Host Nantes this Saturday (5:00 p.m.) and forget this damn Champions League as quickly as possible.
This will be, in short, the mission of the Marseillais this weekend in Ligue 1. A domestic competition which, for the moment, smiles on them much more than trips to Europe.
Indeed, a success on the Canaries could allow them to regain their place, at least temporarily, on the podium of the championship with two games behind which is more, against Lens and Nice.
But for this, OM must regain their superb attack.
With only 12 small goals scored in 9 matches played, the Marseille team only has the 16th attack in France.
Enough to make lie his maxim “Straight to the point”….
Dimitri Payet to absent subscribers
“I hope he will regain his level, because this team needs him.
We must help him regain his level. "
When challenging Porto (0-2) this week in the Champions League, Villas-Boas wanted to defend the Reunion.
Before, paradoxically, to place him on the sidelines to protect him.
Critics ?
Or its own shortcomings at the moment?
Probably a bit of both.
Brilliant last season, Payet has passed away since the lockdown in March.
Since the start of the season, apart from a few flashes like his goal against Lyon (1-1) or his decisive pass against Paris SG (0-1), the midfielder has been dragging like a lost soul on the ground.
At 33, the question inevitably arises of his decline, which would first be physical for a player seen overweight in recent weeks and who does not manage to find the right pace, not helped it is true by the various matches postponed for OM (Lens and Nice) because of the epidemic.
A significant drop in speed that led his coach to sit on the bench several times, as in the Champions League against Manchester City and Porto.
To better prick it?
Not even, obviously, Payet having accepted his fate with lucidity and ... an absence of pride which says a lot about his shortcomings at the time.
Dario Benedetto, zero goal mister
When it doesn't….
On Wednesday evening, in extra time for the match against Porto, Dario Benedetto sent his header to the goalkeeper post.
It wouldn't have changed the result, but it could have done an immense good, mentally, to the Argentinian, still looking for a first goal scored this season in all competitions.
Especially when you know the importance of confidence for a goalscorer and how a simple achievement can reignite a dynamic.
Alas, Benedetto will still have to wait before finding his.
For now, so as not to be desperate, he can still count on the support of Villas-Boas who also know that he has nothing else in store to put any competition on Benedetto, Valère Germain never managing to take his chance when it presents itself.
A revival of the South American center forward, who has not scored in Ligue 1 since his resounding treble in Nîmes (2-3) on… February 28th.
Before confinement, therefore.
Almost an eternity.
Florian Thauvin is looking for a future
While he spoke of "a feeling of shame" before OM's 13th straight defeat in the Champions League on Wednesday night, Florian Thauvin could not do anything to put an end to it.
Thus, at the European level, his record is starving, with services all more unworthy of his talent than the others.
And in Ligue 1, the record is hardly better with 3 goals scored which is enough to make him the top scorer in Olympian so far.
In the kingdom of the blind, the one-eyed are kings, the refrain is known.
Why did the French international suddenly dive?
Obviously, the performance of his teammates in the attacking sector is an important part of the explanation.
However, it is also permissible to wonder about the current state of mind of the player, possibly disturbed by his future, he who will be at the end of his contract next June.
At 27, Thauvin knows he is playing a very important card with a view to signing for a very large European club.
To achieve this, has there been too much pressure in the Champions League, the essential showcase to showcase yourself, neglecting Ligue 1?
Possible.
Still, without a great Thauvin, the level of that seen between 2016 and 2019 at the Vélodrome before his ankle - and the health crisis - deprived him of the 2019-2020 financial year.
A stop from which he is obviously still trying to recover ...
❤️ AT THE HEART OF THE CLUBS [MERCATO]
️ "He is a high level player. It is a profile that we follow."
Paolo #Maldini admits that @ acmilan keeps a very close eye on @FlorianThauvin ... # TelefootLaChainepic.twitter.com/g3Oh9gxHW3
- TELEFOOT LA CHAINE DU FOOT (@telefoot_chaine) November 27, 2020
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