tactics and players

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After a poor first hour, the Olympians recovered but that was not enough to beat Angevins who had a good match.

This trip to Angers is the last match of a very special year 2020, the goal so much to win so as not to let the first ones slip away after two poor performances.
Jordan Amavi and Morgan Sanson are still injured while Christopher Rocchia, Florian Chabrolle and Kostas Mitroglou are still out of the group, just like Lucas Perrin who leaves. Andr Villas-Boas made in the classic with 4-3-3 composed of captain Steve Mandanda in the goal, Yuto Nagatomo, Duje Caleta-Car, Alvaro Gonzalez and Hiroki Sakai in defense from left to right; Boubacar Kamara and Valentin Rongier are the defensive midfielders while Mickael Cuisance has evolved a little higher; the offensive trident is formed by Valre Germain right, Dimitri Payet left and Dario Benedetto in the center.
The sidelines are occupied by Yohann Pel, Simon Ngapandouetnbu, Leonardo Balerdi, Kevin Strootman, Saif-Eddine Khaoui, Florian Thauvin, Nemanja Radonjic, Marley Ak and Luis Henrique. Pape Gueye, finally suspended, is logically the 21st man and there are therefore two guardians among the replacements.

Angers opened the scoring very quickly then dominated and doubled the lead in the middle of the first period. OM are harmless and in danger on each Angevin ball ride. It had been a long time in the league that the Marseillais had not been in such difficulty.
We had to wait for the hour of play and the entry of Thauvin and Luis Henrique to see Marseille attacks but Payet did not convert a penalty and Rongier’s goal was not enough.

Man of the match

Boubacar Kamara (5): the recovering left midfielder stopped playing, giving the Angevins a fantastic counter opportunity at the start of the match. He also tried to pierce the lines, but looked very blunt. Passing back to the right for the last quarter of an hour, he placed a good strike against but lost two good offensive balls on gross technical inaccuracies. Despite obvious fatigue, he moved away.

The other players

Steve Mandanda (5): powerless on Angevin goals with unstoppable strikes, he then did not have much to do.
Hiroki Sakai (4): a good return to the axis to counter a strike in the quarter of an hour, he was generally in difficulty with Diony often in his zone. He left the break to conclude a first half of the season where he gave a lot without being able to breathe.
Saif-Eddine Khaoui (4): the Tunisian took the place of Sakai but played back left. Little defensively called upon, we have seen little of it except for a big foul and a card late in the game. He still showed he wanted to.
Yuto Nagatomo (3): not close enough to Diony on the second goal, the left side was then absent from the marking on a cross for half an hour. He still made a good climb to get a corner before the break. Pass right after the rest, he was beaten in the first duel then made a pitiful touch and wolf a release. In short, a new performance fails for the Japanese.
Kevin Strootman (not noted): in the place of the former Inter, he played a central defensive midfielder without being highlighted.
Alvaro Gonzalez placeholder image (5): a defensive intervention not sharp enough at the start of the action to open the scoring, a shameful recovery at the end of the match but overall several good interventions especially in the last minutes.
Duje Caleta-Car (4): a lost duel with Diony on the second goal, a non-target head on a corner before the break, an idiotic card before the hour mark for protest for a mediocre performance.
Valentin Rongier (5): the right ball defensive midfielder did not clear the ball in his area which gave Angers the first goal. After a quarter of an hour’s card and missed passes, he placed a precise head to reduce the score and score his first goal with OM. This goal revived him and he finished the game very well, partly offsetting the rest of his performance.
Mickael Cuisance (2): he took advantage of Sanson’s injury and Gueye’s suspension to start off when his recent performances have not been good. He was the most offensive of the three midfielders but hardly showed during the first 45 minutes except on a very high ball loss and insufficient defensive fallback (which gave the SCO a great opportunity) and a nice long opening just before rest. He logically came out after about fifteen minutes in the second period after another very poor performance.
Florian Thauvin (not noted): his entry changed the meeting even if he was not personally decisive despite a very good technical contribution.
Dimitri Payet (4): after two good actions at the start of a meeting with a good cross then a good breakthrough concluded by a controlled cross, he wasted two good free kicks per half hour. A good strike the hour of play from little above and especially a new penalty penalty. Fortunately, soon after, he issued a decisive cross for Rongier. However, this is largely insufficient for the number 10 Marseille.
Valre Germain (3): it was the surprise of the starting eleven because he took the place of Thauvin and we hardly saw him until his release on the hour mark.
Luis Henrique (not noted): he took the place of Germain and was left winger. He touched some balls and especially made a shot from very far to the corner.
Dario Benedetto (2): left winger from time to time, it is only in this position where he has touched some extremely rare balls.
Marley Ak (not noted): he took the place and the post of the Argentine center forward for the last quarter of an hour. He again showed too little experience with a bad foul and a missed head on a corner when he should have left Caleta-Car.

After a poor first hour, the Olympians recovered but that was not enough to beat Angevins who had a good match.
Individually, it is difficult to name the worst Phocen so many apply, probably Dario Benedetto, invisible. To say the least bad, perhaps Boubacar Kamara who fought to the end of his strength.
Following these last three bad matches of the year, OM fell from the first three places and it is a shame to waste this good first half of the season in this way. Unsurprisingly, we saw that the workforce was too tight qualitatively and while it would have been time to run, this lack of quality rotation was expensive.
We will have to negotiate the very busy month of January to hope to stay at the top of the standings until the end of the season.

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