MARSEILLE: The Underground Knock-Lyon-Down Guerilla Network

By: Sam | July 24th, 2007

As the start of the season looms, it’s time for the France Offside to give you an in-depth look at each of the 20 teams vying for Hexagoal. Today, we meet Olympique de Marseille, the team that is leading the charge to get Lyon off the top of the league.

The team: Taking their revolutionary job quite seriously, OM got down to business as far as summer transfers were concerned. Promising youngsters Jacques Faty and Vincent Gragnic were signed very early, and were followed by Ligue 1 captains Laurent Bonnart (Le Mans), Benoît Cheyrou (Auxerre) and Gaël Givet (Monaco). They weren’t done, as they went and got wingers Karim Ziani from Sochaux and Boudewijn Zenden from Liverpool. Most recently, they got French youth international goalkeeper Steve Mandanda from Le Havre on a loan deal. The only significant losses suffered are those of Toifilou Maoulida and Mickaël Pagis, gone to Auxerre and Rennes respectively. Oh, and Bayern Munich plucked Franck Ribéry for a record-breaking price. Thanks Chris.

Starting from the back, Marseille have quite a few keepers. Last year’s starter Cedric Carrasso is well known as the man who can be a world-class keeper one day and a piss-poor one the next. Mandanda’s arrival should straighten things up, but does he have the experience, especially in the Champions League? OM’s defense is pretty experienced however, with fullbacks Habib Beye and Taye Taiwo among Africa’s best. Inside, there’s Julien Rodriguez and Gaël Givet, who played together at Monaco and almost won the Champions League. Besides them, there’s Laurent Bonnart, Jacques Faty and Renato Civelli. In the middle of the pitch, many new arrivals have shaken things up. Marseille’s cherished 4-3-3 will keep on rolling, with Benoît Cheyrou and Lorik Cana being a deadly pair of holding mids. With Samir Nasri in the middle and ZZ Top (Ziani and Zenden) on the wings, they’ve also got attacking flair. M’Bami is an alternative in the back, while Valbuena could be a luxury replacement player. Up front, it’s hard to miss the one that many are picking to lead the league in goalscoring, the blonde/bald/stencilled head of Djibril Cissé. Also there are Mamadou Niang, OM’s top scorer from last year, Salim Arrache and Abedi Pelé’s offspring, André Ayew.

Good team? No. Great team? Yes. Again, if anyone’s gonna challenge Lyon, it’s these guys.

The coach: Albert Emon was critisized quite heartily this season, his first as OM’s head coach, but in the end he guided his side to a second-place finish. He treats his 4-3-3 like his own child, and it seems to be working for OM. Never mind youth development this season, Marseille is going for the throat.

The stadium: Okay, name one club that doesn’t feel belittled when they step onto the pitch at Stade Vélodrome. The biggest stadium in the league, the most fans, and the most passionate at that. And if that’s not enough, they’re planning to upgrade it to 80 thousand and cover the roof.

The final say: Even stronger than last year, but still not as strong as Lyon. I have to see them finish second, a single digit amount of points behind Lyon.