Marseille’s middling start of the Ligue 1 season continued after Les Phocéens could only salvage a 1-1 draw away at BlueCo-owned Strasbourg this Saturday. France international right-back Jonathan Clauss restored parity after Emanuel Emegha’s opener in the first half. Both teams remain in the league’s mid-table. Gattuso has overseen six Ligue 1 games with Marseille and he has only won one of them. The talismanic AC Milan holding midfielder did not hold back in criticizing his own players after failing to grasp a first league win since 8th October. “I don’t understand how we can play like this. I’m very angry with our second half, it’s a disaster”, raged Gennaro Gattuso in his post-game press conference attended by L’Equipe.
“We can’t perform like this”
Gattuso came down hard on his Marseille players, who were expected to show way more after the international break against a Patrick Vieira-led side that hasn’t played for nearly a month, due to the postponement of their Brest away game. “I would have preferred to lose 4-0 and be on the pitch. We can’t perform like this.” Gattuso reportedly asked for explanations from his players in the dressing room. “I’ll wait for tomorrow (Sunday). We will all speak together.“
Despite obvious individual qualities, Marseille are far from looking the part in Ligue 1 this season. Les Phocéens sit an uncomfortable 9th place. They only won three out of a possible 12 league games, and Gattuso seems to struggle to get them going. “We could not win a single duel. As a coach, I struggle to understand this. We haven’t really played. The team was rubbish. The game was painful to watch in the first half and it was worse in the second.“
GFFN | Bastien Cheval