb gesture. His balanced left-footed shot at the edge of the area deceived Sels to make OM’s highlight of the first half a reality. In charge of set pieces, the former Lensois offered plenty of ammunition to his attacking partners before falling into line in the second half, like the Marseille collective.
Matz Sels on one side, Pau Lopez on the other, the goalkeepers did their job this Saturday at Meinau. First, the Strasbourg goalkeeper stood out in the heart of the Marseille highlight in the first half by interposing in front of Clauss and especially in front of Correa, who thought he opened his Ligue 1 counter at close range. Masked by Clauss’ fleeing shot, the Belgian will not have much to reproach himself for, just like his counterpart Lopez. The Spaniard kept the Olympians afloat with several saves in front of Gameiro, Nyamsi and Bakwa. And even when he seemed beaten or at fault, the last Marseille rampart was able to count on the help of his crossbar and then of the referee Mr. Brisard. A “baraka” necessary to save the Olympian furniture, which has not weighed very much since the start of the season.
Despite Emegha’s early opening score, Racing endured events during the first act, only trying to take advantage of Marseille’s errors. It was quite the opposite when we returned from the locker room. More aggressive and daring, the Alsatians completely dominated Marseille and would have deserved to regain the advantage. Mwanga and Doukouré did enormous recovery work while Delaine, Emegha and Gameiro stepped up in attack. Unhappy with Bawka’s shot which failed on the square and a generous whistle from Mr. Brisard for Pau Lopez, Strasbourg had to settle for a point. There was undoubtedly a better way to deal with this OM.
Flops
The matches follow one another and are similar for the OM attackers. So much technical waste and bad choices in the zone of truth! Even during Marseille’s domination, the offensive elements never knew how to improve the interesting work of Clauss, Lodi and sometimes Veretout. Always as messy, Vitinha quickly disappeared against the Strasbourg hinge Perrin-Nyamsi. Joaquin Correa, Amine Harit and Iliman Ndiaye shone with their technical inaccuracies and what can we say about Ismaïla Sarr, whose entry into play returned a significant number of balls to Racing. Evening jokers, Azzedine Ounahi and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang failed to raise the overall level. With such a clumsy attack, Marseille will have difficulty aiming higher than their current 9th place.
Loaned by Chelsea, the 18-year-old Brazilian suffered from the comparison with his attacking partners, all in a better light. If he is at the origin of the action of the goal signed Emanuel Emegha, the number 10 of the RCSA lost too many balls and was logically the first to leave the pitch, in the 55th minute. His replacement, Dilane Bakwa, set the Marseille defense on fire. Enough to make Patrick Vieira regret his starting choice, always looking for a benchmark victory since his arrival on the Meinau bench.