A week after the slap received at the Vélodrome (0-3) against PSG, Olympique de Marseille made up for it. Traveling to FC Nantes, OM won 2-1, confirming their good performance away from the Marseille city. While the Ciel et Blanc have only one victory in four matches at the Vélodrome, they are now up to five victories in six matches away from their bases.
And according to Roberto de Zerbi, these poor results at home could be linked to the XXL pressure with which his players have to deal in front of their supporters. Consequence of expectations that are too high given the club’s recent past. “ I want to be clear. I think my players are, for the most part, new to this club. When they came to Marseille, they were very happy. They knew what awaited them. Myself, I am very happy to have come to Marseille, I feel very good here, in this city. We must not forget that we are trying to build a new team, a strong team. We were eighth in the standings at the end of last season, we lowered players’ salaries by 20 million. It’s not something perfect, especially at the Vélodrome, but it’s something that affects us a lot,” he confided after the victory won at Beaujoire.
Roberto de Zerbi calls for reason
“We would like to have more continuity at home. This defeat against PSG was very hard, physically too. You can’t imagine how much the players suffered, it was a difficult week. You have to know. Either we decide to build, or we stop at “one match won and Greenwood is the best in the world and the next defeat, he is no good”. We know we have to improve. We are not at the level I would like,” he continued, appealing to reason: “Even if the Vélodrome needs more results, more personality, we must not forget that we are second tonight, that we have 20 points in 10 matches, that we are the second best attack, that we have the second best scorer in the championship (Greenwood). I am speaking to the people of Marseille, I want to say that my team is made up of good people, who have human values. They suffered all week after this defeat. »
“Construction takes time, we will have to succeed in overcoming these obstacles, sometimes it will involve defeats. For some players, this will exceed their limits. But I would like to emphasize the very high level of this team. We want the supporters to be happy. Obviously it saddens us to see the supporters unhappy, he added again. We know that there are people who left the stands at half-time against PSG, that’s not something we don’t want. But we must not forget that this OM was born two months ago, we are second. Last year, we were eighth, those are facts. »
