It’s not over, since OM hosts PSG for a Classic of all dangers in a week at the Vélodrome, but the Phocéens are already mired in a catastrophic start to the season. Winners of Strasbourg in their den at the opening of the championship (4-0), Bruno Genesio’s men have since lost in Monaco (2-0), against Paris FC at home (2-3) then on the pitch of Stade Rennais (1-0), Friday evening, on a single goal from Adrien Thomasson.
The former OL coach has already shown himself to be quite resigned while his squad is particularly lacking in talent. And again, Frank McCourt’s club had to further reduce its team’s payroll and was not able to do so for various reasons, with sports director Grégory Lorenzi never being able to recruit a single player.
OM before Bernard Tapie
With three defeats in his first four matches, Genesio equals a sad record dating from the summer of 1985, as indicated by the X account Football Stats. The Yugoslavian Zarko Olarevic, OM striker from 1983 to 1984 and chosen a year later to become coach, had had such a bad start to the season. Joseph-Antoine Bell, José Anigo, Christophe Galtier and others were beaten by Le Havre (1-0), AJ Auxerre (2-0) and Brest Armorique (2-1), winning their match at the Vélodrome against OGC Nice (2-1).
At the end of this bad season, Zarko Olarevic was removed from the sidelines by a certain Bernard Tapie, who was inducted as the new president of OM before the Coupe de France final lost 2-1 to Aimé Jacquet’s Girondins de Bordeaux, with Jean Tigana and Alain Ginesse scoring on the Aquitaine side (and whom the boss would then recruit).
