After a woeful domestic campaign in 2011/12, hopes weren’t exactly high at the start of the 2012/13 season. Having stuttered to a 10th-place finish last time round, OM started the season having lost high-profile players Lucho Gonzalez, Stephane Mbia, Alou Diarra and Cesar Azpilicueta, along with club legend and manager Didier Deschamps.
With Elie Baup at the helm Marseille began their season in the Europa League 3rd qualifying round and managed to see off a tricky Eskisehirspor team with two disciplined performances that were to become the blueprint for the rest of the season.
Much to everyone’s surprise OM’s league campaign stared perfectly, with six wins from six games. At the time most put this down to a ‘generous’ fixture list, and when the side were humiliated 4-1 by Valenciennes in week seven it seemed as though most may have been right.
PSG were up next and, despite the Valenciennes loss hanging over them, Marseille equalled and in fact, bettered PSG in most areas across the pitch. Two superb strikes from Zlatan were equalled by two fantastic strikes from the in-form Andre-Pierre Gignac. Such was the quality and threat that OM possessed in this game, Ancelotti’s team ended the game with seven recognised defenders on the pitch playing out for a draw.
With APG in the kind of form that made him hot property when he signed for OM in 2010, the team struggled without him when he sustained a metatarsal injury in mid-October. During this time Marseille were knocked out of the Europa League at the end of the group stage, knocked out of the Coupe de la Ligue, and picked up Ligue 1 losses to Troyes, Lyon and Lorient, allowing PSG and Lyon to finish above OM in the standings before the winter break.
They had managed to stay in the headlines, however, through Joey Barton. Hitting the headlines when ‘exiled’ to Marseille on loan, he continued to cause upset with his twitter-rants and comments and then proceeded to upset people even more by actually playing well on the pitch and putting in strong yet disciplined performances; he even had the audacity to set up the 2 goals that gave OM a win in a tough away trip to Stade Brestois, picking up the man of the match award in the process!
After the winter break Marseille dropped more points against Sochaux, Rennes, Nancy, Evian and PSG. The purchase of Romao, Sougou and Kadir on a shoestring budget seemed to have backfired for Baup and the board as the squad struggled to find their rhythm. With APG also struggling to find his early season form, the departure of Loic Remy to QPR meant that OM were relying on Jordan Ayew, who is yet to live up to his potential or discover what the word consistent means.
Having got these poor results out of their system, Marseille managed to finish the season strongly. Baup seemed to realise that defensively, Marseille had not been performing to their best standards and put a great deal of emphasis on defensive stability for the reminder of the season. With Lucas Mendes becoming accustomed to the Ligue 1 style, he and Nkoulou developed an impressive partnership that stopped almost anything getting to the equally as impressive Steve Mandanda who also found some of his best form at the end of the season. So good was this partnership that the team only let in a meagre 4 goals in the final 10 weeks of the season.
Despite it bringing on a ‘boring’ tag to Marseille’s approach to games, a solid defence was something that OM fans have craved for a long time. With the quality in their attacking ranks through Valbuena, Andre Ayew and Gignac there was always a likely chance that OM would score, and this is exactly what happened during Marseille’s 7-game streak without conceding, which allowed them to overtake Lyon and claim 2nd spot, guaranteeing Champions League football next season.
Given the disappointment of last season and the uncertainty at the beginning of the season, pushing PSG so close for the title and finishing 2nd in the ligue is a huge achievement for Marseille. It remains to be seen how they manage next season to find out if it was an overachievement. Securing Champions League football is a huge boost though, and should hopefully ensure we hold onto our top players like Mandanda, Nkoulou and Valbuena. With some shrewd investment and signings that add to our squad depth, this has the potential to be a team that develops further and pushes PSG all the way next season too.
FINAL POSITION: 2nd
Review by @MarseilleUK