Ajax kicks off a new Europa League campaign on Thursday evening with a home match against Olympique Marseille. The Amsterdam team has started the new season in a dramatic way, but… l’OM may currently be in an even greater crisis. In conversation with Football zone looks GOAL Francejournalist Naim Beneddra ahead of the meeting between Ajax and Marseille.
Trainer Marcelino resigned from Marseille the day before the meeting with Ajax, after which the club announced to the players just over 24 hours before the Europa League match that assistant trainer Jacques Abardonado will do the honors for the time being. The club’s board will also reportedly decide to resign in the coming days.
Olympique Marseille confirmed the departure of coach Marcelino on Wednesday.
How has France reacted to Marcelino’s departure?
“His departure comes as a surprise, no one expected it. Marcelino has only been coach of Olympique Marseille since July. The field play has not been good in recent weeks, but the club is still third in Ligue 1 after five rounds. Marseille was previously eliminated in the preliminary round of the Champions League by Panathinaikos. Marcelino eventually even drew his conclusions after chairman Pablo Longoria – with whom he is good friends – was threatened during a meeting with the fanatical supporters on Monday.”
What are the greatest qualities of this Marseille?
What I already said: Marseille’s fielding is not yet very impressive. The team played very defensively under Marcelino. Defensively, they had things in order in recent weeks. The central duo Chancel Mbemba – Samuel Gigot is experienced. Only Renan Lodi, who came over from Atlético Madrid, is a new addition to the defense. That may partly explain why Marseille gives away few opportunities.
Marseille has made quite a few major purchases with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang who came over on a free transfer from Chelsea, Ismaïla Sarr, Iliman Ndiaye, Geoffrey Kondogbia and Ruslan Malinovskyi. In addition, Joaquín Correa is rented from Internazionale. How do they do it?
“Sarr was recently injured, so he will not play against Ajax. He was recently accurate against FC Nantes (1-1) and Stade Brest (2-0 win) and made a good impression. However, Aubameyang has not yet been able to convincing, he is having a hard time physically and does not seem fit at all, because he hardly got around to playing at Chelsea last season.
If you compare him to Alexis Sánchez, who returned to Internazionale this summer, there is a big difference. Every Marseille supporter misses him terribly. Sánchez was very good and a fighter on the field, the latter cannot be said about Aubameyang. Apart from Vitinha, all attackers left Marseille this summer. The Portuguese is not a great striker, even if he plays with a little more confidence than last season. The team simply lacks scoring ability at the moment.”
Which other players should Ajax pay attention to?
“It is difficult to name a specific player. The central defenders Mbemba and Gigot are playing reasonably well and the midfielders Valentin Rongier and Jordan Veretout can lead the team and are aware of their own qualities and shortcomings. In general, there are now no players who know how to reach their best level.”
Finally, do you also dare to make a prediction?
“Ajax has of course started the new Eredivisie season in a dramatic way and I understand that there are also rumblings at administrative level. They have the same problems as Marseille, so it could be an even match. You could say that this is the best time for Marseille to face Ajax, but that is of course also the case the other way around. Last season, French clubs did not give the Europa League a very high priority. As a result, extremely disappointing results were achieved in this tournament. Marseille then played the Champions League, but the question is whether they will take the Europa League seriously this season. I expect a draw, 1-1 seems like a logical result to me.”