• Olympique de Marseille receives Tottenham this Tuesday (9 p.m.) at the Vélodrome stadium for "the match of the year", since OM must beat the Londoners to continue their adventure in the Champions League.

  • After a great start to the season, the Marseillais have been struggling for a short month, not the best period to achieve the feat of beating Tottenham.

  • Igor Tudor's choices raise questions in Marseille, but so does his communication.

Tudor and OM no longer have the right to stammer.

The Marseillais are playing their season on the European scene this Tuesday evening against Tottenham (9 p.m.), they no longer have the right to make mistakes since a victory is essential to reach the knockout stages of the Champions League.

Too bad, this "match of the year", as Igor Tudor called it, comes in a period of doubts for the Marseillais and their coach.

Unknown to the fans, to the point of being whistled during the first two home games of the season after a complicated summer preparation, Igor Tudor then gradually managed to put the Olympian people in his pocket.

By his results, and a second place just behind PSG a month ago thanks to 23 points taken out of 27 possible, a record, and by the performances of his team.

Until being given a standing ovation by the South Winners when they received Lens, just after two historic victories in C1, against Sporting Portugal, which offered the Marseillais the possibility of playing this final against Tottenham.

Ineffective choices

Since then, OM's results have not been there with three defeats, including the last against Lens, and a draw in the last four Ligue 1 games, and another defeat against Frankfurt last week, which would have allowed the Marseillais to be even better positioned before facing the Londoners.

With interesting content each time, like against Lens, Frankfurt or Strasbourg, but without the result at the end.

"What I can say is that I'm very happy with the team, but not with the results," said Igor Tudor in the pre-match press conference.

Beyond these explanations, he is mainly criticized for his choices.

His inability to develop his team other than in a 3-4-2-1 used in every game since the season.

But above all its changes, while the entrants almost never make a difference.

Asked about the too low contribution of the substitutes, Igor Tudor admitted that they could "bring more".

Before leaving in a list of the advantages of the 5 changes, which he however does not manage to put to the benefit of his team as during the defeats against Ajaccio, Lens, Frankfurt.

During these matches, he each time replaced Mattéo Guendouzi, yet one of the executives of his squad, and one of the players who brings the most stability to his team.

His positioning, often in support of Alexis Sanchez, and sometimes at the heart of a two-man environment with Veretout, or Rongier, questioned journalists.

"Mattéo is the player who has played the most with Mbemba this year, that says it all," he swept away when asked at a press conference about the ideal positioning of the French international.

Questionable communication

And that's the other criticism that can be made of the Croatian coach, his communication errors.

As when he concedes “not having had too much time to analyze the match against Strasbourg, so often we play”.

Incredible when you know that OM have just tumbled to fifth place in Ligue 1, six points behind Lens, and that the club is playing its European future three days after this draw.

Or when he judges the entry of Gerson as "good" against Strasbourg, when it coincides with the reduction of the Strasbourg score.

Already after the defeat against Lens, Igor Tudor had dodged several questions about his team's lack of realism, to insist on his "pride" in the game produced by his players.

What had had the gift of irritating a lot of journalists in the face of answers as expeditious as laconic.

By his own admission, the Marseillais have "a lot of progress to make, especially on the details".

And the first would perhaps be to be able to have other options, while questioning yourself.

Because in the event of defeats against Tottenham, then against Lyon, or Monaco, the last two games before the World Cup, Pablo Longoria should not ask himself any questions.

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  • Champions League

  • Olympic Marseille (OM)

  • Igor Tudor

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