Marseille Daring to Dream Under De Zerbi
The last time Olympique de Marseille celebrated a Ligue 1 championship, Paris Saint Germain had two league titles, Real Madrid were still in pursuit of La Decima, and each of their forwards in Sepe Elye Wahi, Mason Greenwood and Faris Moumbagna were 10 years old and under.
A lot has changed since. They may have won two Coupe de La Ligue titles, which is now defunct, as well as a pair of Trophees des Champions, but Les Phoceens have lacked identity. Since Didier Deschamps led them to that title, they have had 14 coaches, including three last season ALONE [the joint most alongside Lyon].
The role had become extremely volatile, with Rudi Garcia the last coach to enjoy any bit of time. They’ve had four presidents too, with Pablo Longoria three years into a project fans expected would have begun to yield results. It has yet to, but the hope is they have found the Eureka moment.
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Longoria probably thought he found the solution in 2022 when Igor Tudor led them to a third place finish in the 2022-23 season, however, the Croat would ultimately leave after one year, citing a ‘tiredness’ with the club. He will hope the case is different with Roberto de Zerbi, who has been seemingly backed in the transfer window. The big question is now if he would last longer than the last Italian to coach the team, a certain Gennaro Gattuso.
De Zerbi is regarded as one of the finest tacticians in the game. Since switching playing for coaching 11years ago, he has advanced his possession heavy style from club to club. A notoriously stubborn manager noted for his meticulousness, De Zerbi stubbornly stuck to his guns in the midst of a 7 game winless rut in his first big job at Palermo, before going down with Benevento. The process would yield rewards at Sassuolo with back to back top 8 finishes, but they would ultimately miss out on Europe on all occasions, as he cut his teeth.
The obsession with methodical organization that begins with playing out from the back and overtly coordinated positional play are perhaps at odds with a man that has been described as carefree outside of the football field. In his full bloom at Brighton, his Seagulls were a delight, with every game a punter’s delight and a sure goal fest. That he inherits a Marseille that thrived on chaos under Jean-Louis Gasset in the latter half of 2023-24 means it is a marriage made in heaven.
Di Zerbi, ever the architect, will impose meaningful order on the dynamic of players at the club. He has already been supplied the directness, trickery and vivour of Mason Greenwood, Sepe Elye Wahi & Faris Moumbagna upfront. Amine Harit will slide into the creator in chief role, getting the license to roam and coordinate play like the lead in an orchestra, while Azzedine Ounahi, Pierre Emile Hojbjerg & Geoffrey Kondogbia are pressing monsters who are good ball winners & can be good box crashers on their day, when the space allows.
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This doesn’t include Jordan Veretout and Valentin Rongier, who both infuse their variance in midfield. Geronimo Rulli is a ball-playing goalkeeper, and in Lilian Brassier, Derek Cornelius and Leonardo Balerdi they have centrebacks who aren’t afraid to pick out teammates in the other half of the pitch. Balerdi may have some work to do with his press resistance though.
The ingredients are the making of a classic De Zerbi team, with this only his second opportunity to manage a team at the top of the food chain in the league. His last such sojourn at Shakhtar Donetsk saw him fire the Miners to the top of the Ukrainian Premier League before the war broke out. He may not yet be a master chef like Pep Guardiola, but he is a pretty darn good chef, and if at all, Paris Saint Germain need to look over their backs.
Les Parisiens, for all their dominance in the last decade, have shown they are prone to the odd slips like Montpellier’s triumph in 2012, Monaco’s triumph in 2017 & Lille’s triumph in 2021. The theme of those teams are seemingly prevalent in this Marseille team, with a principled coach, a clear philosophy and players with a lot to prove. However, in order to threaten PSG’s dynasty, they’ll need to massively improve upon their consistency: after opening the season with a 5-1 thrashing of Brest, Marseille were held to a 2-2 draw vs. Reims in the second matchday of the campaign.
The ball movement in preseason was peerless, where they scored 11 times. If things go as envisaged for Roberto De Zerbi’s band of joyous Brothers, a first title celebration in 15 years could be on cue for Les Minots. They waited 18 years in between the last two titles, would be fitting to not wait that long this time. The last title was won hanging their hats on defence, the goalscoring exploits of Mamadou Niang, the trickery of Hatem Ben Arfa and Mathieu Valbuena, The strength of Brandao, and the rage and experience of Benoit Cheyrou and Lucho Gonzalez. The glory years may just be back at the Velodrome…
By: Tosin Holmes / @Cosimo_diMedici
Featured Image: @GabFoligno / Mike Hewitt / Getty Images