The French Connection : Marseille

Goals, weight loss & quiz shows: The Andre-Pierre Gignac story

James Horncastle — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 08:30:00 GMT

The phone rang for the Nth time. Once again caller ID revealed it to be Marseille’s press officer. André-Pierre Gignac had purposely avoided picking up for weeks. But this time he couldn’t leave it hanging. He knew what was being recommended.

The club had made it clear through other channels. It was time to face up to the elephant in the room or more specifically the one stood right in front of the goal at the Vélodrome blowing raspberries in his direction.

Five months had now past since Gignac completed an eagerly anticipated transfer from Toulouse. The 25-year-old who had grown up in Martigues, a mini Provence version of Venice just half an hour outside Marseille, was finally coming home to play for the club he had supported as a boy. It was a dream for Gignac, one that he had been vocal about realising ever since his time with Lorient.

“It’s something fantastic, a great feeling of pride, an enormous emotion,” Gignac gushed to reporters at his official unveiling. “A lot of memories come to mind. I remember the matches that I went to see at the Vélodrome with my dad like against Lens in November 1998 when Christophe Dugarry scored. We won 1-0. I am a Marseille supporter. It’s going to be crazy.”

Just how crazy, though, was for the moment completely beyond Gignac. The local lad couldn’t possibly have imagined at the time that the next press conference he would be asked to give would be one apologising for the woeful start he has made to his career at Marseille. But that’s exactly what happened last week, as a sheepish-looking Gignac walked gingerly into the club’s media room wearing the expression of a penitent Christian on his way to confession.

As an opening gambit, he didn’t quite say: “Forgive me father for I have still not scored at the Vélodrome, it’s been three months since my last goal in Ligue 1.” The dominant theme, however, was one of mea culpa. Gignac had no option but to hold up his hands.

Much like tumbleweed blowing through a barren landscape, his solitary strike against Saint-Étienne was all Marseille had to show for the €16.5m they had paid for him in the summer. The time when he scored 30 seconds into his debut for Lorient and said, “I thought I was Ronaldo”, seemed very long ago indeed.

Statistics in L’Équipe showed that Gignac had just a two per cent conversion rate in front of goal. Even Youssouf Hadji –brother of former Coventry City cult hero Mustapha - had done better at mid-table Nancy while also somehow finding the time to run a hair salon. This obviously was neither a French striker of international class nor one who had topped the scoring charts in 2009, but rather a Mexican child swinging blindfolded at a piñata on his birthday. For try as he may, Gignac was hitting nothing but air.

And yet that’s not telling the whole story. After all, if it hadn’t been for a silly foul called on Brandao in the 93rd minute against Monaco in September, the header Gignac had nodded beyond Stéphane Ruffier would have counted as his first goal at the Vélodrome. Talk of a jinx would have ended there and then.

Instead the wait went on. He struck the post against Spartak Moscow, then the bar against Sochaux. A hat-trick away to Slovakian side Zilina in the Champions League was taken for granted, come as it did in a 7-0 win.

It was becoming a problem. The fans had started to whistle one of their own. Gignac was now a figure of fun, definitely more Ibrahim Bakayoko than Jean-Pierre Papin. Old history was dug up, such as how he famously got his break in professional football through his pushy grandmother who spent much of a family wedding badgering Jacques Abardonado, a cousin of the Gignacs and a defender with Valenciennes, for some precious advice. The young André-Pierre was simply told to drink more milk. Only he liked eating too. Evidently it wasn’t just the goals that made the player think he was Ronaldo.

In fact, the days when Gignac’s Toulouse teammates used to buy him slimming pills weren’t a thing of the past either. His paunch has come to the fore again since his move to Marseille. France’s version of Spitting Image, known as the Guignols, has recently run a feature that has caricatures of Didier Deschamps and Bernard Laporte guessing at his weight. The latter suggested he tips the scales to the tune of 29 stone, something Gignac himself finds funny.

“It made me laugh,” he said last week. “I love it. It’s off the wall humour, nothing malicious. But if I could lose one or two kilos it would be good. I am working towards it. I was a little less professional than I might have been before.”

Joking aside, things were beginning to get uncomfortable for Gignac, not least because Marseille were without a win in five matches in Ligue 1 and had been knocked out of the French Cup by second division leaders Evian.

Though panic had yet to set in largely on account of his side being fifth and just three points off the top, Deschamps couldn’t hide his concern with a lack of a cutting edge in attack for much longer.

“The statistics are bad even if they have not had dramatic consequences on our place in the table,” he explained. “To be champions you need to score 50 to 55 goals with the two strikers sharing 25 between them.” Marseille had a shortfall. Gignac and Loïc Remy, the strike duo who cost €30m in the summer, had contributed just six in Ligue 1, that’s €5m a goal to be exact.

To use DD’s own Cantona-esque phrase against him, it looked as though Marseille had in fact caught a couple of sardines when they had instead gone fishing for whales. The worst kept secret in the Vieux Port last summer was Deschamps’ desire to lure a big name striker with a proven track record in Europe to take Marseille to the next level, above all in the Champions League.

The names of Emmanuel Adebayor, Diego Forlan and Alberto Gilardino were all mentioned. Talks were in an advanced stage for Luis Fabiano too, but they collapsed. “We did everything to have him,” revealed Marseille president Jean-Claude Dassier. “But the price Sevilla demanded wasn’t reasonable. Everyone agreed on it even Didier who had the elegance to tell me so. I asked him: ‘Come to the office and give me your choice’. He arrived, sat down and said: ‘Gignac’. And that’s how it all started.”

