Sorry for getting this pre-game post in so late but today was hectic to say the least. Well I’m sure everyone by know is aware (spoiler alert!) that Liverpool have been knocked out *sobs.* Liverpool had their judgment day, well today its ours. I remember joking with a friend when the Champions league draw first happened that in the end Marseille and Milan would be separated by one point . Fortune telling aside, it seems that every time I am writing an article I find myself saying this will be our most important game of the season blah blah. Looks like we have another end all be all match ahead of us.

We all know how we got in this position, but I want everyone to think back to match day one. I remember it like yesterday getting home early to enjoy the new campaign in Europe. A team built by DD, a team with guys who had been to the final with Monaco – battle hardened veterans who had seen it all. On the other side a Milan that seemed to be lost without Kaka’ a team destined for Seria B glory. In fact going into that match many thought we would get the upset. I even remember the bookie odds for that match (no I will not disclose how much money I lost on that day). Well on that day the only battle hardened veteran that showed up was ol’ man Inzaghi a hard to swallow 2-1 loss.

Here we are today, Bordeaux and Lyon are waiting for us at the finish line egging us on to go 3 for 3 Ligue 1 style. Its just to bad that for Lyon and Bordeaux their race was downhill where ours is a marathon up Mount Kilimanjaro. Okay all joking aside I will say this I am an OM fan but I’m a realist. With the teams I support I never let fanaticism take hold to the point that I don’t consider the odds and whats at stake. I mean if you want a lesson in humility try being a Mets fan. The time to beat Milan was at Match day 1 that was our “Blitzkrieg” if you will. Now winter has set and Russia err I mean Milan is much stronger now and we going to have to deal with as Deschamps put it the strongest attacking force in Europe.

So what does this mean for us tomorrow? Well we are playing a team that has been on the up and up for sometime and not to mention playing them at home. Okay so I may be coming off as a pessimist but I’ve been watching my fair share of Milan games and its as if they have reinvented themselves. They do however have one thing going against them – some key injuries. Borriello, Flamini, Gattuso, and Jankulovski are all sidelined and will not feature in today’s squad. For our side injuries are: M’bia had that ankle sprain in the classico and Julien Rodriguez is still ruled out.

Defense of course will be key tomorrow that means no stupid challenges and I’m talking about Diawara. I hope that Deschamps utilizes a 4-4-2 tomorrow with Niang playing second striker. Causing all sorts of trouble like last game. Of course have Lucho as a sole attacking midfielder. Remember Lucho was absent last time we played Milan, and his presence will give a huge boost to our midfield both in offense and defense. For tomorrows game expect a overly physical 90 minutes out of both sides. Brandao has been doing a decent impression of a Mac truck so Milan’s defense will have their hands full trying to stop him. I only hope the refs don’t come down to hard for Brandao’s aggressive style of play.

Bottom Line: We lose tomorrow and yet another year will go buy where we fail to deliver on the European stage. Remember DD took Monaco to the finals he knows how to win big in Europe. To our credit our group hasn’t been easy but this is what the Champions League is all about. Look Milan lost to Zurich and we bent that team over 6-1 so there is no reason why we cant pick up 3 points. I remember hearing two analysts joke that Marseille were done in the Champions League after our loss to Milan. No one is giving us any credit but we are still in this. If we come out advancing to the next 16, it won’t be luck or by accident it will be because of the commitment and teamwork that we all see week in and week out from OM. So lets hop for something positive tomorrow. After all history is on our side.

It has been a big week for French football as two of the three Ligue 1 teams have secured their spot for the next round in the Champions League. With our own victory over Zurich hope is kept alive that we to will be able to celebrate in advancing to the final 16. Domestically our league campaign has been somewhat rocky. The fiasco of PSG (and their fans that wouldn’t go home), an unconvincing tie with Toulouse finds us in seventh place. Seven behind Bordeaux and five off from Lyon certainly a loss on Sunday could spell doom for our title aspirations.

