The crisis is deep and hurtful. Marseille just can‘t win. The biggest French club managed a single victory in 2024, a slim 1-0 win over a fifth-tier club in the Cup but remained fruitless in the League 1 so far, and continued this negative trend tonight in a 1-0 defeat against Brestois, one of the biggest surprises in France this season. The club from the famous French port jumped to the second place with a win tonight, which also shows how good they are, totally opposite to Marseille. Brestois are also firm at home and have not conceded a goal since December 7th, while the guests are one of the worst away teams in League 1.0 – Marseille (D3 L2) are winless in their first five Ligue 1 games of a calendar year for the third time in their history, after 1956 and 1978. Sinking. #SB29OM pic.twitter.com/QiuM1HVa0s— OptaJean (@OptaJean) February 18, 2024 What is worse in this defeat is the shamefull performance from the Marseille team. Even thou they had one-man advantage since the 60th minute, when Mounie was red-carded, Gennaro Gattuso‘s men made their only shot on target in the 85th minute! And they got punished for weak display, since the 10-men Brestois scored a winner in the 88th minute, leaving the Italian with big problems. He was already clueless before the match and admitted:”We are scared, and I don’t know how to solve this mental problem. I don’t have the key, because I’m neither a psychologist nor a ‘head coach’. Despite the frustrations, I am stubborn and have the desire to succeed. I don’t want anyone to think we’ve given up. That’s not our state of mind”.
Clearly, whatever he said before the match obviously didn‘t work. The first half was uneventful, mainly due to the fact that the guests were very careful when they had the ball. Marseille is among the worst clubs when it comes to away games, and they managed only one win so far, with five draws and five defeats. They have also found it difficult to keep a clean sheet and only against the fifth-tier Thionville Lusitanos in the Cup did they won 1-0. So, they played really carefully and found themselves on the wrong foot for the most of the half. The aggressive hosts had two good chances at the start and at the end of the first half. Mounie‘s header was fantastically tipped off by Blanco, and the Marseille keeper saved another clear chance in the 44th minute when he stopped Lage in a one-on-one situation. The situation remained the same in the second half and it was again Mounie with a fantastic chance, even better than in the first half, but his header finished near the post this time. And that was it for the Benin striker who had his moment of madness minutes later and elbowed Balerdi for the straight red card. It was a great opportunity for Marseille, but they failed to seize the chance and things were pretty much the same until the end, when Melou scored the deserved winner. It will be a long home to Marseille tonight.LIGUE 1 – MATCHDAY 22FridayOlympique Lyon – Nice 1-0 (1-0)/Mangala 22/SaturdayLille – Le Havre 3-0 (2-0)/David 14, 44, 49/Nantes – PSG 0-2 (0-0)/Hernandez 60, Mbappe 78 pen/SundayStrasbourg – Lorient 1-3 (0-2)/Guilbert 51 – Bamba 2, 45+1, Ponceau 49/Monaco – Toulouse 1-2 (0-1)/Akliouche 48 – Sierro 41, Costa 70/Montpellier – Metz 3-0 (1-0)/Sylla 3, Sagnan 50, Savanier 86(p)/Rennes – Clermont 3-1 (1-0)/Omari 31, Terrier 58, 64 – Matsima 62/Reims – Lens 1-1 (1-1)/Diakite 41 – Said 45+2/Brest – Olympique Marseille 1-0 (0-0)/Melou 88/