Bordeaux 2-2 Marseille…

By: Magnusson | December 18th, 2007

October 30th 1977, that was the last time Marseille beat Bordeaux at Bordeaux. And the streak will continue. At least we got a draw and if you had told me before the game that we would get a point there, I would have signed in a heartbeat. But after having watched the game on sunday, I can honestly say there are a few regrets. We started with a team that was tactically the exact same one as Bordeaux’s and that helped us score twice in less than thirty minutes. And then things went outh as we felt comfortable and belieevd we had already won it all. Marouane Chamakh equalized at the 33rd minute and it was on with the most pleasant game to watch since PSG-Lyon. Just an offensive slugfest and I actually thought we could score and it could have gone either way. But on a very individual error (Djibril Cissé decided he didn’t need to defend, forcing Roanld Zubar to be agry out of his mind and call him on it. And Djibril being Djibril, he didn’t seem pleased. I really feel this guy needs to leave now. If even his teammates feel he’s useless, let’s sell him or loan him or something), we took the equalizer at the 80th minute and if not for a Steve Mandanda stop that was out of this world, we could have lost 3-2 in the last minute, but Cavenaghi prefered to open his foot and make sure he scored instead of kicking it. But Steve is awesomeness.
Eric Gerets tried a few things and I really believe that it’s now selling time at Marseille. He played with Djibril Cissé and Wilson Oruma just two weeks before the mercato. The game being shown on Canal+, I believe Gerets may have been pressured to help them make a sell. Or not?, you decide. Anyway, we should have won but Bordeaux had much more envy and will to win than we did. They could have won it as well.

HOW DID THEY PLAY?

Steve Mandanda has had little to do but he was DEFINITLY there at the right time. In the first half, he made a stop in two times in front of Alonso and in the second period, he was twice decisive first in the 50th capturing a very dangerous Chalmé kick and then in the last seconds as I said before. Mandanda must be pissed anyways because he wasn’t able to do anything on the two goals.

Taye Taiwo, the Nigerian left-back whose days may be counted, was the author of another so-so match. He came back rather strong in his match before facing the very good Alonso and Chalmé. But Taiwo has been able to hold defensively nd to resist those guys. However, he was tatally absent on the Chamakh goal since he abandons marking Henrique. Both his free-kicks were missed and he had a very hard time finishing his game, giving us vintage Taiwo with defensive errors and tactical misses. I think even Gerets got tired of that at some point.
The new Central combiantion was made of Ronald Zubar and Jacques Faty for the first time in a long time. Apparently Gaël Givet’s injury was real and not only diplomatic and Julien Rodriguez’s stint in the nursing home has been streteched out. He just felt so old when El Nino passed him by that his hips got screwed. More seriously though, both those players won’t be playing in 2007 anymore.
So Zubar showed early in the match some signs of febrility, including a very dangerous pass to Bonnart who nearly got a red card trying to retrieve said ball… But the guadelupîan defender has been able to refocus his energy by performing well defensively. His little altercation with Cissé show that at least HE cares. Jacques Faty on the other hand was less effective than Zubar. Faty is especially guilty on the Chamakh goal. It’s very hard to understand because he released the Bordeaux striker… a big mistake. Aside from that error, he had his best game defensively yet for us, showing very good pace especially against Chamakh and that devil Alonso.
The last name in that defense is that of Laurent Bonnart who’s had a very good match. He originated the Niang gaoal by giving the ball to Cissé in the surface. He was then forced to make up a for bad Zubar pass by taclkling David Bellion. That particulat action could have gone either way but he escaped with a very generous yellow card. He had a game full of determination.

The midfield was designed as a diamond with four players playing like Bordeaux (Cana, Cheyrou, Oruma and Nasri) and it worked wonders for some time. Captain Lorik Cana was not the greatest Cana at Chalban Delmas. The Olympian did what others have not been able to do all year, he delivered anyway. He started off well by giving a beautiful cross to Bonnart on our first goal. But he kinda lost his game and lost more balls than usual. Much better in the duels, it has still not had his usual performance in the recovery. On the Chamakh goal, he inadvertently puts the ball on the Bordeaux striker’s feet. BUt you can’t blame a guy this dedicated to the team…
Benoit Cheyrou has been convincing me in the midfield lately and I was the first one to say that he may have been a hasty buy.I’m sure glad he’s starting to prove me wrong. He seems better at the end of the year. Active and effective in the midfield, he gave the ball cleanly and was offensively very important and gave some kicks. It was therefore logical for his efforts to pay off and he scored with the help of Planus’s body on our second goal. In the second period, he continued his activities and shot the only Olympian kick in the second half.
Wilson Oruma was without a doubt the biggest surprise on the pitch at kickoff. In midfield, the other Nigerian left me pleasantly surprised. His very first ball was excellent since it is the source of the Niang goal. Oruma has certainly lost a few easy balls, but he managed to be as good at times especially in his transmissions to Mamadou Niang. He didn’t save his efforts in doing a lot of work in the replacement just in front of Bonnart to block the right side. He logically lost rythmn and pace just before being replaced by Ziani in the 67th. The guy who gave him the biggest amount of balls was Samir Nasri : The antural game leader, Nasri had a pretty good first half, even trying his luck against Ramé on a shot that did not represent any threat and then by offering the possibility of shooting to Cheyrou on the second goal. Nearly an assist… But he was not able to weigh on their defense in the second half once Bordeaux started confiscating the ball. Nasri was transparent in the second-half despite some small interesting phazes. He was too short to face Jussie on the equalizer… One thing I’m surprised about is how Gerets didn’t get him repaced earlier, Valbuena only taking his spot at the 87th minute.

For the first time in a long time Djibril Cisse played WITH Mamadou Niang up top. Unfortunately, Cisse did not convince up top. Yet all began very well when he lunged for a superb talonnade as he was running for Niang who opened the score in the first minute. But Cisse then fell off. He still is useless. He missed every chance he had and more importantly a very dangerous close strike that shoud have nbeen in but he put it over the the net. And we will regret his absence of marking on Jussie on Bordeaux’s equalizer while Zubar was shouting his name to get his butt back there. The poor guy called him all he could but Djibril… An attitude which will not increase his popularity among supporters…
Once Again, MamadouNiang has been decisive. He scored first with a beautiful strike following the talonnade of Cissé. Then he made a monumental work on the Cheyrou goal: Niang just relieves himself from two Bordeaux players before slipping the ball superbly off to Nasri. But a bit like Nasri, the Senegalese has been less in order after the second goal. Thus he didn’t negotiate a good opportunity very well. To end the first period and in the second half, he was less sharp in his actions, showing much more timid than usual before.

Ziani: Entered in place of Oruma in the 67th, the Algerian irritated by his lack of defensive replacement on the right side and too many bad balls were given.…
Valbuena: He only got in at the 87th… He was a Bordeaux player in his youth so I was sure Gerets would put him in the starting XI. Apparently not.
M’Bami: Entered in place of Cisse for the last few minutes, he managed to calm the game well eough for us to notice.