Before Marseille did so, however, they faxed Chelsea to half-heartedly inquire about the prospect of bringing Didier Drogba back to the Vélodrome. Gignac, you see, was never first choice, if anything he was a consolation prize, and the poor lad knew it. “Between what I wanted or what I hoped for and the reality, I’ve had to adapt,” Deschamps said. “I will try to get the best out of it with my staff. It’s like that. At Marseille, like anywhere else, a coach is forced to adapt.”

Gignac tried to remain unfazed. “The sceptics should know that I have the mentality of a warrior and I am ready to die on the pitch,” he roared. And die Gignac did, but not in the way he intended. The shock departure of Marseille’s captain and last season’s top scorer Mamadou Niang after the season had already started threw Deschamps’ plans out of kilter. The weight of expectation on Gignac grew. He wilted under the floodlights.

Though Gignac’s shirt was still the third most popular in the club shop behind those of Mathieu Valbuena and Lucho Gonzalez, until he actually started scoring he could never feel loved. The adulation Drogba received on his emotional return to the Vélodrome with Chelsea in December offered a telling reminder of the bond he had yet to form with the fans.

So last week’s press conference was an operation in catharsis. Gignac got to tell his side of the story, revealing that it has taken time to adapt to life back in Provence. “Now that I am all in place, I want to be able to think about my job more,” he said. “I have everything that it takes to do well. I no longer have any excuses. I need to be 100 per cent to be good.

“Last season, I played injured because there was something extraordinary to play for [namely the World Cup] and you all know how that went. I had to put back my holidays and I wasn’t able to do pre-season training. Then I was injured. I had a great physical deficit that I tried to make up for each day. Playing every three days is a change for me. But there are no more excuses.”

No sooner had the press conference finished than Gignac looked like a relieved man. He accepted all the criticism and promised an imminent change in attitude. A great burden appeared to have been lifted off his shoulders. And the following Sunday, when Ligue 1 resumed after the winter break, Gignac started afresh.

Instead of using him at centre-forward against Bordeaux, Deschamps tried a little experiment. Gignac was surprisingly positioned out on the left with Brandao in the middle of Marseille’s frequently tweaked 4-3-3 formation.

Asked about the decision, Deschamps said: “I was champion of Europe with Rudi Völler on the left and Alan Boksic at centre-forward. I have seen Eto’o and Rooney play wide. Lisandro does it at Lyon and Mamad Niang did it here last season scoring goals.”

Gignac thrived in the greater freedom of his new role. He scored after 23 minutes, appearing at the far post to tap in a cross. The Vélodrome cherry had finally been popped and much like with Pringles, Gignac now couldn’t stop. Three days later, stationed out on the left again, he cut inside and scored an exquisite curling winner from outside of the box away to Auxerre, putting Marseille through to the League Cup Final.

If the streak continues, a re-call to the France squad in time for February’s friendly with Brazil might well be on the cards. Should that happen, the family will no doubt be celebrating again, just like they did when André-Pierre’s mother Corinne won €100,000 on the French version of Deal or No Deal. But maybe don’t bank on it just yet. He’s still in debt to the Marseille fans.

PSG turn 40, Giuly strips and the hate turns to love

James Horncastle — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 11:37:00 GMT

Before all greetings cards became a 1950s setting of domestic bliss juxtaposed with a lewd speech bubble, the greetings written inside were sweet and innocent, wishing you all the best with unbridled optimism. One nauseatingly hopeful message became a cliche in its own right: ‘Life begins at 40’.

So when Paris Saint-Germain hit the Big Four-Oh this year, even France Football felt compelled to ask: "Can it be the start of a different story?" Of course, such an open and ambiguous question is a catch-all loaded with meaning, as it not only hints at a new dawn and today being the first day of the rest of your life, but also that a page needs turning and that it’s time the past was put to one side.

Mid-life crisis doesn’t even begin to describe the situation at PSG in the last few years. "It’s a club where things have happened in 40 years that don’t happen to others in 400," wrote L’Equipe. Indeed, celebrations marking the anniversary of PSG’s inception on August 27, 1970 had at their centre the ambition of becoming a national power again – an ambition, pundits mockingly add, that the club appears to have every summer.

It’s certainly no exaggeration to suggest that last season was a rollercoaster both on and off the pitch. PSG were second after four games, only to finish in 13th place. Sebastien Bazin, the club’s majority shareholder, was so angry that he stormed into the dressing room after a 2-2 draw against Valenciennes in May and raged: "I don’t think you understand the financial consequences of our final position in the championship."

HITTING ROCK BOTTOM

PSG didn’t win any of their last six games of the campaign, their slide down the table costing an estimated €3m in prize money. So it’s really little wonder that Bazin was still doing the rounds as recently as this week, calling for players’ wages to be reduced and more emphasis to be put on performance related bonuses.

To borrow a headline from L’Equipe, PSG did at least manage to save their season with another victory in the French Cup, their third triumph this decade also booking a place in Europe. But even that achievement had to be taken with a pinch of salt as they met just two Ligue 1 teams in six rounds, beating such domestic minnows as Aubervilliers, Evian, Vesoul and Quevilly en route to the final.

Speaking in July, PSG’s coach Antoine Kombouare – a living relic of the club’s 1990s glory days when his ‘golden helmet’ helped complete one of the greatest comebacks in the history of European club football – was under no illusion as to the scale of the task ahead of him. "I’ve had pressure since the very start," he said. "But I know that having the same season this year is not allowed."

It was an aberration off the pitch, too. Nike and PSG were on trial for allegedly hiding payments between 1998 and 2005 to attract top players like Nicolas Anelka and Gabriel Heinze to the Parc des Princes. But the nadir came in February when a second PSG supporter in three and a half years was killed, this time before the Clasico against Marseille in violent fratricidal clashes between the Boulogne Kop with its racist element and the Auteuil stand with its ethnic minorities.