Team news:

OM:
Lucho is still out so don’t expect him as well as Julien Rodriguez. Heinze now seems to be competing with Taiwo for the position of starting left back. To further complicate things we now have Diawara saying he prefers to play next to Hilton rather than Heinze. Personally I think this should be said in private between Diawara and Deschamps not in public. I just don’t see how this statement helps it would would create resentment between the two players. Imagine if Heinze said “I prefer when Diawara doesn’t get red cards in the Champions League.” In America we call that a dick move. Regardless of that up front we are looking at the usual suspects starting.

Possible eleven: Mandanda; Bonnart, Diawara, Hilton, Heinze/Taiwo; Mbia; Cheyrou, Abriel; Kone, Brandao, Niang. As always Sarah and I always hope to see a start from Valbuena or Ben Arfa.

Lyon:
Lyon certainly learned the meaning of physical play with their past match with Liverpool. Players likely to miss tomorrows game include Pjanic, Reveillere, Clerc, Anderson, Bodmer, and Boumsong. With so many strong players sidelined this weekend anything short of victory will be an utter disappointment. We have an extra day of rest on our side a healthier squad I mean if we cant beat a handicapped Lyon…

Possible Eleven: Lloris; Gassama, Cris, Toulalan, Cissokho; Makoun, Ederson, Kallstrom; Michel Bastos, Lisandro, Govou

Bottom Line: Last year I underestimated Lyon when they lost Benzema and Juninho yet they have reinvented themselves with key signings. Regardless of their injury problems they are still a strong side and will undoubtedly cause problems for our back four. I don’t want to see us tie like we did with Bordeaux we need this match to reaffirm our aspirations of winning the title. Our guys are rested up and more importantly healthy, no reason why we cant walk away with three points.

Side fact: You guys know I’m a critic of Brandao, well Sarah pointed out to me that in every game he’s scored OM have won. Well the streak continues with Zurich lets see if he can net one tomorrow.

Let’s start with the pre-game festivities.  The game, which played on Halloween,  allowed the fans to show some of their festive spirit.

Before the match, both teams were given time to warm-up on the field– giving the press the opportunity to catch Gignac showing us what happens when he is caught thinking too hard. 

On a more solemn note, a moment of silence was held in order to remember and honor Robert Fabi, a former leader of the OM Association who died in mid-October.  Robert was certainly a life-long supporter of the club- he joined the association in 1960 and had been a board member of the organization since 1983.  Best wishes to Robert’s family, particularly his widow, Jacquie.

Now, on to business.  This game was important– for both Gignac and OM.  Gignac has cultivated a reputation of being an OM-killer.  Last year he managed to score a double and three years ago he scored the winning goal while playing for Lorient.  For OM, winning this game would have allowed them to maintain the momentum they established when they beat Nimes (2-1), Zurich (1-0) and Nancy (3-0) two weeks ago.  Unfortunately, it appears that any momentum that they had was disrupted by the cancellation of the PSG game.  So, lets look at the match in detail.

The Play-by-Play

At the end of the game, the players and staff were probably kicking themselves.  Not just because they lost, but because they lost when they so easily could have won.  From the start of the game, things seemed to be going our way– starting with Niang being pulled down by the Toulouse goalkeeper, Yohann Pele,  in the 8th minute.  Pele was quickly dismissed– and OM had the opportunity to play over 80 minutes with an extra man.    So, did OM take this opportunity?  Of course not.

For the next half an hour, Toulouse maintained their stubborn defensive strategy which OM could barely pierce.  But, of course it gets worse before it gets better, as Toulouse managed to pierce our defense and score.  To be fair to Mandanda, Moussa Sissoko’s free kick was beautiful.  It would have taken an amazing save to keep that ball out.  Of course, amazing keepers are suppose to make amazing saves– but I will cut him some slack and say that this was a reasonable goal to concede.

The good news is that OM seemed to have become energized by being down a goal.  They constantly looked dangerous, but rarely were dangerous.  The offense pushed forward, but couldn’t finish if their lives depended on it.  Lucho, in particular made several close shots which hit the posts or forced a save from the substitute goalkeeper, Olivier Blondel.

