Benjamin Pavard's adventure at Olympique de Marseille turned into a nightmare last week. Already involved in the two goals conceded against Sporting (1-2) on Wednesday in the Champions League, the French defender worsened his case by scoring an own goal against RC Lens (1-2) on Saturday in Ligue 1.
Very affected by his performances, the 2018 world champion was quick to apologize to the club's fans after the trip to the Artésiens: “Marseille supporters, I’m sorry. This defeat is for me, I made mistakes and I take full responsibility for them. When you wear this jersey, you have to be impeccable, and this evening I was not. »
“It’s just communication”
However, this gesture of contrition did not go unnoticed and provoked numerous reactions. Jérôme Rothen, former left midfielder for Paris Saint-Germain, said he was surprised by the former Bavarian's approach. “Today, there are many things that are beyond me with this generation. But Pavard is not the new generation. He will be 30 years old, he is more at the end of his career than at the beginning. With all the results he has, all the matches won, all the good performances and the not so good ones too. (…) Obviously, there were ups and downs. And I haven't seen him communicate like that.”explained the consultant in his show on RMC.
The 2004 European vice-champion did not spare the content and form of the declarations of the native of Maubeuge: “Through this kind of message, the first thing and this is why I accuse him (in the Rothen trial ignites), it is only communication. If you only do communications, after a while there are things that are beyond your control. And then the other thing I wanted to accuse him of is that you can't send that message to everyone by explaining that you apologize for your performance. Already, when you enter the field, the objective is to be good, to be the best possible and to try to make your team win. Except that sometimes you want to be and that wasn't the case with Pavard against Sporting or even at Real Madrid. His poor performances at the start of the season are often when the level rises away from home where he is a little overwhelmed. We saw him there in Lens. And I imagine that at the start of these matches he wanted to bring his experience, his talent, his quality in order to have top matches. »