"Once again it’s the club’s image which suffers," the goalkeeper Gregory Coupet said. "At a sporting level, we feel strongly responsible because if there had been good results there maybe wouldn’t have been all these problems and this rise in violence. It’s also a reflection on society. People fear police less and less and that creates riots."

So PSG’s 40th year was also Year Zero – time to go and take a good hard look in the mirror and reassess everything. Club president Robin Leproux implemented a courageous plan called ‘Everyone PSG’ whereby 13,000 season tickets in the Boulogne and Auteuil ends were prevented from being renewed to root out the hooligans and pacify the Parc, while families were welcomed to sit in the lower tier behind the goal with an attractive ticketing operation.

"If we don’t take these measures," he said. "The club’s future is in danger." But as Coupet had said, the team itself had a role to play – winning games would help alleviate the tension. Marseille midfielder Edouard Cisse, whose decade at PSG was punctuated with loan spells at Rennes, West Ham and Monaco, indicated as much only last month, joking that: "When things go bad in Paris, they go really bad. But when things go well, they go really well."

BRINGING IT ALL BACK HOME

Mindful that PSG’s very credibility was at stake after just two top-five finishes in 10 years - the most recent coming in 2004 - and that sponsors or potential investors were also beginning to shy away from the club, its much-maligned owners Colony Capital were wary of investing any more money in the playing staff. The purse strings were prised open just enough to sign three players at a cost of £7.9m.

The most important was Nene - the lithe playmaker brought in from Monaco - whose ability to play on the left-hand side resolved a problem PSG have been wrestling with since they fell out with Jerome Rothen. The Brazilian’s arrival brought balance to the side, as it allowed Kombouare to move Stephane Sessegnon back to his preferred position on the right.

Sessegnon, Sakho & Nene find the formula

It sounds simple, but PSG were no longer putting square pegs in round holes, as they now had four specialists in four offensive positions – a lefty, a righty and a big-man/little-man partnership up front in Guillaume Hoarau and Mevlut Erdinc.

But Nene was immediately cast as the difference-maker, the heir to PSG’s other great Brazilians like Valdo, Leonardo and of course Rai, the protagonist of their last league title in 1994 and the club’s back-to-back appearances in the Cup Winners’ Cup final. Nene scored 14 goals last season, and laid on four assists.

Yet his ability from set-pieces perhaps showed that PSG were following the path to success trodden by Bordeaux and Marseille who based their recent title triumphs on being dangerous from corners and free-kicks via Yoann Gourcuff and Lucho Gonzalez.

"Nene gets us out of bad situations," said fellow summer signing Mathieu Bodmer. "He always scores a lot of goals, but he also draws many fouls and gets a number of free-kicks. Two defenders concentrate on him, which leaves more space for the others."

The initial indications were good too, as PSG beat Marseille on penalties to win the French equivalent of the Charity Shield in Tunisia and then opened their league campaign with a 3-1 win against Saint-Etienne in front of just 22,689 spectators, the lowest crowd for that fixture at the Parc des Princes for 10 years, a clear by-product of the new security measures. The atmosphere may have suffered, but the intentions were good and the results improving.

After starting the season with a three-match unbeaten run, true to form PSG lost three on the bounce. History was repeating itself. "We have to find out how PSG will cope with the crisis periods," Auxerre coach Jean Fernandez opined. Kombouare then did something inspired. Rather than throw the baby out with the bath water, he merely reshuffled his pack, striking upon a winning formula.

OUT OF ADVERSITY

The 4-4-2 was retained, but Siaka Tiene, the last of PSG’s summer signings, was thrown in at the deep end – or more precisely at left-back, where he replaced Sylvain Armand, whom Kombouare asked to move into the middle to partner the club’s 20-year-old academy product Mamadou Sakho.

PSG captain Claude Makelele had postponed his plans to retire in the summer to play one final season and wasn’t about to let it go south so soon. The former Chelsea man revealed how he told Sakho: "I've played with defenders who made strikers scared. You must become like them!"

A goalkeeping change was also in the offing with Apoula Edel coming in for Coupet. The 24-year-old occasional Armenia international from Cameroon looked shaky when called upon last season, especially after his former coach made the stunning allegation in December that he is actually 29 and someone else altogether, namely Ambroise Beyamena. But he has proven to be one of Ligue 1’s best shot stoppers this year.

Kombouare’s tinkering also saw two players who had been told they could leave in the summer surprisingly welcomed back into the fold. For a time it looked like Ludovic Giuly’s only highlights of the season would be an impromptu strip in a Parisian bar, but he has since ousted Sessegnon on the right and faintly resembles the player who won a Champions League winners’ medal with Barcelona.

Meanwhile Clement Chantome, the archetypal modern midfielder who ironically looked like yesterday’s news, took advantage of Bodmer’s injury problems to revive his career and earn a call-up to the France squad.

What happened next was a distinctly un-PSG revival, or at least one that hasn’t been seen since Vahid Halihodzic made very similar changes in the 2003-04 campaign: club aficionados should read Gabi Heinze for Tiene, Frederic Dehu for Armand and Jerome for Edel. That team went on to finish second, something Kombouare no doubt hopes to replicate.

BACK IN THE BIG TIME

Immediately after the changes, his side kept seven straight clean-sheets and got back on the podium. When PSG beat Marseille 2-1 in Ligue 1 for the first time in six years at the Parc des Princes on November 7, L’Equipe’s headline screamed "Paris are candidates". They had dominated the champions, Nene’s assist for Hoarau being put forward as Exhibit A in the case for the club to be considered a serious title contender. PSG had made the jump in quality. After all, they had only recently knocked Lyon out of the League Cup.

