Nothing is going well at OM. Humiliated in Monaco last Saturday (3-0), the Marseille club continues the counter-performance (only one victory over the last five games) and sees its place on the Ligue 1 podium seriously threatened. Beyond the sporting crisis, with players pointed out for their lack of involvement and annoyed executives, it is an even more insidious evil that would gnaw at the Marseille cloakroom: the presence of a “mole”, a player or a member of the entourage who would regularly leak confidential information outwards, adding poison to an already deleterious atmosphere.
If the existence of leaks is never good news for a professional group, the information revealed by RMC Sport this Monday adds a layer of suspicion and paranoia: this famous mole “would have been identified” by the club or some of its members. An index would have arisen and which must necessarily create stir internally. Knowing that a potential “traitor” is known, even if its name is not (yet?) Public, can only adorn relations and accentuate mistrust within a group that would desperately need serenity and unity.
OM internal war? The taupe in the heart of a wardrobe on the edge of the implosion!
Because this situation of “taupe” comes to crystallize a wider discomfort. Still according to information from RMC Sport, the investment of some daily players would leave something to be desired, provoking the annoyance of executives like Geoffrey Kondogbia or Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg who are trying, in vain for the moment, to re-mobilize their teammates. The nonchalance lent to players like Mason Greenwood or Luis Henrique (announced on the start) would make teeth cringe. In this context, regular leaks outwards only expose and amplify these lines of fracture within the locker room.
Taupe hunting, symbol of Marseille discomfort
This atmosphere of suspicion, coupled with bad results and criticism (like those of Adrien Rabiot a few weeks earlier), logically installs a climate of pessimism within the club. Difficult to display the conquering state of mind necessary to seek a qualification in the Champions League when confidence is broken and that the group seems to be mined from the inside. The dilettante attitude of some to training would be a glaring illustration.
In conclusion, the case of the “taupe”, whether it is really identified or not, perfectly symbolizes the deep discomfort which affects OM at the end of the season. Beyond sporting difficulties, these internal confidence and communication problems weigh a little more a collective in lack of benchmarks. Turning up this internal fire seems to be an essential prerequisite before hoping for a reaction on the field in the next crucial games against Montpellier and Le Havre.