Unfortunately, Lucho’s hard work came to an end when he was injured by a tackle from Dany Nounkeu at the 64th minute mark.  Poor Lucho– he really hasn’t had an opportunity to show the fans he is worth all the money the club spent on him this summer, but that hasn’t stopped the fans from getting impatient with them (including myself, I will admit).  He couldn’t even walk off the field– it is always scary when a player has to be stretchered off.  He was replaced immediately by Kabore, and later in the game they showed footage of him being taken to the hospital in an ambulance.  It has been reported today that he has a bad sprain which will keep him out for up to four weeks, though he is expected to undergo more tests Monday to determine the actual extent of the injury.  That means he will definitely miss out on playing Zurich at the Velodrome this week and he may also miss the game at the San Siro on November 25th.  As of now, it looks like he should be back for the Real Madrid game at the Velodrome in December.

Even with Lucho injured, OM continued to push forward after the break, and had a penalty claim dismissed by the referee after Blondel made contact with Valbuena in an amazing save.  What are my thoughts on the penalty claim?   No chance the referee was going to dismiss two of their goalkeepers in the same game– especially if the call was questionable (which it was).

Now, to give credit where it’s due- Toulouse did manage some impressive defending (Heinze, Diawara– take notes!). The OM players appeared to start getting impatient and rash– and at one point it looked like one of Brandao’s high kicks (while bringing down the ball) kicked a defender in the face.  Luckily, the replay showed that it was not his head– only his chest.  And right when I started to get annoyed with him– Brandao scored.  All isn’t forgiven, but it is a start.

After scoring the equalizing goal, OM had several close chances.  Gignac was forced into fulfilling defensive duties as he had to block a Kabore attempt from the line. Brandao almost had a double two minutes from full time which Blondel again managed to save.

For video highlights, visit Thomas’s quick Saturday review here.

So Where Do We Go From Here?

We had some great chances and flashes of great plays, but in the end we couldn’t close the deal (again!).  I think for most of the game, we looked like the better team.  If we had lost all three points, I would have been devastated, but in a lot of ways Toulouse really did win.  To be able to come to the Velodrome, play with 10 men for over 90% of the game, to be ahead for more than half of the game and leave with a point– not too shabby for them.

Sometimes after games like this, it is easy to focus on the negative and even easier to write off our season– after all if we couldn’t beat a team under these conditions, then how can we expect to win titles?  And there are a lot of negatives fans could complain about– the coach staff’s inability to motivate the players, the constant injuries to players, the lack of finishing, the defensive errors and on top of that some of the players don’t even seem capable of putting on the right shirt for the game.

But despite all of those things, I think there is a lot of hope and potential in this team and its management.  If we were Toulouse, we would be happy with a point…but we aren’t Toulouse.  We are the biggest club in France. Sure, we have gained a reputation the last few years for under-performing (especially in key games), but that doesn’t mean we will always play like that.  The silver lining of this whole situation for me is the fact that we have a lot of potential we aren’t tapping into yet.  At least we are a team that has a lot of growth potential– and there is still a lot of time between now and the end of the season to figure out how to use it.  Of course, it would be great if Deschamps, his staff and the team could discover this in the next couple of days– especially since the 10 matches we play this month will be key in both our domestic and European campaigns.  But, even if we don’t find it on Tuesday or next weekend against Lyon, it won’t be the end of our season and it certainly won’t be the end of the world.

Looking Forward

As I mentioned before, OM has a decisive 4th match in their European group on Tuesday against Zurich at the Velodrome.  To prepare for this match, they had a light training this morning and will meet again tomorrow to train before the pre-Zurich press conference.  Regardless of the result on Tuesday, we won’t have any time to gloat or sulk as we will have to immediately jump into preparing for our away game against Lyon.  Despite the injuries to Lucho , Cheyrou (who should be back on Tuesday, I believe), Rodriguez and Rool I think we have a strong chance of not just winning both these games– but crushing these teams.

I’m ending this post with a little fan inspiration–Aux Armes!  Allez l’OM!

Gignac has already admitted the game this weekend against Marseille will be a “special” moment.

For those who don’t know anything about Gignac beyond his impressive scoring ability, he was born in Martigues, a town outside of Marseille, which explains why the game has special significance for the guy.

“It’s always been a special match for me,” Gignac told France Football.

“All my friends and family will be there, and the Velodrome has a strange magic.”