So naturally the question everyone is asking is: are PSG for real? The party line is that a top-five finish remains the club’s objective. But Kombouare’s ability to dig deep into his squad and find the answers to turn things around suggests that PSG have greater depth than in recent years, although it’s no secret that the manager would still like to sign an orthodox centre-back like his former Valenciennes protege Milan Bisevac.

As of yet, PSG have shown they can cope relatively well on three fronts – despite losing three times after midweek commitments in the Europa League, in which they have beaten Sevilla and held Borussia Dortmund at home and away already this season.

The chief concern has lain up front. Before the Clasico, Hoarau and Erdinc had scored just twice in the same match together. Indeed, despite their apparent compatibility on paper – the former being tall and good in the air, the latter being short and full of running – Hoarau and Erdinc only exchanged four passes against Marseille and have seven goals between them in Ligue 1. The chemistry is lacking.

The pair’s confidence was in pieces at the start of the month. PSG supporters whistled Erdinc against Dortmund while just a few days later Hoarau was even seen crying after being substituted away to Montpellier. (In case you're wondering, Nene is the team’s top scorer.)

But in some respects Hoarau and Erdinc are exactly why PSG are unbeaten in their last six matches, because though they rarely make the team win, they both ensure the side is difficult to beat, the Frenchman’s height coming in handy at defensive set-pieces and the Turk’s stamina proving invaluable for pressing.

For now, it seems PSG are finally a team again. Side is definitively put before self. Sunday’s 90th-minute equaliser at Lorient showed the spirit within the camp, indicating that the psychological barrier has been crossed. The hate that had once so insidiously enveloped the club now appears to have been channeled in a positive way: "It’s the hate of defeat," says Kombouare with a wry smile.

Today PSG lie fourth in the standings, but with just eight points separating first and 19th place in Ligue 1, crisis is never far away in the tightest title race in Europe.

Marseille already in the eye of a storm

James Horncastle — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 10:05:00 GMT

When Patrice Evra pointed out to Lilian Thuram that “walking around in glasses and a hat does not turn you into Malcolm X”, he could equally have been referring to Hatem Ben Arfa, albeit in a completely different context.

The richly talented, if inconsistent, France international bore a faint resemblance to the human rights activist while posing for a moody portrait to accompany an interview with L’Equipe at Charles-De-Gaulle airport over the weekend. Ben Arfa’s beard and his choice of spectacles meant he certainly carried off the look of a freedom fighter, even if his behaviour has once again divided opinion.

Ben Arfa refused to train with Marseille on Thursday after his return from Norway where he made a glittering cameo for France, scoring a goal in Laurent Blanc’s first game in charge of Les Bleus.

No sooner had he arrived back in the Old Port than he got into an impromptu slanging match with Marseille president Jean-Claude Dassier, telling him to take responsibility and that he was done with talking.

“I will not return to La Commanderie [Marseille’s training ground],” Ben Arfa told L’Equipe on Sunday. “It’s over. I am ready to not play this season. I have my pride, my dignity. I am not a makeweight. I am not washed up. I am not f***ing awful.”

Whether channeling his inner Cristiano Ronaldo or Sepp Blatter, he then added: “Over time, people will see that I was right... Just because we are paid doesn’t mean we are slaves.”

Naturally, it wasn’t long before the knee-jerk stereotype merchants that make up the football ecosystem were quick to call a spade a spade, compare Ben Arfa’s actions with those of the mutinying French players at the World Cup and cast him as an enfant terrible for the Nth time in his short but silverware-ridden career.

After all, the list of people Ben Arfa doesn’t get on with reads like a who’s who of French football. He has already fallen out with Gerard Houllier, Paul Le Guen, Alain Perrin and Eric Gerets, had a notorious bust-up with Arsenal’s Abou Diaby at Clairefontaine, caused dressing room unrest while at Lyon, told his Marseille team-mate Mathieu Valbuena to change position during a League Cup match against Sochaux and was rumoured to have been the precocious young pipsqueak who told William Gallas to “f*** off and worry about your own game.”

Unsurprisingly, Didier Deschamps has also been on the end of Ben Arfa’s famous temper, the most notorious outburst coming in November when the 23-year-old told him to “stop breaking my balls.” Deschamps had expected it anyway, famously telling reporters just a couple of months earlier that “I’m not David Copperfield”, the inference being that he couldn’t make Ben Arfa’s penchant for trouble-making miraculously disappear.

Yet despite his track record as something of a hot head, there is a genuine feeling that while Ben Arfa’s way of expressing his grievances with the club were ever so slightly childish and in the end played to type, he was in fact justified in taking act with his treatment.

Visit Marseille’s club shop, pick up a catalogue and you’ll soon see pictures of Lucho Gonzalez, Brandao, Steve Mandanda and a selection of other stars from last year’s double-winning team. Ben Arfa is conspicuous by his absence despite the odd virtuoso display, making no secret of the club’s intentions for him.

“I didn’t want to leave,” Ben Arfa explained. “At our first pre-season training camp in Brittany on July 9, the coach wished to discuss something with me. The discussion took place in his office. He made me understand clearly that he didn’t wish to keep me. As for my exit, he told me that it would be better if I went sooner rather than later. From that moment, everything was clear in my head. I was leaving. He even recommended England as a destination.”

Agents soon lined up a move to Newcastle United and Chris Hughton showed a strong interest, apparently even going so far as to promise Ben Arfa a role as his chief playmaker at St. James’ Park. The prospect of following in the footsteps of Laurent Robert and David Ginola, whose fall out with PSG presaged a move to St. James’ Park in 1995, clearly enticed him.

