Angers (AFP)

Marseille came up against the Angevins without complexes and a great Paul Bernardoni and had to concede a draw (0-0) during a match removed but poor on real occasions, Wednesday at the Raymond Kopa stadium for the 7th day of the League 1.

OM, which remained on three consecutive victories, sees PSG take off.

Second with 14 points, Marseille will need more than their bonus match to replay against Nice to catch up with the 7 lengths that separate them from the Parisians.

And we will have to quickly recover from this halt, since the program for the next 10 days will not be easy: Lens, Galatasaray (Europa League) and Lille.

The Angevins, stunned by their heavy defeat Sunday against Nantes on the same lawn (4-1), for their part managed to raise their heads, even getting back on the podium (3rd, 12 points).

And they did so by keeping their offensive game, which should pay off more on Sunday in Troyes.

After the final whistle, incidents broke out between supporters, when the Marseillais left the visitor park to go and fight with the Ultras from Angevin, while the announcer pleaded "Not that, guys, what an image we give!".

The intervention of the stewards quickly restored order.

Marseille supporters try to enter the field during the match in Angers, September 22, 2021 JEAN-FRANCOIS MONIER AFP

On the ground, as usual, Jorge Sampaoli rotated his workforce.

After choosing to leave Dimitri Payet and Arkadiusz Milik in Marseille, he chose to spare the central Mattéo Guendouzi and Cengiz Ünder and the defenders William Saliba and Luan Peres.

In their place: Duje Caleta-Car or Jordan Amavi, who had not yet played this season, or even Gerson, replacing Sunday.

Bamba Dieng and Amine Harit, scorers against Rennes, were on the other hand, as was Luis Henrique.

It was also the Brazilian winger who obtained the only real opportunity of the first period: ideally launched by Dieng behind the Angevin defense, he presented himself alone against Paul Bernardoni but lost his duel (14th).

"I stay on my feet, I do not throw myself, then I grit my teeth," said the Angevin guardian on Amazon Prime.

Slower than usual, sometimes struggling to find each other, the Marseillais multiplied technical errors, like Harit who tangled his feet with the ball when he was ideally placed for a counter ( 55th).

They also came up against well-organized Angevins, who regularly managed to intervene and project themselves quickly, without however succeeding in worrying Pau Lopez, once again preferred to Steve Mandanda.

Senegalese striker from Marseille Bamba Dieng during the match in Angers, September 22, 2021 JEAN-FRANCOIS MONIER AFP

If Baticle had indeed maintained most of his defense, he too had turned a little in attack, out of necessity since Sofiane Boufal was unavailable, or by choice, by aligning Stéphane Bahoken at the forefront to spare the young Mohamed-Ali Cho , finally entered on the hour mark.

In a packed stadium, where Marseille supporters were present in large numbers in the visitors' parking lot as well as in the stands, the Angevins pushed, but Bahoken's head went over (60th) and Lopez lay down without worry on a long shot from Batista Mendy (61st).

On the Marseille side, opportunities have long remained rare: Harit, who had collapsed in the surface after contact with the Angevin captain Ismaël Traoré, was warned for simulation (70th) to the chagrin of the Marseillais.

And an unframed header from Dieng did not worry Bernardoni.

Angers midfielder Jimmy Cabot (g) marking on Marseillais Gerson, September 22, 2021 in Angers JEAN-FRANCOIS MONIER AFP

The pace picked up at the end of the game, with back and forth from one surface to another.

But success was not on the Angevin side despite a plethora of assaults, and a huge parade by Bernardoni prevented Dieng from scoring three games in a row (83rd).

© 2021 AFP