Besiktas vs. Marseille Preview…

By: Magnusson | November 27th, 2007

The situation is simple, Marseille needs to win this game. This group is still wide open and every team can still go through. If Marseille loses tomorrow, the situation will be almost impossible for us to overcome. With what is widely believed to be the lesser team in this group, Marseille will have to continue its series of positive results amorced in Portugal a month or so ago. Already in Istanbul, Eric Gerets‘ boys have the wonderful possibility of qualifying for the second round of the Champions League. And that for the first time in a long long time. If we lose, we could be finishing fourth and have our European endeavors end earlier than we would heve hoped.

First things first, how does Marseille get through?

Right now the standings are as follows:

FC Porto – 8 Pts
Marseille – 7 Pts
Liverpool – 4 Pts
Besiktas – 3 Pts

Well Marseille will be qualified on wednesday night if:
- Marseille win in Istanbul, Porto and Liverpool draw (Marseille 10, Porto 9, Liverpool 5, Besiktas 3)
- Marseille win in Istanbul, Porto win in Liverpool (Porto 11, Marseille 10, Liverpool 4, Besiktas 3)
- Marseille draw in Istanbul, Porto win in Liverpool (Porto 11, Marseille 8, Liverpool 4, Besiktas 4)

Other case scenarios;
- If Liverpool beats Porto, Marseille will have to wait for the final game at the Vélodrome to advance, no matter what we do in Istanbul (Liverpool would have 7 Pts). That would mean a sudden death match against the 2005 champions at home. That game would be exhilirating.
- If Marseille loses against Besiktas (Marseille 7 Pts and Besiktas 6 Pts), we would still have our destiny on our hands in that final and fatidic match.

Here are the criterias that could come in handy when you wonder how it will go down for the last game if we happen to have the same number of points as Liverpool (We’re not there yet but hey! I’m stressed the fuck out):
1- Greater number of points obtained in direct meetings
2- Best goal difference in the direct meetings
3- Greater number of goals scored in the direct meetings
4- Best goal difference in all group matches (Liverpool just drowned the competition by scoring 8 against those besiktas fuckers)
5- Greater number of goals scored (Once again, Besiktas dropped the ball big time)
6- Coefficient obtained by the team and his federation in the 5 previous seasons (This is where Pape Diouf can get pissed at Jean-Michel Aulas and his boys for not winning the damn Champions League.)

What all this calculating has proved is that the result of our game is IRRELEVANT. kinda. I mean, granted we have to take points at Inonu but all eyes and ears will definitly be pointed towards Anfield. Those Portuguese better do their job and at least get a draw there. They’re a better team than we are and Liverpool has been all kindsa confused lately. Take advantage and make us advance, please. Just for the fact that France handed you your last European trophy on a silver platter. You owe us (Givet-Rodriguez) big time.

The Group:

For the first time in a long time, Eric Gerets will be able to choose from his whole squad given that Lorik Cana and Julien Rodriguez are going to join the group that defeated Metz this weekend. That’s great news even though third keeper Sébastien hamel is still injured, his absence won’t be felt too hardly I suppose. With that freedom of choice, Gerets took the following 21 players to go to Istanbul with.

Keepers: Mandanda, Maté
Defenders: Givet, Faty, Bonnart, Taiwo, Zubar, Rodriguez
Midfielders: M’Bami, Cheyrou, Oruma, Valbuena, Zenden, Ziani, Nasri, Gragnic, Cana
Strikers: Cissé, Niang, Ayew, Arrache

With a team that has been getting its groove back lately, marseille should be able to win at the Inonu stadium tonight. We’ve been seeing mostly positive things on our end this year and the Champions League has been a competition where we were able to shine even as our domestic results were in the crapper. It is not time for those things to change. We have a wonderful opportunity here and we shouldn’t blow it.

Now let’s not overlook Besiktas just because we beat them at home. This is a team that also beat Liverpool. Granted it was in Turkey and Liverpool beat them 8-0 the following matchday, but Liverpool went there to win after having lost at Anfield to us. There were no element of surprise and the turks won fair and square. They themselves have been making calculations and it is still possible for them to advance to the UEFA Cup or even in the Champions League. That starts with a home victory tonight. Let’s bet that they will be highly motivated in frony of their crowd. They even have been improving domestically where they easily won their away game at Genclerbirligi Oftasspor on saturday.

This match will also be the occasion for Eric Gerets to return to Turkey since he was let go from his position at Galatasaray a few months back. He knows Istanbul where pretty well since he worked there for two seasons. “It’s very special. It is special and beautiful at once. That’s why I told my players to take advantage of such an opportunity to have fun. These are matches that we do not forget.” The word “fun” may seem surprising but it was deliberately chosen by the Belgian coach. “If you play well and you put in trouble the opposing team, it can get very amusing. This can be a night of glory for OM. In two years at Galatasaray, I never lost to Besiktas. If we manage to win or even draw, it will be a good result.”

Talking about a team he didn’t not get to coach against in the first opposition (Albert Emon was still here then), Gerets said “They have very strong players in the midfield and as technically skilled as as they are, they can quickly move the ball. It is here that we must be careful not to draw out of our positions. In addition, Besiktas had a very good coach last year and they certainly have one of the best Turkish coaches at the moment.” .
Since their first opposition, the humiliations against Liverpool happened but Gerets doesn’t believ it to be relevant, stating that “Even if they had won in Liverpool, it would have changed nothing compared to Wednesday because they are still required to have a result in front of a very demanding audience. Besiktas must win and they will do anything to get there.”.
Commenting on the other game of the group that ~~everybody~~ most people believe to be more important, he finished by saying that “We will not take into account the match in Porto. What we know is that if we win, it will be impossible not to qualify ” . Well said, coach.

A little anecdote I just heard on the radio and that will surely amuse you. On Monday evening, 20 members of the Marseille supporters group “Marseille Trop Puissant” (MTP) had an appointment to go to Istanbul … by bus. You read it right! On the agenda for this extraordinary journey, thousands of miles, crossing from Italy and Greece, 12 hours of boat, and finally arrival in Turkey scheduled for today. Nearly 48 hours to go and support OM in its quest for qualification! Much respect to them. All in all we’ll have 500 supporters from all over France going there.

I’ll be back with the tactics and the lineup chosen by the coach as soon as i’m aware of it.