“At half-time, I could have replaced everybody.” Rudi Garcia was always going to be forced into a few blunt truths in his opening weeks as Olympique de Marseille’s new coach, but Friday night’s loss at Montpellier meant that the sharper end of his straight-talking tongue was pressed into action a little sooner than their supporters might have hoped.
Garcia was referring specifically to the half-time withdrawal of Rémy Cabella on the occasion of the midfielder’s return to his former club, underlining that it wasn’t a “punishment”. It could have been anyone. The tenure of the former Roma boss began just over a fortnight ago with the toughest possible debut, away to Paris Saint-Germain in Le Classique, in which OM showed little invention but plenty of resolve. 12 days on from that at Le Mosson, the game was up before the end of the first half on account of their lackadaisical defending.
The goalless draw in Paris offered hope on paper but continuing in that manner would have been unsustainable; Marseille smothered their hosts with what was quite emphatically a back five, rather than a back three, and didn’t have a single shot on goal, on or off target. Even with the sporadic criticism that the approach drew, it was hard to argue with its effectiveness, with the result leaving a base to build on.
That was certainly the case in terms of morale, with over 57,000 supporters packing the Vélodrome for Garcia’s home bow, against Bordeaux last Sunday. Given the atmosphere at Marseille’s home matches over the last year, which has veered between moribund and downright poisonous - even with far less people in the stands - one could argue that Garcia’s appointment has already been a qualified success of sorts.
What has become equally clear on the pitch since, however, that both the PSG result and the swell of popular support have been placebos. Garcia’s undoubted magnetism and charisma can’t change the fact that OM have haemorrhaged top quality talent over recent years, and that with a few exceptions, the playing staff simply isn’t good enough to effectively represent a club of this grandeur.
There were hallmarks of a Garcia team at Montpellier, set out in his classic 4-3-3 formation, and bossing possession, with 68% of the ball. Yet there was none of the bite or incision necessary to get a proper grip of the match, let alone take control of it. Frédéric Hantz’s struggling hosts had more shots at goal (13 to 10) with less than half of the possession, and despite having lost their star attacker Casimir Ninga, who has scored five goals in six Ligue 1 starts, to a serious knee injury recently.
Montpellier showed Garcia and his team - perhaps pertinently, given the extent of the rebuild that he is expected to take on in January - that names and price tags mean little next to vision and guile. While OM’s summer signing Clinton N’Jie laboured up front, managing just one off-target effort at goal in 76 minutes, for a mere 23 touches overall, the 2010 French champions were picked apart by a playmaker whose last two moves, to Bastia and then to Montpellier, have cost the buying clubs a grand total of €3m in transfer fees.
Ryad Boudebouz ran the show here, playing just behind a lone striker in the inexperienced Steve Mounié, a club youth product, who scored the goal to seal the win in the second half after the former had helped himself to a first-half brace. Boudebouz’s future was the subject of intense speculation before the beginning of the season but has stayed, and he is the difference between a team holding its own and one which would be sinking without trace.
The 26-year-old underlined his all-round importance to his team here, scoring twice from his four shots and also offering two key passes, taking him to six goals and two assists already this season. The Algerian cost a fraction of Cabella, N’Jie or Romain Alessandrini, but makes his team tick and is still adding elements to his game. He has already matched his second-best season goal total and is two behind his best, the eight he notched for Sochaux way back in the 2010/11 season.
For Marseille, who are now only above Montpellier in mid-table on goal difference, that lack of an attacking - and perhaps spiritual - focal point was particular apparent with Bafé Gomis, who has six goals in 11 starts on loan from Swansea, missing through injury. With Florian Thauvin, the goalscorer here, gradually recovering his best form - only Lassana Diarra (7.39) rates better than his average 7.26 - and 18-year-old Maxime Lopez looking a prospect in midfield, completing an impressive 93.7% of his 119 passes here, there is hope.
These are, however, crumbs of comfort. The improved form at Vélodrome, where they are unbeaten this season and have only conceded once, is another one, meaning their next game there against Caen, the vanquishers of Nice this weekend, is capital. After that, it’s successive away trips and they couldn’t be much trickier, with high-flying Monaco and Christophe Galtier’s canny Saint-Etienne on the menu.
For now, the quality simply isn’t there in Garcia’s ranks. It’s just a case of holding on until January and hoping that new owner Frank McCourt’s cash injection goes as far as the locals anticipate. Then - and only then - we can talk about OM regaining their status at the top of the French game.
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