Even if we had to win like that…

By: Sarah | October 22nd, 2009

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At least it was still a win! After losing to both Madrid and Milan, I expected Marseille to come out and play like they had something to prove. At the very least, I expected them to play like they had some passion and love for the game. Instead this is what we got….

In this game, there were only about 5 moments of quality football (though thankfully most of them were all quality plays by OM)

2′: Lucho, after being fouled, passes the ball to Cheyrou who produces a powerful attempt at the goal. Though Cheyrou’s attempt was saved, Brandao was able to use his head (which is rather large– he should get more headers!) to knock the ball back into the net. Unfortunately, he was apparently offside so the goal didn’t count.
‘21: Milan Gajic’s shot which barely went wide of the net (though I think Mandanda would have gotten there in time).
42′: Valbuena finally shows some of the talent that earned him a spot in the starting 11 when he is left unmarked on a free kick by Cheyrou and is able to run the ball down the left side. Though he manages to drift the ball into the box, Hilton is unable to keep the header down and it goes way too high to be a threat. Though Hilton did exchange some words with the Zurich defender who pulled his shirt in the box. I love it when tempers flare!
‘43: Biggest Miss of the Night/Best Save of the Night: Niang is able to get the ball to Brandao right in front of the goal. Brandao just has to tip the ball in. But, he doesn’t have enough time to adjust his angle and the ball goes straight at the goal keeper. Despite being right at the keeper, it did require really fast reflexes on his part to stop this pointe-blank save.
‘69: Heinze, unmarked, is able to get a cross from Lucho and is able to angle the ball past the Zurich keeper. It was admittedly a rare moment of quality from Heinze this season. How ironic that as a defender he has been a complete disappointment, but he sure has been able to score in the Champion’s League (in both the Milan game and here in Zurich). He is our top scorer (and only scorer) in the group stage at this point…(Marseille offense: you should be completely embarrassed and ashamed of yourselves).

At least we happened to be playing a team who was able to put on a worst display than us! See Match Highlights below.

So where do we go from here?

Well, despite this disappointing display, this was a great victory for us. At the end of the day, we have 3 points which puts us level with Zurich and only three points behind both Milan and Madrid. We also managed to win for the first time away in Europe since beating Liverpool at Anfield. The most important thing is that we have given ourselves an opportunity and our future is still in our control; however, we are not going to go much further if we continue playing like this (without spark, passion or synergy). I’m not saying that every game we play has to be played beautifully– don’t get me wrong, I like entertaining football but I’m not a purist. I would much win ugly than lose beautifully. But, I do expect more than what the players gave yesterday. And I expect A LOT more from Deschamps.

I’m thrilled that the Classico is this weekend– hopefully this will help ignite some fire under the players– and I’m grateful that we are going into this game with 2 successive wins. I can’t say the same for Paris– when was the last time they won again?

Check back later this week for Rich’s preview.