Marseilles (AFP)

Between insane calendar and hot files of the transfer window, the month of January will be strewn with pitfalls for the Olympique de Marseille, weakened by a failed end of the year 2020 and deprived of margin before receiving Montpellier Wednesday for the 18th day of the League 1 (9:00 p.m.).

- Loaded in the field -

With heavy legs and shortness of breath, OM finished 2020 with only one point in three matches, leaving their rivals for the podium to take a little lead.

André Villas-Boas' players are seven points behind the third, Paris, with certainly still two games late.

But after seeing them for a long time as a passport to first place, they don't look at them quite the same anymore.

"We are counting on these matches to pick up but a lot of teams are doing well. For a long time, it was psychologically favorable to have them but today they take on another importance, we no longer have the right to make mistakes", thus recognized on Monday Captain Mandanda.

These two matches to be played against Lens (January 20) and Nice (date to be defined) also add to an already very crowded schedule for a workforce which, as Villas-Boas recalled on Monday, "is not the deepest of the world".

OM continues to play every three days, with the arrival of Montpellier on Wednesday before a trip to Dijon and the Champions Trophy against PSG in a week in Lens.

"There will still be a lot of matches to be played after January, but psychologically it's going to be important. We know we have to negotiate very well in January to stay as close to the podium as possible," said Mandanda.

"Yes, it can be a turning point, hopefully in a good way," Villas-Boas confirmed.

- Animated behind the scenes -

Already in unstable equilibrium, OM must also beware of the gales of the transfer window.

Inexpensive reinforcements, departures to reduce the payroll and contract extensions: sporting director Pablo Longoria also has a complicated month of January to manage.

Marseille's needs are well known.

Villas-Boas wants above all an attacker and would not say no to a right-back.

On Monday, he confirmed that the Napoli center-forward Milik was one track among others, "not the easiest".

On Wednesday at the Vélodrome, he will also be able to observe the Montpellier Laborde, whose name he has not dismissed either.

The Portuguese technician especially recalled that things would move more likely at the end of the transfer window.

In the meantime, OM have already separated from young midfielder Chabrolle, who left for Ajaccio (L2), but it will take more than that to bring the accounts closer to balance.

With Caleta-Car, Sanson or Kamara, OM has a few players likely to interest buying clubs, in England in particular.

But these are holders, as are Thauvin and Amavi, the two priority files of the moment.

The winger and the left side indeed arrive at the end of the contract at the end of the season and will be able to leave free if they have not extended by then.

"It's a special situation, with a lot of players at the end of the contract and also the coach. There is a difficult economic situation, nobody knows how it will end and where we are going," Mandanda admitted.

"But we have a very professional group, which wants to do well. We have to adapt and give the maximum."

- Heckled at the top -

A little further from the field, the start of the year Marseille is also disturbed by the still tense relationship between some of the supporters and President Jacques-Henri Eyraud, who seem to not speak the same language.

Eyraud took a step back after appointing Longoria to head the sports sector and the new "Head of Business" Hugues Ouvrard.

But an intervention in a conference on management during which he spoke of the "danger" of having too many Marseillais or supporters of OM within the club recalled his unpopularity and stickers calling for his resignation reappeared near the Velodrome or Commanderie.

"It's part of the job and it does not matter," he assured before Christmas on France Bleu Provence.

And faced with rumors of the club's sale which never quite go away, he recalled that the owner Franck McCourt remained "deeply rooted in the long term".

© 2021 AFP