Never change a losing team…

By: Magnusson | November 2nd, 2007

Eric Gerets said all week that there was going to be some kind of big shakedown with new players getting their shot (people were talking Oruma-Mbami in the midfield, Arrache Gragnic Ziani Nasri and Moussilou up top. None of that happened. Eric Gerets created the “Never change a losing team” principle. After the fiasco that happened on Saturday, it was good to see him put the same team in just to let them redeem themselves. It pretty much worked.
Samir Nasri is quietly getting back to his best level and that is something very nice to see. He’s back to acting like the understudy of Franck Ribery and was everywhere dishing out passes and just all around making for my lack fantasy-football points lately. Karim Ziani finally showed the public why he was so expensive in the first place. And Mamadou Niang is quietly getting back to being one of the most underrated strikers in the Ligue 1.
In what was a somewhat boring game, Marseille didn’t manage to score against Metz in the initial 90 minutes. We had to go to extra-time for us to take the lead twice by Mamadou Niang first and then by Djibril Cissé.
This particular game had a scenario that I didn’t like one bit as it reminded me of the Final of the Coupe de France last year when after leading twice with goals of Niang and Cissé, Sochaux caught up twice and ended up lifting the trophy.
This time it didn’t happen. Marseille squandered too many chances for me to count (just watch the video) and didn’t manage to score. And in their two excursions out of their zone, Metz managed to score on two mistakes from us. That was worrysome. But Djibril Cissé patching things up with the Vélodrome was a sight to see. He finished the game in his underwear as if we had just won something importantand the public (the very few that actually were at the stadium) were chanting his name throughout the second half even before he scored. And he was voted Player of the match by the fans. Apparently, it only takes Didier Drogba to speak for the supporters to follow suit. In any case, Cissé was smiling even when he was missing shots. Maybe Gerets got the spirit back in the team.

Here is the video of the game.

On a completely different note, the sengalese national team can be gappy, Mamadou Niang and newly selected Momar Ndiaye both scored. With the African Cup of nations starting up january 20th, it’s good to see them in top shape.

Here are some pictures of yesterday night’s game