Marseille 3-1 Metz, with Turkey in sight…

By: Magnusson | November 25th, 2007

What a great game on ourend! Marseille controlled the game from start to finish and Metz never stood a chance. We knew Metz was gunning for us and we never really doubted we were going to win. What a difference two weeks can make. It all started against Porto. Even while losing that game, Marseille showed incredible spirit and kept its coherence against a team that was clearly superior to us.
In what should have been a blowout, Bolo Zenden scored one of the prettiest goals of the season and Mamadou Niang, wearing the captain’s armband for the first time in the absence of Lorik Cana and Julien Rodriguez, showed the example by scoring twice. “Doumam” is on a clowd at the moment and apparently decided not to come down from it. After scoring twice against Lyon, he scored twice against Metz. He’s an equal opportunity scoring machine. Here are the goals:

Zenden, 29′ (Marseille1-0 Metz)

Niang, 37′ (Marseille 2-0 Metz)

Niang, 70′ (Marseille 3-0 Metz)

Babacar Guèye 88′ (Marseille 3-1 Metz)

Once again, the whole team was involved and seemed genuinely motivated to get the three points that could actually make us leave the bottom three (the win against Lyon was great but we were preceding Auxerre because of our goal difference and not much else). Everyone was ready from the get go and it showed with a squad creating multiple chances for ourselves. We knew we would win from the very beginning.

Steve Mandanda, who’s finally been signed to the club this morning by Pape Diouf(he was on a year-long loan from Le Havre), was not sollicited many times by metz strikers last night. His only interventions were on passes by his teammates and he fullfilled that task pretty well, except on the goal where he totally missed his target and got Laurent Bonnart who was more surprised to get the ball than anything. Speaking of Bonnart, that was the only time he had to defend on a real threat and he got schooled by the very cool-headed senegalese striker Babacar Gueye. Not a disappointment in any way but just an average game for someone who apparently puts out performances according to the opponent. He didn’t need to step his game up yesterday night and played average against an average team.
All his colleagues from the defense had better games. Gaël Givet seems to be finally getting his groove back after a Lyon game he missed due to a pre-game injury and was phenomenal. A wall! The Gaël Givet from Monaco and the one who could dispute Toto Squillacci his spot on the National Team. A really impressive game. Only dark spot, he is nutmegged by Babacar Gueye on Metz’s goal.

Jacques Faty also is looking much better these days and is showing the kind of serenity and calm under pressure that made him one of the most sought-after young CBs in france. Very good game and he could even have scored on a powerful header that went over Marichez’s cage. Ronald Zubar is known for his mental and willingness to fight no matter what and he showed that he was not to be overlooked not underestimated in the run for the starting CB position. He played at RB but it is clearly not his position. He’s very good at stopping offensive breaks but passes and offensive plays are clearly not his forté. His relationship with Valbuena only became fructuous in the second half when he bacame a little less nervous.
Speaking of Mathieu Valbuena, he definitly owns the right side of our offense now! It doesn’t make any doubt in our minds that the dynamo is now getting better by the match and his Champions league experience can only help him improve. Once again, he exhausted his opponents and made the game impossible for them. on the third goal he perfectly serves Samir Nasri and is, save Mandanda, the big revelation of our team this season.

Modeste M’bami and Benoit Cheyrou were paired in the midfield in Lorik Cana’s absence and the only one to really confirm his renaissance was Modeste M’bami. What a story! This guy was supposed to leave this summer because there was no way for him to ever play at Marseille again, given how Cheyrou and Cana were supposed to be better but M’bami took advantage of Eric Gerets open door policy to steal a starting position and quietly put himself in the starting XI. Cheyrou didn’t impress but didn’t have us worried neither. he did the job and didn’t break a sweat. His demeanor, considered to be Beckenbauer-like class in Auxerre seems like lack of implication in Marseille. Still technically gifted, Benoit may not take his brother’s place in the hearts of the supporters if he keeps at it with these kinds of outings. His match was decent though.

The man who can slowly but surely become a star in the Vélodrome is Bolo Zenden. The dutch playmaker was not really impressive on the left side but he harvested some well-deserved cheers when he got out because of his incredible goal that shocked the stadium. Still not at his physical top, he’s being a nice fit with Samir Nasri and Mamadou Niang on the left side.

Ah! here we are! Nasri and Niang. Beautiful game by the pair of close friends. Not only did Samir Nasri serve Mamadou Niang twice last night but he could have scored twice himself if it wasn’t for some lack of physical fitness. Samir gave his chauffeur (he doesn’t have a driver’s licence yet so Mamadou Niang is driving him to and from practices) perfect serves and the first-time skipper celebrated his second doublé in as many matches. The senegalese striker really proves to be lethal when played axially (this is for Henty kasperczak). Nasri also got the armband when Niang gave his spot to Cissé in the final minutes of the game. Djibril could have scored but didn’t. All in all, he ddin’t lose his temper and showed some promise. His confidence is one goal way and that goal must come soon.

The yound Dédé Ayew came on and replaced Zenden with much quickness and could have scored our fourth goal but didn’t. Disappointing for the youngster who’s still looking for his first goal as a pro. Karim Ziani also came off the bench after the controversy of his knee injury (He was injured and couldn’t play officially but he decided to play anyways for Algeria last wednesday, creating some problems with the fans who feels he doesn’t really care about the team). The kid is quick, we knew that but he was translucid, giving two balls to Nasri and that’s about it. He still has to prove himself worthy of the shirt.

Eric Gerets, even though he was happy with the result, was not particularly happy with the team. At 3-0, Marseille could have easily scored three or four more goals and he underlined that lack of respect and concentration and added that we could have gone two or more places in the rankings with those goals. Marseille actually looked way too complacent after the third goal and metz’s goal is a blatant example of the lack of focus. All these things will be corrected and to be fair, last night was party-night at the Vélodrome, first time we won two game in a row this season.

For those of you wondering, Marseille players were wearing black armbands and respected a minute of silence to the memory of the Simon family, family of a Anthony Simon, steward at the Vélodrome who dreamt of playing for Marseille and who ended his life earlier this week. So did his parents on monday night. His suicide note was adressed to Pape Diouf and Nicolas Sarkozy, asking for a minute of silence at the Vélodrome, and Mamadou Niang dedicated his goal to the 26 year-old, pointing at his black armband after each goal.