“If I had any small doubt, I would have dropped Newcastle from the beginning,” Ben Arfa said. “I know that the manager thinks about me. He understands who I am, what kind of player I am. It’s for this reason that I would like to join Newcastle.”

But then Marseille’s captain Mamadou Niang threw a spanner in the works by announcing his desire to leave for Fenerbahce and the club’s transfer strategy changed. Ben Arfa was taken off the market. “Hatem will not leave,” Dassier said on Thursday. “He is under contract and will stay at OM.”

Deschamps also changed his tune. “Hatem is, as ever, a Marseille player and I have the habit of counting on the players who are here for the next match.” Is it any wonder Ben Arfa flipped? After being told to leave, Dassier now wanted to give him a new contract, all in the space of just a few weeks.

“Its because my directors don’t give a damn about me that today I’m announcing that I’m ready to put my career on hold if they don’t accept Newcastle’s offer, as was predicted from the outset,” he said yesterday.

To say the whole thing is an unmitigated disaster is an understatement as it has already made its impact felt on the pitch. Marseille suffered a 3-2 defeat, having been 3-0 down to Valenciennes on Saturday, making them the first reigning champions to lose their opening two league games since Nantes eight years ago.

Seeing his side lie 19th in the table, Lucho for one is at a loss to describe the atmosphere in the camp. “It’s a delicate situation, a little strange. We are talking a lot about players who are coming or going… Even if you try not to think about it when you are on the pitch, all the things that have happened during the week perhaps have an influence on the match.”

Marseille’s veteran anchorman Edouard Cisse elaborated further with a rather more lyrical analysis. “If there’s one wish, it’s that the mist fades so we can see the sun arrive,” he told France Football. “For the moment, it’s still seven o’clock in the morning... There are too many uncertainties.”

Whether the close of the transfer window brings any closure to Marseille’s problems remains to be seen. After all, Ben Arfa isn’t Deschamps’ only concern. The World Cup winner is reportedly no longer on speaking terms with West Ham target Benoit Cheyrou. Nigeria international full-back Taye Taiwo doesn’t intend to renew his contract, which only has a year left to run. Mamadou Samassa has made no secret of his desire to return to Valenciennes on loan while influential Cameroon international midfielder Stephane Mbia has been told to “make up for his stupidity on the pitch” after being fined for reporting to pre-season training late.

Mbia is said to be still smarting at being asked to play centre-back as he did in the second half of last season.

The backdrop to this story is that, come what may, Marseille’s board would like to slash the wage bill by 10 per cent this year, frustrating Deschamps’ efforts to bring in “whales and not sardines”, the big fish being Bordeaux midfielder Alou Diarra and Sevilla’s Luis Fabiano, reinforcements that he feels are absolutely essential if the club is to progress in Europe.

“You would think that after three titles in three months, there would be support to keep our players and support in our recruitment,” Deschamps’ assistant Guy Stephan said. Not so Guy. Not so. Marseille are a club in the eye of a storm.

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Dumas proud after Caen slay OM

James Horncastle — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 09:54:00 GMT

Diehard Newcastle United fans may remember seeing the gaunt figure of Franck Dumas briefly gracing St. James’ Park a decade ago.

The Norman libero lived on Tyneside for just four months before returning to France with Marseille where he replaced Laurent Blanc, the player under whose shadow he spent much of his career.

As Dumas found out, Newcastle was a particularly unforgiving place for Frenchmen who weren’t David Ginola in the late 90s. Signed by Kenny Dalglish, the World Cup winner Stephane Guivarch’h was largely misunderstood, though injury and a spate of managerial musical chairs didn’t exactly help his cause.

Ruud Gullit afforded Guivarch’h just a handful of games before sending him packing in November 1998. The High Priest of Sexy Football clearly found the prospect of fielding such a blue-collar player unpalatable.

Gullit would leave another Frenchman high and dry when he signed Dumas in 1999 only to quit five games into the season, though his reign is remembered more for leaving Geordie idol Alan Shearer on the bench and the ill-fated £6.5m purchase of a crocked Spaniard Marcelino Elena. It was all a shock to Dumas’ system after playing for a Monaco side with whom he had won Le Championnat in 1997 starring alongside Fabien Barthez, Thierry Henry and Manu Petit.

Dumas stops by for a flying visit to St James' Park

But that tumultuous spell on Tyneside would prepare Dumas for the ups and downs of management like no other. Since May 2005, Dumas has been in charge of Caen, the club where he made his name as a player, overseeing two promotions and two relegations.

And yet, the 41-year-old, who now resembles the rather portly Rafa Benitez, enjoys the confidence of Caen president Jean-Francois Fortin, no more so than after last season’s first place finish in Ligue 2.

Caen finally got their campaign underway on Saturday in an alternative Champions Trophy against the Ligue 1 holders Marseille at the Stade Velodrome. Although mooted as a potential surprise package, few thought they would be taking three points back with them to North West France, especially given they were missing seven key players through injury and suspension.

Dumas travelled to Marseille with a paper thin 16-man squad, his hopes for further recruits evidently on stand-by as Caen’s director of sport Frederic Deschamps thought it an opportune time to go on holiday. Nicolas Seube, the club captain, said: “We need to look at it as a chance rather than an ordeal.”

His team-mate Grégory Tafforeau agreed. “The advantage is that everyone will be committed,” he explained. “There are always five or six players in a club who feel rejected and never like part of the group. Here everyone will be obliged to feel ready.”