For more Gignac sentimentalism (though in French) check out this video on the OM website.

But, don’t expect Gignac to have stars in his eyes or roll over– after all he has a legacy to protect.  He has never lost to OM.  Last year he even managed to score a double and he scored the game winning goal against OM with Lorient three years ago.

But, don’t get too cocky Gignac– lets not pretend that things are the same as last year or three years ago.  This year, OM is fifth in the league (with a game less played) versus Toulouse’s current 11th place in the table.  Gignac, who has been prolific for the France national team, has only managed to score twice in 10 games this season for Toulouse.  He has also been nursing a groin injury this season, which has slowed his scoring.  His injury appears to be healing, and when he described his progress as “on track. Not so long ago I even had trouble walking. Now I have no pain – not when I walk or when I run or when I strike the ball.”

Team Form

Table courtesy of ESPN.com

Toulouse will be looking to extend their two-game winning streak after victories at home to Paris St Germain and at Lens.  Their form has been good recently in the league as they have only lost once in five games.  Ironically, they managed to beat Lyon and PSG, but lost to Lorient.  Though, Lorient have been great thus far this season and PSG, well…do I really need to say?

Marseille return to Ligue 1 action after their previous game with PSG was cancelled because of swine flu.  Before that cancellation, their domestic performance was mixed.  They had a great victory against Nancy and Montpellier, but had struggled against Monaco, Valenciennes and Le Mans.

Table courtesy of ESPN.com

Team News

OM:  Deschamps will have to make due tomorrow without one of his key players, Benoit Cheyrou.  Even though Cheyrou’s injury is not serious, he will probably not want to risk him ahead of the game against Zurich on Tuesday or risk making the injury worse ahead of their congested November schedule.  Julien Rodriguez is still nursing an injury that will most likely take him out of Deschamp’s plans for the next three months because of a knee problem and Cyril Rool is still absent because of ankle damage.  The latter two players– though talented– are less of a worry because we have demonstrated that we can win without them.  Cheyrou, though, is a potentially devastating loss.

Toulouse:  Coach Casanova looks to have a full squad to choose from this weekend– no significant injuries have been mentioned in the press other than Gignac’s which was discussed above.

Expected Lineups

OM: Mandanda,Taiwo, Bonnart, Heinze, Diawara, Mbia, Valbuena, Lucho, Niang, Brandao, Kone

Toulouse: Pele, Nounkeu, Congre, M’Benque, Ebondo, Machado, Sissoko, Capoue, Tabanou, Braathen, Gignac

Prediction:

OM win 2-1.  Having not played last weekend, we have the luxury of being rested (hopefully the players have managed to avoid getting caught up in the drama and are not fatigued).  I don’t think that the weekend off is a decisive advantage, but I think it could play a role.  Sissoko has been extremely impressive this season and I predict the result of this game will hinge on how OM cope with him.  But, even without Cheyrou, I think OM can pull off this win.  Our defense (though admittedly shake at times) is better equipped to cope with Toulouse compared to last year, and having Kone back should really relieve the pressure on Niang to score all the time.

OM-PSG on the Assembly Benches

“Yah!  Always the same ones who are on the bench!”

“On my mother, I am vexed!”

Coming from America, I find it surprising how involved politicians are in sports in France.  In the US, Presidents and politicians may be seen at sporting events and even may comment on their favorite teams, but in general sporting events are not seen as political events.  I’ve learned that this isn’t necessarily the case in France.  This is especially true with the French National team, which has been given the nickname “Black, Blanc, Beur,” and has become a symbol of the new, multicultural France.  Some politicians (Le Pen) even made public speeches on how the the team wasn’t “French enough” after their wins in the 1998 World Cup and the 2000 European Championship.

This debate typically flares up whenever France plays a former colony team– such as last year’s match against Tunisia.  At the beginning of the match the Marsellaise (French National Anthem) was booed loudly by sections of the crowd, most of who were French citizens of Magreb descent.  The post-match commentary largely centered not on the win of the French team, but the political implications of the match.  Such booing has come to be used by ethnic-Arab French football fans to protest the racial, social and economic discrimination suffered by those not fortunate enough to be among the stars of Les Bleus. Booing France’s anthem has become a common tactic for drawing attention away from the largely black and Arab faces that defend France’s honor on the soccer field, and back to the communities from which they come in the decrepit housing projects surrounding the Stade de France and other suburbs of Paris.

