The UNFP unveiled the five coaches appointed for the title of best coach in Ligue 1 this season. Unsurprisingly, Luis Enrique, crowned champion with PSG, appears in this selection, alongside Bruno Genesio (Rennes), Adi Hütter (Monaco), Liam Rosenior (Le Havre) and Éric Roy (Brest). But an absence retains all the attention: that of Roberto de Zerbi, coach of Olympique de Marseille. An astonishing, even shocking decision, in view of the results of the Italian with OM for his first season on the Marseille bench.
Landed during the summer in a club in crisis, after the failure of the Marcelino-Gattuso-Gasset trio the previous season, by Zerbi was able to give back momentum to a collective in loss of identity. Three days from the end, OM is solidly installed in the top 3, directly behind PSG, a feat given the starting context. The Italian managed to restore a coherent style, to advance several individuals, and to reposition Marseille among the most competitive clubs in the country.
DE ZERBI Private trophy: the choice that unworthy of the Marseillais.
This is not the first time that the Marseille club has appeared to be snubbed by UNFP awards. No Olympian coach has never won the title of best coach, not even Didier Deschamps in 2010, the year of the last title of French OM champion. An astonishing paradox, reinforced by the fact that no recognition was granted to Rolland Courbis in 1999, when his team had come close to the coronation. These recurring omissions feed an impression of injustice with Marseille supporters.
From Zerbi excluded: the proof that OM is disturbing?
Between the sanctions targeting Longoria or Benatia, the arbitral controversies and now this new camouflet, the Marseillais have something to feel injured. Without giving in to conspiracy theory, we can understand their frustration. Especially since Zerbi did not deserve, quite the contrary. Its ability to hold the bar of a ship that is at least deserves to be praised publicly.
There are three games to the former manager of Brighton to close his season in style and recall that he would have deserved one of the best. If OM validates its qualification in the Champions League, it will have definitively proven that it is much more than an outsider. And perhaps, in filigree, he will force the institutions to review their assessment criteria.
