Really missed, Sunday's match ended under a huge bronca of the Stade Vélodrome, which had so far been rather lenient with its players, but this time invited them to "wet the jersey" or "break", a traditional song of periods of crisis.

OM is not there yet, because a very soft calendar allows him to be fourth and count nine points after five days, only two less than the leader Monaco and one more than Paris SG, whom he will visit in a week for the first "Classic" of the season.

But this reasonable nest egg can not be enough to camouflage the doubts that accompany OM and the evidence sent back by the field: we still do not know very well where Marcelino wants to go.

Last season at this time, Igor Tudor's idea of playing was perfectly identified, with its virtues as well as its flaws. Today, the 4-4-2 of the Spanish technician also sees itself as the nose in the middle of the face, but how to make it alive and effective remains mysterious.

At the edge of the pitch, the former coach of Valencia or Villarreal makes great gestures, sometimes of encouragement, often of spite, but he does not seem to have much control over what his players offer.

Marseille striker Joaquin Correa (c) between Toulouse Denis Genreau (l) and Niklas Schmidt, on September 17, 2023 at Stade Vélodrome © CLEMENT MAHOUDEAU / AFP

Against Toulouse on Sunday, after a very poor first half, there had already been a few whistles for the Marseille players, harmless and academic, technically clumsy and in obvious lack of creativity.

Warm OM

It must be said that after 20 minutes of play, there was only any header from Leonardi Balerdi as a reward for OM's confused efforts.

Then, there was a festival of badly hit set pieces and approximations in the passing game, especially on the side of the very young François-Régis Mughe (19 years old), whose tenure and inadequacies illustrate the weaknesses of the Marseille squad in certain positions.

Toulouse defender Moussa Diarra (r) jumps in front of Marseillais Francois-Regis Mughe, on September 17, 2023 at the Stade Vélodrome © CLEMENT MAHOUDEAU / AFP

For the rest, the Velodrome crowd warmed up vaguely for a good strike from Pierre-Eymerick Aubameyang (28th) and for a heavy recovery from Vitinha (45+3), which confirmed all the good that can be thought of the young Toulouse goalkeeper Guillaume Restes (19 years old).

In a stadium still hot, OM remained barely lukewarm after the break, with all the same in two minutes just before the hour of play, a header from Valentin Rongier on the post and a dangerous recovery from Aubameyang.

Jonathan Clauss also hit a free-kick over the bar and Geoffrey Kondogbia made his return, without much effect, as did the entries of Iliman Ndiaye or Amine Harit.

Despite eight extra minutes offered by the referee, OM did not win this match that it was not likely to lose, Toulouse having tried almost nothing to take more than one point.

OM coach Marcelino before kick-off of the match against Toulouse, on September 17, 2023 at the Stade Vélodrome © CLEMENT MAHOUDEAU / AFP

For the people of Marseille, it is now time to leave the Velodrome to the rugby players and the pope. They will not meet him until October 5, in the Europa League against Brighton. But by then, they will have rubbed shoulders with Ajax, PSG and Monaco, teams of a completely different caliber than those faced so far and rarely dominated. What state will they be in?

© 2023 AFP