“Things are going fast in football… Sunday evening at 11 p.m., maybe everything will be better? » Arriving on Tuesday morning February 20 at the head of a bloodless Olympique de Marseille (OM), Jean-Louis Gasset is not yet at the end of his first week on the Canebière. But, just two days after his surprise arrival to replace Gennaro Gattuso, the new OM coach can still believe his prediction of a lightning recovery.
Thursday February 22, after a series of seven matches without a victory, the Marseille team beat the Ukrainians of Shakhtar Donetsk (3-1) and qualified for the round of 16 of the Europa League. “It’s an awareness. The words weighed. It’s not the work done in forty-eight hours, more a matter of state of mind and confidence. Each player had to do a little more,” analyzed the new technician, relieved to have passed a delicate passing exam.
In Marseille, few supporters have been reassured by the recruitment of a 70-year-old coach to revitalize a stalled OM. But when it comes time to face a Ukrainian champion struggling with realities other than a simple sporting crisis, passion remains burning. Despite a little rain, more than 63,000 spectators filled a sold-out Stade-Vélodrome.
The tension that inhabits the Marseille public, very real for several days, remains under control. The only external signs of anger in the northern bend of the enclosure: tarpaulins installed upside down – a symbol of protest among the ultras – and slogans targeting players and Olympian leaders. But also the owner of the club, the American Franck McCourt, whose absence in these stormy times annoys: “A specter as a shareholder. You respect neither OM nor its supporters. McCourt it’s the end of your era. »
The supporters have reason to scold. In Ligue 1, Marseille are ninth, eight points behind fourth place and have not won for fifty days. With his back against the wall by this catastrophic start to 2024, President Pablo Longoria reacted by dismissing Gennaro Gattuso, the former Italian football star whom he had urgently recruited at the end of September 2023. ” We had to do something “, recognizes the Spanish leader, who followed the start of the meeting while sitting in his seat in the presidential gallery. “I take responsibility. I’m taking my part”, he apologized on Tuesday, two days after the pitiful defeat at Brest in Ligue 1 (0-1).
You have 62.94% of this article left to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.