The real lessons will of course await the judgment of the competition, and the entry of the Marseillais in Ligue 1 against Brest in three weeks. However, the rise in power of the Olympians is obvious to those who have been able to follow the progress of Roberto De Zerbi’s men in the three friendlies played so far.
Six days after a sluggish performance and a 0-2 defeat conceded against Nîmes (National), three days after a logical but well-constructed 3-0 victory against Toulon (National 2), the Phocéens kept the same score but against a team of a higher calibre – Pau – resident of Ligue 2.
First goal for Greenwood
With the same starting eleven as 72 hours earlier (Blanco – Meïté, Brassier, Balerdi, Merlin – Ounahi, Kondogbia – Greenwood, Harit, Luis Henrique – Moumbagna), OM experienced a slight delay in getting going before gradually putting their game in place, until Greenwood opened the scoring – for the English winger’s first goal in the sky and white (1-0, 31e).
After the break, and in an atmosphere made tense by a few rough contacts here and there, the Marseillais accelerated the maneuver again, finding the fault through Luis Henrique (2-0, 64e) and the young Bakola (3-0, 90e+2). OM still has two preparation matches to calibrate and warm up, against Sunderland (Championship, August 3) and Augsburg (Bundesliga, August 10). Looking forward to the next one.