But the French government pushed back– and hard.  The Minister of Sports (the fact that there is a political office for sports is just incredible to me!) and Sarkozy (French President) were infuriated– and held several crisis meetings about the issue.  Publicly, they were infuriated at the French Football Federation for not shutting down the match immediately.  But Sarkozy was just getting started.  Following the crisis meetings between the President and concerned cabinet members, Health and Sports Minister Roselyne Bachelot-Narquin grimly declared the decision had been taken that “any match during which our national anthem is whistled will be stopped immediately”.

So what does this have to do with OM and this cartoon at Hatem’s expense?

Given how politicized the National team is– I shouldn’t have been surprised when the cancellation of the clash between France’s largest clubs (in terms of fan base) was brought up in the National Assembly this week.  But, given my American tendencies, of course I was.

The questions about the postponement of the OM-PSG match and the fan riots/mayhem were asked by Dominique Tian (representative from Bouches du Rhone, outside of Marseille) to Rama Yade (the Secretary of State for Sport).

Here are the questions:

“- Has the Football League fulfilled its role? The precautionary principle in health as public safety, should it not require the cancellation the match on Friday or no later than Saturday? Is the league’s rule which requires the confirmation of the 3rd player’s diagnosis effective? Is it not, Minister, the responsibility of government to enact a rule common to all sports federations in order to reach an acceptable time frame for cancellation of game? “

The latter responded by stating in part: “Because of the high risk of violence in an event such the OM-PSG game,  the principle of caution should apply. So I asked the sports authorities to be able to identify, anticipate and prevent such situations in the future.  Fans should expect further delays. “

This comic is able to pick at two of the French presses’ favorite targets– the politicians and Hatem Ben Arfa– by mocking the effectiveness and moodiness of both the Assembly members and Hatem….

I tend to be pretty protective of Hatem, but I love these particular artists’ cartoons.  If you have a chance (and you speak a little French), check out their blog here.  They have some other funny ones where Heinze is mocking the threat of Gignac….

Warning:  Any racist comments on this post will be deleted and result in the comments section being locked.  You’ve been warned!

Cheyrou, our most consistent player and general star this season, may not be available for Deschamps to choose this weekend.  He had an ultrasound on his leg on Tuesday after experiecning groin problems.  The ultrasound revealed a slight lesion on his right adductor muscle.

The club is reporting that he should be able to start training with the group on Friday, but it is unclear if he will be able to play this weekend (Toulouse) or next Tuesday (Zurich).

The LFP Office announced today that the Classico will be played on Friday, November 20th. The original Ligue 1 game that weekend against Sochaux has been pushed back until Wednesday, 12/2. If necessary, OM can request that the Sochaux match be rescheduled for a later date (since they will be preparing to play Real).

Updated Schedule

Here is the new schedule for OM (taken from the official OM website):

Saturday, October 31: OM – Toulouse (L1 – Matchday 12)
Tuesday, November 3: OM – Zurich (Champions League – M4)
Sunday, November 8: Lyon – OM (L1 – Matchday 13)
International: Ireland – France (November 14) and France – Ireland (November 18)
Friday, November 20th: OM – PSG (L1 – Matchday 10)
Wednesday, November 25: AC Milan – OM (Champions League – J5)
Saturday, November 28: Lens – OM (L1 – Matchday 15)
Wednesday, December 2: OM – Sochaux (L1 – Matchday 14)
Saturday, December 5: Nice – OM (L1 – Matchday 16)
Tuesday, December 8: OM – Real Madrid (Champions League – J6)
Saturday, December 12: OM – Boulogne (L1 – Matchday 17)
Wednesday, December 16: Lorient – OM (L1 – Matchday 11)
Saturday, December 19: St Etienne – OM (L1 – Matchday 18)
Wednesday, December 23: OM – Auxerre (L1 – Matchday 19)

Keeping check back for additional updates and requests from OM to reschedule.