And that’s just how Caen were on Saturday night, in stark contrast to their opponents Marseille. It was all for one, and one for all. Admittedly OM were without influential centre-back Souleymane Diawara, Gabi Heinze and their Brazilian striker Brandao, but the lack of desire Didier Deschamps’ side showed from the start was of more concern.

Clearly affected by their club captain Mamadou Niang’s decision to publically express his desire to leave last week, Marseille were a far cry from being united and Caen did well to take advantage.

Seube caused Marseille problems by playing between the lines and it came as no surprise that he was the one who broke the deadlock after 53 minutes, cutting through the heart of the pitch at pace before launching a fizzing shot low to Steve Mandanda’s right-hand side. The ball bounced wickedly in front of the diving keeper, then skimmed over him and into the net.

Deschamps shuffled his pack soon afterwards, bringing on Hatem Ben Arfa for a tired-looking Mathieu Valbuena and Mamadou Samassa for André Ayew. It paid dividends almost immediately. Ben Arfa played a wonderful lofted pass through to his fellow substitute that will only encourage greater interest in him from Newcastle, and Samassa showed incredible guile to equalise, wrestling with a defender before beating Thébaux in the Caen goal. But Dumas’ side weren’t done yet.

Youssef El-Arabi, a revelation in the second half of last season, was a constant thorn in the side of Stéphane Mbia, who was being made to pay for turning up late for training camp last month. After nutmegging his marker and leaving the ball for his team-mate Sambou Yatabaré, he popped up at the far post to head in Caen’s winner with just five minutes remaining.

Speaking after the final whistle, Dumas said: “It’s a tremendous achievement. The players are like little children in the dressing room. But Marseille aren't quite ready yet, and have had a testing period of preparation. We are still growing in strength, and we have to continue to have desire and not be afraid."

While it’s obviously way too early to tell whether Caen can ‘do a Montpellier’ and stay in the upper echelons of Le Championnat for the duration of the season, Dumas will no doubt be heartened by the fact that only two winners of Ligue 2 in the last decade have suffered the ignominy of going straight back down the following year.

Part of Caen’s name is taken from French bard François de Malherbe and there would be a certain degree of romance if not poetry in local boy Franck Dumas leading the well-run Norman outfit on a fairytale ride in Ligue 1 over the next nine months.

RESULTS Sat Aug 7 Lens 1-2 Nancy, Auxerre 2-2 Lorient, Lyon 0-0 Monaco, PSG 3-1 Saint-Étienne, Marseille 1-2 Caen, Rennes 1-1 Lille, Toulouse 2-0 Brest, Sochaux 2-1 Arles-Avignon, Nice 0-0 Valenciennes Sun Aug 8 Montpellier 1-0 Bordeaux

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Marseille finally clinch title as Arsenal-bound Chamakh breaks down

James Horncastle — Mon, 10 May 2010 10:09:00 GMT

For the people of Marseille, Wednesday night was arguably the longest in 18 years.

It started at exactly 7:50pm just over 330km to the north where Champions League chasing Lyon were playing host to second-placed Auxerre at the Stade Gerland.  

Auxerre had taken the lead 20 minutes earlier thanks to a strike from the opportunistic former contraband-running Pole, Ireneusz Jelen, and the game was as good as won.  

Or so the French Connection thought, as Auxerre hadn’t lost any of the other nine games this season in which Jelen had found the net.  

However, Lyon were reading from an entirely different script altogether, perhaps a French-dubbed Diehard, as just before half-time, their full-back Aly Cissokho won a penalty, which Lisandro López comfortably dispatched to level the score at 1-1.

 Back down south, Marseille fans were filtering into the Stade Vélodrome ahead of their team’s match against Rennes at 9:00pm with pocket radios clutched to their ears like mobile phones from the 1980s.

 The conversation was one-way. If Auxerre lost, which they surely wouldn’t now that Jelen had scored, Marseille could win the title for the first time since 1992 when Didier Deschamps, their current coach, was captain.

 A cry of ‘Allez l’OM’ came over the loudspeaker and the fans started their work early, running through a number of Andrew Lloyd-Webber inspired voice exercises that just might have included gargling copious bottles of Evian to loosen up their vocal chords.

Sébastien, a Marseille supporter, told L’Équipe: “It was bizarre, but we had to support Lyonnais.”

No doubt inspired by the 12th man residing in the Vélodrome and not the Gerland, the Lyonnais didn’t disappoint. Miralem Pjanic scored their second, a penalty, at 8:40pm to make it 2-1, and the Bosnian’s timing was perfect.

Auxerre were beaten and with 20 minutes still to go until kick-off Deschamps knew he couldn’t keep it from his players. There was no need for a motivational speech. Marseille’s players would each receive a €330,000 bonus if they won the title. Deschamps apparently just said: “Go play.”

 And that’s just what they did, winning 3-1 with goals from Mamadou Niang and two of their key summer signings Lucho González and Gabi Heinze.

 The wait was finally over. The word ‘deliverance’ was on everyone’s lips. Even the rain and blustery conditions couldn’t dampen what this meant to Marseille.

Flares were lit, fireworks let off and clothes shed as fans headed for the sea in search of a celebratory dip to wash off anything that remained of those 18 title-less years.

Souleymane Diawara danced with his ‘cousin’ Mamade; Didier Drogba sent several texts from London entitled: ‘We are the Champions’; and Mathieu Valbuena, Marseille’s pint-sized winger armed with a bottle of champagne, took a leaf out of Tottenham’s book, only he chose not to soak his manager, but the journalists feverishly typing up their copy in the post-match press conference.

 Deschamps kept his restraint but allowed himself a modest little fist pump. “I didn’t want to dance on the table,” he said. “I am a bad dancer.”

