A possession rate worthy of Barça de Guardiola, a block positioned very high, an avalanche of crosses, but for what result?
Weighed down by the inefficiency of their attackers, OM collected draws before a difficult trip to Lens on Saturday (9:00 p.m.).
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Calendar and results Ligue 1
League 1 standings
On October 17, Marseille beat Lorient 4-1 at the Vélodrome on the 10th day of the championship.
Since that date, if OM have managed to stay at the top of the ranking (3rd), their offensive production has been considerably reduced.
With five wins, five draws and a single loss, Jorge Sampaoli's men have taken points.
But of these 11 matches, there is only one where they scored more than one goal, when they won 2-0 in Strasbourg.
The Argentinian technician does not hide the fact that he expects more "
sharpness
" from his attackers.
“
We need to have more chances in relation to our dominance and ball control time
,” he said on Thursday.
And on Sunday, after another frustrating draw against Lille (1-1), the players themselves admitted to being too harmless.
Sampaoli knew
“
We should have been more aggressive, had more edge
,” admitted defender Luan Peres.
“
We hit very little.
Maybe we are more a group of passers than shooters
, ”said Boubacar Kamara for his part after a second period spent circling around the Lille area, most often at too low a speed.
"
We had a lot of chances but at the moment it's difficult to win at home
," said goalkeeper Pau Lopez.
At the Vélodrome, the Provençaux are indeed on an insufficient series with only one success in the last six league matches, for four draws and a defeat against Brest.
“
The teams that come here defend. It is difficult to approach their goal. We have few spaces
, ”explained the Spanish goalkeeper. But against Lens, who came to win 3-2 in Marseille during the first leg, the problem will probably be a little different.
“
It will be an interesting match to see how we play against a team that is pressing very high and will try not to let us play.
They are much better than us in transition and we will see if the team has matured in these situations,
”said Sampaoli, who remembers how much his men had been shaken by the Blood and Gold at the end of September.
“
On the bench, I understood that things were going badly.
Even if we equalized, I knew we were going to lose,
”he assured Thursday.
Soon Bakambu
At the time, Sampaoli could not yet count on Arkadiusz Milik, but the return of the Pole, contrary to what was then imagined, did not really put an end to Marseille's attacking problems.
Difficult to find, often at the wrong time of his partners, the center forward is not at the expected level.
“
I think he lacks a little something to be the same player in the box as last year.
Maybe we don't find the right tempo to give him the ball and maybe he doesn't find the right tempo to attack space
,” Sampaoli explained.
“
We have to make sure that his position in the area generates more chances.
But it's not a problem of performing the right gesture, the problem is that he isn't in a position to make the right gesture.
We have to work with him to find Milik and his flair
, ”he added.
Then rookie Cédric Bakambu could become a solution.
But you will probably have to wait a bit.
"
We are trying to get him back in shape, he hasn't played for a long time
," warned the Marseille coach.