The Backstory and Reactions

To catch up on the build-up to this agreement please refer to our earlier posts here and here. But, the good news is that both teams have been able to agree upon a date that allows a Classico match-up this year! The Ligue has agreed to alter the schedule for the future Matchday 14 games (OM vs. Sochaux and PSG vs. Boulogn) and allow those games to be played on Wednesday, December 2 instead of the regular scheduled weekend of November 21/22. However, Marseille may request the Matchday 14 game to be rescheduled again if their match against Real Madrid shapes up to be a decisive match. On that occassion, OM can petition the league to delay the Sochaux match further in order to support the Ligue’s and OM’s success at the European level.

Given the tension and accusations made by OM in the build-up to this meeting, it has ended pretty amicably. The following statements were made after the meeting by the major players involved:

“This is the first possible date,” a statement from the Ligue de Football Professionel read. “It solves the problem of the deferral of this big Ligue 1 fixture.”

On exiting the meeting, Jean-Claude Dassier, president of les Phoceens simply told the press, “The date suits us.”

Meanwhile, Robin Leproux, president of PSG, didn’t pass comment.

While PSG did not comment about the meeting, I’m willing to cut them slack since their press people have undoubtedly been overwhelmed by the barrage of conspiracy theories and accusations over the past week.

Regardless, I’m just happy that a new date is set so that we can put this drama behind us and focus on beating Toulouse this weekend!

As we reported earlier, the fans of both PSG and OM went a little crazy this weekend after the late cancellation of the game by the Ligue authorities.

For those who enjoy watching needless violence, some of it was caught on camera…

The Classico fixture which was suppose to take place yesterday was postponed due to a Swine Flu Infection that has infected at least 5 members of the PSG team and staff, including Jeremy Clement (left), Ludovic Giuly (centre) and defender Mamadou Sakho (right).  For more information see our earlier coverage here and here.  The match, which was originally given the green light, was called off at the last moment by the French authorities.  Cue, Mayhem.  

Now, the drama continues as the two teams can’t agree on when to play the rescheduled game.  OM want to play the game as soon as possible– Wednesday.  Anigo, OM’s Sporting Director, spoke with OM TV and explained that unless the game is played this week, they will argue that the game shouldn’t be played until February.  The November schedule is too tight already with the European fixtures, the Velodrome is unavailable on the open weekends in December since it is being used for the France-New Zealand game (rugby) and OM’s African players will be away on International duty in January.

To accommodate this request, the Ligue will have to make an exception to their rule which requires that games be made up before the winter break.  Deschamp has been vocal about the Ligue needing to provide greater support for teams competing in Europe– asking Marseille to play the game before the Winter break would force them to play 10 games in 31 days.  In an interview with the press, he has also implied that the cancellation of the game was unfair, hinting at an institutional bias in the French’s Federation for the Parisian club and downplaying the threat of the flu.

PSG have remained firm, insisting that they will not play on Wednesday.  PSG will remain in quarantine for 72 hours and won’t even begin training until Wednesday.  They have argued that asking their players to play so quickly without training and recovering from illness is a serious injury risk.

The date of the match won’t be announced until Thursday– so it looks like OM has lost that fight (not surprising considering the quarantine doesn’t expire until Wednesday).

And how do you think the League will rule?  OM seem to be implying that the league should rule in their favor because it is “not their fault”– but is this really PSG’s fault?  Do you think rushing the make-up fixture fair?  Is Deschamps out of line in downplaying the severity of the illness?

Of course all of you guys probably know that the classico was canceled. I was out of town (stuck in traffic no less) and heard the news so I was relieved / disappointed with that I didnt miss the game. We can now confirm that members of PSG specifically- Ludovic Giuly, Mamadou Sakho, Jeremy Clement, Loris Arnaud and an unnamed staff member have all tested positive for H1N1. I had said previously that the fact that the league was discussing the cancellation outright indicated the severity of PSG’s health. You guys don’t need me to tell you that this virus isn’t just your common cold and we all wish PSG a speedy recovery. Certainly a blow to that side, we will just have to wait and see when the match is re-scheduled. Until then rest up guys!