Kufstein (Austria) (AFP)

Olympique de Marseille ended its German internship on a small hiccup against the Slovak DAC (2-1 defeat), Saturday in Kufstein (Austria), but André Villas-Boas draws a positive assessment of the Bavarian week.

"The physical goal is successful, but not the result," said the coach.

After two easy victories against an Austrian D3, FC Pinzgau (5-1), and a German D4, SC Heimstetten (6-1), OM stumbled against FC DAC Dunajska Streda.

"The first two matches, the opposition was at a lower level, but it was good for confidence and automatisms", assures "AVB", who wants to be ready on August 21 for the resumption of L1 against Saint -Etienne.

. The young people showed themselves

The young people of the center stood out. At the tip, Marley Aké signed an opportunistic double against Heimstetten and took the fund, physically, better resisting the shocks of the defenders.

Florian Chabrolle also put a goal for the Germans. But against the Slovaks, he missed: his missed pass offered the opener for Eric Ramirez (19).

"It means that we have a good center and that the work is starting to bear fruit", greets Boubacar Kamara, the model of all the "Minots", holder at 20, and stabilized at the post of N.6, has explained AVB after recovering the central he wanted, Leonardo Balerdi.

. The recruits advance

Two recruits have already arrived in full internship, Pape Gueye (Le Havre, L2) in Portugal, and therefore the Argentine on loan from Dortmund, in Bavaria.

The defensive midfielder has already shown his qualities. "Pape was good in N.6, he covered the width of the game well, made reversals of play, his first goal (against Pinzgau) will help him a little for his confidence", greets Villas-Boas.

A defensive midfielder, a central, these were the priority objectives of the coach, who still hopes for a left side, to overtake Jordan Amavi, and a striker, who should ultimately not be Mbaye Niang. The Rennais would like to come to OM, but he is not on the list of AVB, which is looking for another profile.

Arrived Tuesday evening, Balerdi played the last quarter of an hour against FC DAC, instead of Caleta-Car.

. The frames still running in

In empty stadiums, we hear Alvaro Gonzalez commanding his voice: he is the boss. However, he is at fault on the Hungarian Kalmar Zsolt, who himself scored his free kick in the top corner of Mandanda (33).

But the Spaniard even scored too, and challenged Dimitri Payet - and lost - in a very hooked tennis-ball which ignited the whole group, during a training at the Achental Golf resort, the hotel de Grassau where the Olympians.

Caleta-Car succeeds in transversals of 40m, and Payet, scorer, passer and winner in tennis-ball, has already rubbed his big character with the match referee against Heimstetten (warned).

Finally Florian Thauvin, comparable to a recruit, after his almost white year, showed that he had juice.

To reduce the score against FC DAC, he scored his first goal from the penalty spot since June 11, 2019 with the Blues in Andorra (4-0).

Dario Benedetto scored him in the second game but missed great chances in the third.

"We mainly did physical during these nine days, explains Kevin Strootman. We worked well, but we must be ready for the first league game."

On the sidelines of its preparation program, OM must play on July 31 against Bayern Munich, a "commercial match" which displeases Villas-Boas.

OM in the 1st period:

Mandanda (cap.) - Sarr, Alvaro, Caleta-Car, Amavi - Chabrolle, Pa. Gueye, Sanson - Germain, Aké, Payet

OM in the 2nd period:

Mandanda (cap.) - Sakai, Alvaro, Caleta-Car (Balerdi, 77), Khaoui - Rongier, Kamara, Strootman - Thauvin, Benedetto, Radonjic

Coach: André Villas-Boas

© 2020 AFP