His players then left for a local nightclub called Mistral where Heinze demanded that the DJ play the Gypsy Kings on repeat. But ultimately the party took its cue from America’s finest hip-hop artists as Marseille didn’t stop `till six in the morning. Snoop would have been proud.

“I got up at 7:00am for the kids, but I didn’t feel like driving them to school,” recalled a groggy-looking Édouard Cissé. “I left the car to my wife…” His team-mates Steve Mandanda and Niang even trained in sunglasses to hide the bags under their eyes.

 So when the hangovers subsided, how was Marseille’s title received elsewhere in France? Speaking after Wednesday’s 3-1 defeat, Rennes coach Frédéric Antonetti said: “Marseille are not the same champions as Bordeaux were, Blanc’s side played better football. Marseille are a more Italian-style champion.”

Thursday’s edition of France Football also felt inclined to ask: Are Marseille great champions? Deschamps’ leadership qualities were hailed and rightly so, but it was Jean Fernandez, the Auxerre manager, who was named Ligue 1 Coach of the Year on Sunday.

Marseille weren’t even the best-represented club when the Team of the Year was unveiled; that recognition went to Bordeaux whose spectacular fall from grace – they were once 12 points ahead of Marseille - is credited with being a major contributor to OM’s ninth League title.

 L’Équipe vowed to reserve judgment until next season’s Champions League, picking up on the fact that Marseille couldn’t get out of the group stages this year and only grabbed Ligue 1 by the horns when they were knocked out of the Europa League in March, proving that they don’t have a good enough squad at the moment to compete on the continent.

 OM look as if they will be joined in the Champions League next season by Lille, who were also their opponents on Saturday. Deschamps’ side looked weary, but still went in at half-time 2-1 up despite having Mandanda sent off.

They held out until the final 10 minutes when Tulio De Melo equalised for Lille and Mathieu Debuchy headed in an injury time winner.

Rudi Garcia’s side are now second going into the final weekend of the season, two points ahead of Auxerre who drew at home to Lens. They can still be caught by Lyon, who were lucky to get a point away to Valenciennes on Saturday.

OL were trailing 2-1 when Dianbobo Baldé who had come on to shore things up for les Athéniens ironically scored an equalising own goal for the visitors.

Lyon are now four points back from Lille, but they have a game in hand at home to Monaco on Wednesday, before Ligue 2-bound Le Mans travel to the Gerland three days later.

Elsewhere on L’Hexagone, sixth-placed Bordeaux saw their hopes of qualifying for the Champions League disappear despite recording a 2-0 win over Sochaux at the Chaban Delmas. Laurent Blanc’s side can still make the Europa League if they defeat Lens next weekend and Paris-Saint German do them the favour of beating Montpellier.

 Marouane Chamakh was in tears as he played his last home game before before moving to Arsenal later this month.

The Emirates-bound Morocco international said: “There have been ups and downs for the club, but I’ve always had complete support here. All my family and friends were here and whatever happens, Bordeaux will stay close to my heart.” The French Connection salutes him.

RESULTS Sat May 8 Lille 3-2 Marseille, Auxerre 0-0 Lens, Valenciennes 2-2 Lyon, Montpellier 2-1 Lorient, Bordeaux 2-0 Sochaux, Rennes 2-2 Nice, Monaco 2-1 Nancy, Le Mans 1-0 PSG, Saint-Étienne 0-1 Toulouse, Grenoble 2-0 Boulogne.

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Marseille widen the gap as €100m loss revealed

James Horncastle — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 10:29:00 GMT

RESULTS Sat Apr 24 Nancy 0-0 Montpellier, Le Mans 1-2 Lille, Lorient 1-0 Bordeaux, Sochaux 0-3 Boulogne, Nice 2-1 Grenoble, PSG 1-1 Rennes Sun Apr 25 Toulouse 0-3 Auxerre, Lens 1-1 Valenciennes, Marseille 1-0 Saint-Étienne

Franck Ribéry wasn’t the only one associated with French Football to see red over the last few days.

L’Équipe got hold of a confidential eight-page document produced by the DNCG that revealed the sheer scale of the financial problems engulfing the game in France.

According to the DNCG, the current model is “unsupportable for the majority of clubs, in particular the small and medium-sized ones.”

French clubs tend to survive on TV and transfer revenues alone, devoting a staggering 71 per cent of turnover to paying wages. It is estimated that French football will make a net loss of around €100m across its top two divisions this season, prompting some to call for Ligue 1 to be reduced to 18 teams.

As far as matters on the pitch were concerned, Bordeaux had a full week to prepare for their trip to Lorient on Saturday, leaving fans optimistic that Laurent Blanc’s side would reverse their fortunes after three defeats in their last four league games.

Le Girondins had beaten Lorient 4-1 on two occasions already this season, so if there was ever a time to get back to winning ways it was surely this weekend.

However, despite a fine first half, Bordeaux lost again as Kevin Gameiro gave the Breton outfit a 1-0 win. Blanc’s side now look unlikely to finish in the Champions League places.

Marseille put in a clichéd performance at the weekend, showing the hallmark of champions by beating Saint-Étienne 1-0 despite being absolutely dreadful.

Of course, there were still several positives to be drawn from the result, as Didier Deschamps’ side retained their five-point lead at the top of Ligue 1 with four games remaining.

Mathieu Valbuena also scored his third goal in four games, making the leprechaun-like winger a dark horse for a place in France’s World Cup squad.

The title could almost be mathematically wrapped up next Friday when Marseille travel to second-placed Auxerre who thrashed Toulouse 3-0 on Sunday to extend their unbeaten run to 13 matches.

