• During the victory in Lorient (0-3) last weekend in Ligue 1, the injuries of Bakambu, Dieng, Gerson and Caleta-Car, in addition to those of Payet, Milik and Harit, worried the Marseille staff.

  • Despite these recent injuries, Jorge Sampaoli does not judge the work of his staff, and especially his physical trainer.

    The physical trainer from OGC Nice admires the physical form of the Marseillais after such a long season.

  • For the first time in two and a half months, the OM players benefited from a week of preparation before facing Rennes on Saturday (9 p.m.).

A concern quickly swept away.

The victory against Lorient (0-3) last weekend relieved more than one supporter of Olympique de Marseille, after a series of poor performances against Feyenoord Rotterdam and Lyon.

But it also aroused a wave of concern, especially just after Gerson's third goal against Les Merlus.

The Brazilian came out injured in the ankle and was quickly imitated by Bamba Dieng.

The young striker had already replaced Cédric Bakambu in the first half, injured.

A slaughter which had caused "concern" at Jorge Sampaoli, a few hours after the announcement of Dimitri Payet's package for the end of the season.

But this Thursday, two days before facing Stade Rennais in the first of OM's "two finals" in Ligue 1, the worry seemed to have disappeared.

“Amine Harit and Duje Caleta-Car resumed collective training, Arek Milik, Bamba Dieng and Cédric Bakambu trained separately.

Bakambu even more because he is the most affected player, ”said Jorge Sampaoli.

“Pablo Fernandez, one of the best in the world”

Despite these recent injuries, the Argentine coach considers the “physical management of [his] squad to be marvelous”: “I think we have a physical trainer who is one of the best in the world in this area, who is Pablo Fernandez.

Despite a short squad, he managed to keep us competitive throughout the season, so the credit goes to him”.

An observation shared from the outside by Nicolas Dyon, physical trainer of OGC Nice, and who was invited by William Saliba to the Vélodrome stadium for the match against Rotterdam.

“Olympique de Marseille has had very few injuries this season.

They have put in place an injury prevention strategy and they have masterfully led player rotations despite playing matches almost every three days.

When you look at their injury numbers and their physical form, you can only say bravo,” he said.

“A completely different method”

And as the physical trainer points out, "the players with the most serious injuries during the season are Payet, who is 35, Milik, often subject to injuries, and Bakambu, who had not played for a long time".

Unlike the rest of a very young workforce, and visibly very involved.

“In their scouting strategy, they bet on players with professionalism.

I know William Saliba well, he has such a vision of how he approaches his performances and his career,” adds Nicolas Dyon.

Amine Harit making fun of Valentin Rongier 😂😂 #TeamOM pic.twitter.com/XMs5Enr9un

– Info OM (@InfosOM_) May 9, 2022


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Who could also have mentioned Mattéo Guendouzi, the most used player in the five major European championships, or Valentin Rongier.

After a season in which he missed nine games with an Achilles heel injury, the former Nantes player has only missed three games this year with Jorge Sampaoli.

Perhaps the fact of his inflation contest with his trainer, as Amine Harit was able to spoof on social networks this week?

“When we leave the room, we are often swollen so that does not count too much”, joked, the one who rather saw changes in the method of collective preparation:

It's a completely different method, we did cardio during the pre-season because you need it in high-level football.

But the work is essentially focused on exercises with the ball and it's been a very long time since we did any preparation without the ball”.

“We had a day off, it did us a lot of good”

A feat that's all the more true given that OM are one of the teams that have played the most this season, and what's more with Europa League and then Europa Conference matches on Thursdays.

“They came back from improbable trips from the other side of Europe with trips at night, and we had to play again on Sunday.

You have to respect certain recovery cycles, we are used to saying that the day after the match is recovery, the day after a big fatigue occurs, after that it takes a day to get going again, and play on the fourth day.

But with matches every three days, that's not possible, ”recalls Elie Baup, who has spoken a lot with the biggest clubs, like Manchester City, to understand their planning.

Hence the use of physical performance data, in order to align the most fit players, as Jorge Sampaoli has often pointed out during the season.

“All the technical staff use it.

There are in-game physical stats, and small routine tests that are repeated for reference.

But despite this, management remains complicated when you play every three days.

You have to have worked well in pre-season”, explains Nicolas Dyon who also recalls that “Sampaoli is not Bielsa, there are a lot more possessions and less energy expenditure”.

And for the first time in two and a half months (the cut of March 20 was an international break), the Marseillais finally had a week of recovery before going to face Rennes.

“Those who had small glitches recovered, and tried to rest as much as possible.

We had a day off, and it did us a lot of good.

Since we took over, we have been working well and we have more time.

It's positive.

We will arrive with more physical freshness on Saturday, ”warned Valentin Rongier.

A welcome freshness before facing two teams that still dream of Europe, Rennes on Saturday, and Strasbourg on the last day of Ligue 1.

Lorient – ​​OM: Easy, Marseille regains second place in Ligue 1 but accumulates injuries… Relive this match live

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