Antoine Bienvault / Photo credits: STUART FRANKLIN / GETTY IMAGES EUROPE / GETTY IMAGES VIA AFP
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7:25 a.m., February 20, 2024
Monday, the day after the defeat in Brest, Italian coach Gennaro Gattuso announced that he would leave Olympique de Marseille. This departure, only five months after his arrival in the Phocaean city, shows the crisis that OM has been going through for several weeks now. Explanations.
But what is happening at Olympique de Marseille? Monday, the day after the defeat in Brest, OM announced the departure of their Italian coach Gennaro Gattuso, five months after his arrival in the Phocaean city. The 46-year-old technician arrived at the head of OM at the end of September 2023 to replace the Spaniard Marcelino, who left after five matches and in the wake of the famous stormy meeting between the club management and the representatives of the groups of supporters.
And, despite an encouraging start, Gennaro Gattuso has not managed to rectify the situation of a team which has not won a single match in the league in 2024 and is in ninth place in the standings, far from qualifying for a Cup. of Europe.
A physical condition to review
Apart from its narrow success in the Coupe de France against Thionville (1-0), a 5th level team, Olympique de Marseille has not won since December 17 and the reception of Clermont. Latest disappointment, the defeat on Sunday evening against Brest (1-0). One setback too many which cost Gennaro Gattuso his place. But according to former OM player, Bernard Pardo, the Italian coach should not be held solely responsible.
Other factors come into play, starting with the disappointing physical condition of the players. “The problem is that we don’t even have two halves in our legs. We had a not too bad first half, but we never manage to finish a match. So I want to although the coach and the managers bear a large part of the responsibility, but the players have a large part of the responsibility too,” he underlines at the microphone of Europe 1.
In addition to the disappointing results on the ground, the internal atmosphere also seems degraded. Sunday noon, the OM sporting director openly questioned the behavior and investment of right-back Jonathan Clauss, during an interview on Canal+. A critical situation therefore, especially as the Marseillais are only ninth in the championship, nine points off the podium and therefore qualifying for the Champions League.