“The cards aren’t in our hands,” smiled Auxerre’s captain Benoît Pedretti. “If we don’t lose our next two matches against Marseille and Lyon we’ll feel very good about finishing in the top three places.”

Chapeau to Auxerre coach Jean Fernandez for exceeding expectations this season.

Elsewhere, Boulogne’s 30-year-old cult striker Grégory Thil scored his first goal since his return from eight months on the sidelines with a serious ankle injury.

Fans of the Ligue 2-bound side were left pondering what might have been as had Thil been fit for the entire season Boulogne might have stayed up.

His 78 goals over the last five seasons have seen Boulogne move up three divisions and will be needed next year, although he might not still be around with several clubs interested in his signature.

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Marseille hold the aces in French title race, despite car trouble

James Horncastle — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 09:49:00 GMT

RESULTS Sat Apr 17 Boulogne 1-2 Marseille, Auxerre 4-1 Lorient, Rennes 0-0 Nancy, Valenciennes 0-1 Le Mans, Nice 0-0 Lens, Grenoble 2-2 Sochaux, Bordeaux 2-2 Lyon Sun Apr 18 Montpellier 1-1 Toulouse, Lille 4-0 Monaco, Saint-Étienne 0-0 PSG

When Didier Deschamps took charge of Marseille last summer one could be forgiven for thinking he hopped in his Citreon C5 and rode the length and breadth of Europe sticking up posters that read: “Winners, L’OM needs you.”

After all, Dédé was the last person to win the league with Marseille nearly 17 years ago when he captained them as a precocious 25-year-old water carrying midfielder. Since then, they’ve taken a leaf out of Otis Redding’s book, adapted it a bit and lost that winning feeling.

Thankfully though, Deschamps’s imaginary posters got the desired response. Marseille spent a staggering €41.3m on no fewer than 10 players, including Gabi Heinze, Souleymane Diawara, Lucho González and former West Ham United flop Édouard Cissé.

L’Équipe’s hacks - perhaps stranded in one of Monaco’s casinos on account of the volcanic ash - branded Marseille’s key signings ‘the Four Aces’.

In all, they have won nine league titles between them, adding experience to a group that, with the exception of Hatem Ben Arfa and Brandao, wasn’t used to picking up silverware.

“They are players who know how difficult it is to win things,” Deschamps said after Wednesday’s 1-0 victory over Sochaux. “They have a role on the pitch, but also one off it too."

“When you want a team to keep winning, it’s important to have winners. They must communicate that spirit and also what it takes to impose yourself at a high level. That is seen through words, exchanges, but above all through actions,” Deschamps added, clearly feeling vindicated by his summer strategy.

Since their victory in the League Cup final against Bordeaux on March 27, Marseille have swept all before them, opening up a five-point lead at the top of Le Championnat.

They have a swagger and a character that hasn’t been seen for years, as was evident on Saturday night.

L’OM were due in Boulogne for their fifth match in two weeks. The pesky volcanic ash meant that they had to fly to Auxerre and then take a four-hour bus journey north just to get to the ironically named Stade de la Libération, rendering an already marathon schedule a veritable Tour de France.

The fact Boulogne went into the game 19th in Ligue 1, mattered little. After all, Laurent Guyot’s men have picked up points against Bordeaux and Lyon in 2010, and are fighting for their lives, albeit quite unsuccessfully as their run of four defeats in five games amply demonstrated.

However, rather than a banana skin, this was an opportunity Marseille couldn’t afford to miss. Bordeaux were hosting Lyon in a re-match of their Champions League quarter-final, a re-match that would knock one if not both of L’OM’s seasoned rivals out of the title race. If Marseille put Boulogne to the sword, their 17 years of hurt would be closer to being over.

Little by little, though, the tension was mounting. Mamadou Niang, Ligue 1’s leading goalscorer, slapped a fan on his way out of Marseille’s training ground after the peasant put his mucky little hands on the Senegal international’s sparkling Ferrari 360.

Lucho promptly followed Niang’s lead, only he misjudged the turning out of the exit and scuffed his Audi R8 on the railings.

However, regardless of the pressure, L’OM - to paraphrase Deschamps - now had the winners to keep winning.

Marseille took the lead just before half-time in Boulogne when Mathieu Valbuena cut in from the right-hand side and rifled the ball past Jean-François Bédenik. Things got really interesting a little later though, when Boulogne equalised through Jérémy Blayac with just eight minutes remaining.

Rather than resign themselves to a draw, Marseille went looking for a win. Dédé had brought on Taye Taiwo for Niang midway through the second half and his introduction proved inspired.

The Nigeria international, who scored the winner against Lyon last month, fizzed a cross into the box in stoppage time, which found Brandao’s head and then poor Yoann Lachor’s hand, winning a last gasp penalty.

As the referee’s watch struck 95 minutes, Taiwo stepped up to the spot and beat Bédenik to secure the three points that preserved Marseille’s five-point lead at the top of Le Championnat.

“My players have the desire to get the best possible result in every match. We’re in top spot and we’ll do what we can to stay there,” Deschamps smiled in his post-match press conference. “It’s great to be in front and to be winning.”

Meanwhile, Bordeaux and Lyon were knocking seven bells out of each other and both ended up on the canvas, drawing 2-2 in a bad-tempered game that saw three players sent off in injury time.

“One draw, two losers,” read the headline in L’Équipe on Sunday morning. Bordeaux and Lyon are now 11 and nine points back respectively, the latter focusing on their Champions League semi-final with Bayern Munich, volcanic ash permitting.

The threat to Marseille’s title aspirations now comes from Auxerre whose impressive 4-1 victory over Lorient keeps them second, setting up a potential decider against Deschamps’s men in two weeks’ time.

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