Match date: 5 April 2015

Olympique de Marseille have struggled against the top sides this campaign, but find themselves in third place coming into the match. In their last match against Paris Saint Germain, the capital side won 2-0 and Marseille struggled to create chances.



In that match, Bielsa played a 4-2-3-1 and Imbula put in an excellent performance for his side. For this match, Bielsa opted for a 3-3-3-1 and was without Imbula so Lemina took the former’s place in the middle of the second line of three. Morel also came into the side, the second of two changes from the side that beat Lens 4-0 in their last match, with Aloe missing out.

Laurent Blanc was able to name arguably his strongest squad with two changes from the side that won 3-1 against Lorient. David Luiz was brought back into the side, giving Blanc his all Brazilian back line, while Thiago Motta moved back to a holding midfield role and Pastore was pushed further forward in Blanc’s 4-3-3 with Lavezzi dropping to the bench.

Marseille’s Man-Marking, PSG Take Advantage

Bielsa relies on his team’s man-marking abilities and while it is always a noticeable component of his sides, Marseille’s man-marking in this match took the term to another level. Two of the most notable examples were Djédjé on Matuidi and Fanni on Ibrahimovic. Djédjé’s marking of Matuidi was excellent throughout and in Bielsa’s defense, it makes sense to man-mark a play like Matuidi because of how frequently he drifts out of zones. Matuidi is one of Paris Saint Germain’s three man midfield, but in many games, his biggest impact comes when he moves away from the centre of the pitch into a wide left area, creating an overload in that space and putting in dangerous balls (Good examples being the two recent matches against Chelsea: 1st leg / 2nd leg). At times though, Djédjé’s marking meant that Matuidi would move all the way to right side of the pitch and Djédjé would follow.

The negative side of Bielsa’s man-marking system in this match in particular, where it was to the extreme, was that Marseille looked completely void of any shape or formation. The 3-3-3-1 that Bielsa set the side out in was almost nonexistent and left huge spaces for Paris Saint Germain to exploit. Below is an excellent example of this as Marseille players move up the field to find their marks, it opened up a huge space for Pastore to run through and Verratti picked out the run well. Pastore shot wide of the far post, but it was a perfect example of the lack of shape that the man-marking resulted in as no cover players were existent.



Fanni usually found himself following Ibrahimovic as the Swede moved towards the halfway line when Paris Saint Germain had the ball. Fanni’s marking was decent, but the fact that the middle player of the back three was moving from that spot repeatedly showed that there was no real structure in the back three of Marseille and this caused all sorts of problems as Paris Saint Germain were able to get into 1v1 situations in and around the Marseille penalty area. This showed on Matuidi’s goal as Djédjé had no cover. Paris Saint Germain’s go-ahead goal showed the same problem as Pastore got past Romao, forcing Fanni to slide over and isolating Morel against Ibrahimovic.

There were some positives from the intense marking, of course, and Marseille’s second goal highlighted that. Verratti was on the ball, had no forward options with Marseille’s marking doing relatively well, leading to Pastore coming back to get on the ball, however, the Argentine had Romao right on his back and the Marseille man won the ball and poked it through to Gignac who had space to run into before scoring past Sirigu.

Marseille In Possession

The home team made the field as big as possible when they had the ball and, at times, this left Lemina with a huge numerical disadvantage in the middle of the pitch as Djédjé and Mendy stretched the width of the field while Payet, Thauvin, and Ayew tried to push back Paris Saint Germain’s midfield as much as possible. Below is a good example of this, although rather than being pushed back, Verratti and Matuidi cut off the passing lanes going forward and Lemina is surrounded and gets fouled on this sequence.

Often times Djédjé would come inside, as would Romao, to help create equal numbers in midfield and it was at these times that Marseille were able to work the ball up the field and when they did, they looked for Payet. The French playmaker leads Ligue Un in assists, with eight coming from open play and so naturally he was their main outlet and created three chances on the night, including the opening goal of the game. Payet took chances with his play in the attacking third, something that Ayew and Thauvin did not really look to do despite having a lot of 1v1 opportunities against the Marquinhos and van der Wiel and Maxwell, respectively.

Paris Saint Germain Leading

As the visitors were able to get their lead, from goals which were as much the result of Marseille’s man-marking as they were Paris Saint Germain’s own approach, they were able to control the game with relative ease and looked the more likely of the two sides to get the next goal. This was in large part due to the exhaustion that the Marseille players began to show from their marking efforts throughout the match and Paris Saint Germain’s ability to play in a more defensive manner, something that Marseille failed to show when they had both of their leads.

Paris Saint Germain’s passing did not necessarily become less risky, but they were able to find the huge spaces that opened up as Marseille’s players began to tire more and more. When the visitors got into these spaces, they were controlled and purposeful and were able to create more good opportunities than Marseille were in the last half hour of the match despite Marseille needing a goal. Ibrahimovic in particular had numerous chances, but Mandanda saved well and kept his side in the match.

Bielsa’s changes failed to have any big impacts. Ocampos was brought on for Thuavin and had a decent influence, but Batshuayi and Alessandrini both struggled as they did not get on the ball often.

Conclusion

This game was won an lost as the result of Marseille’s man-marking. Bielsa’s insistence on the tactic was certain, but even he admitted after the match that, “it was a fair result. There was a clash between two different styles and PSG took control of proceedings.” Bielsa also said that his side were never comfortable and that he got the tactics wrong.

Blanc was obviously much more pleased with the way his team were able to come from behind twice and win, allowing them to reclaim their spot at the top of Ligue Un. Matuidi and Pastore had excellent games for the capital side. Unfortunately for Paris Saint Germain, David Luiz and Thiago Motta both left the game injured and with Champions League matches against Barcelona in the near future, Blanc will be disappointed that the duo might be stuck on the sidelines.