Ligue 1 – Après Brest-OM / Pourquoi Marseille a-t-il autant peiné après la mi-temps ?

He was there. Arrived in the middle of the week in Marseille, where he aroused a great enthusiasm with the supporters, Alexis Sanchez was traveling to Brest, this Sunday evening, at the end of the 2nd day of Ligue 1. Obviously, the Chilean did not start the encounter. He is still too physically fit to play a match of this intensity as a starter. But he appeared on the pitch early in the second half, replacing a disappointing Cengiz Ünder. The former FC Barcelona player made himself available, offered solutions between the lines, accelerated the game when he could and showed precision in his transmissions.

In short, the “Niño Maravilla” gave a nice little preview of what he can bring to his new team. And this is undoubtedly the only positive point that we will retain from the second Olympian act. During the first 45 minutes, OM had not been irresistible, far from it. However, he knew how to be dangerous and managed to take the lead in the score, thanks to Nuno Tavares. After the break, however, the Phocaeans struggled to get back into gear. They quickly paid it off, Pierre Lees-Melou having equalized with a superb half-volley for the Bretons. And at no time thereafter did they give the impression of being able to force the decision.

The collective performance of SB29, much more successful than that offered in Lens a week earlier (3-2), is a first element that could explain the difficulties of Ciel et Blanc after the break. Once again captain, while Dimitri Payet was a substitute, Valentin Rongier admitted to being “tiredness”. “Perhaps we lacked freshness, recognized Igor Tudor at a press conference. As we play next Saturday (against Nantes, editor’s note)We’ll take the time to find some.” The energy-intensive training sessions imposed by the Croatian technician could therefore also explain this slack.

The ex-Hellas Verona coach goes further, however. “The problem is that at one point we thought the game was over, he blurted out in front of reporters. But in Ligue 1, all matches are difficult, especially away from home. The result of this (Sunday) evening is realistic. We take that point and go back to work.” So, would Olympique de Marseille have sinned by pride and shown sufficiency? At least that’s what his new strongman suggested, half-heartedly. We doubt that he liked it.