An OM player punished by De Zerbi?

Olympique de Marseille did not shine on Saturday on the lawn of Abbé Deschamps. After their defeat at Lens (2-1) last weekend and their draw against Angers (2-2) on Wednesday, Roberto De Zerbi’s men nevertheless secured the essentials against AJ Auxerre by winning 1-0 thanks to a goal from Angel Gomes at the half-hour mark.

Les Ciel et Blanc showed up in Yonne without many players. Leonardo Balerdi, Timothy Weah, Geoffrey Kondogbia, Facundo Medina, Hamed Junior Traoré, Bilal Nadir and Amine Gouiri were thus missing. They also had to cope without Mason Greenwood, replacing at kick-off and remaining on the bench throughout the match.

This is the first time that the English striker has suffered such a fate since his arrival in Marseille. Enough to be of interest. “(Igor) Paixao and (Mason) Greenwood, I felt they were less fit against Angers, justified Robert De Zerbi at the end of the meeting. We must not forget that (Timothy) Weah and (Amine) Gouiri are injured. We were coming off two defeats and a draw which had the taste of defeat. And here, last year, we lost. We were therefore keen on these three points, to become second again, not to lose ground and to regain our distance from those behind us. Atalanta is not more important than Auxerre. For me, Auxerre was as important as Real Madrid. We must not forget that we have nine injured. »

“We know he doesn’t defend”

But for many, the benching of Mason Greenwood would seem like a disguised sanction because of his lack of taste for defensive matters. A prospect that made Souleymane Diawara, the former OM defender, jump. “When they recruited him, they knew he couldn’t defend,” he said at the Ligue1+ microphone.

“I don’t care if he defends. As soon as he’s there, scoring goals and making assists, stay therehe added. Because if you do 30 meters to defend and you have to go back to do 30 again, you will no longer have the lucidity to score. We know he doesn’t defend, it’s not from today! Let him do what he knows how to do. »