Olympique de Marseille thought it had found in Ismaël Bennacer the maestro capable of transforming his midfielder. Arrived from AC Milan, the Algerian international made his debut under the Marseille colors with a performance praised by his teammates and his trainer, Roberto de Zerbi, after the victory against Angers. However, this craze is not shared by everyone. Christophe Dugarry, never stingy with criticism, spoke to deliver a much less flattering analysis of midfielder performance.
“Bennacer? He makes back that passes back ”
Speaking on Rothen ignites on RMC Sport this Monday, the former world champion castigated Bennacer's game, whom he deems too timid. “But what is trying to advance the game? He made only passes behind. Please, we're not going to start saying that Gouiri and Bennacer, it's great, phenomena. ” Dugarry did not chew his words, pointing to a lack of impact in the offensive game and a certain slowness.
“Yesterday, he played two an hour, he made passes to remind and he did not have the trunk.”
Even if other columnists, such as Jérôme Rothen, defended the technical quality of the Algerian player and his influence in the Marseille organization, Dugarry remained firm in his position. For him, Bennacer does not bring the added value hoped for and it will take much more than lateral passes to convince. Di Meco, he advocated patience, recalling that a match is not enough to judge a player and that more prestigious names have sometimes failed in the Marseille jersey.
Dugarry has doubts about the Marseille project
Beyond Bennacer, it is the entire Marseille project that Dugarry questions. He doubts the ability of OM to compete with PSG in the long term, despite the visible progress since the arrival of De Zerbi. “OM is on an ascending slope, but Paris will also progress. The real OM problem is not only to compete with Paris is to keep your players and perform in the Champions League. ”
One thing is certain: in Marseille, expectations are immense. Bennacer, like his teammates, will have to prove over the duration that he can bring OM to the summits, and silence criticisms as severe as those of Dugarry.
