A new era for Olympique de Marseille began in earnest as Roberto De Zerbi’s squad recorded an impressive 5-1 victory over Stade Brestois yesterday afternoon. Despite the scoreline, Marseille didn’t have things all their own way. 

Les Phocéens were able to rely on clinical finishing on the counterattack while Brest who controlled possession, particularly in the first half failed to find a way past a wonderful debut from Gerónimo Rulli (32). The Argentine international was called into action frequently and even managed to stop an effort from the penalty stop when he saved Romain Del Castillo’s (28) shot. 

Roberto De Zerbi was clear in his post-match analysis that there were areas of improvement despite an exciting performance that showed at least the attacking elements are working well to combine together. The manager stated, “We are happy with the match, the result and to have started the season in the best way. We can still improve a lot, in possession and pressing. We gave the ball away too easily to the opponent. These are things that we will improve on over time.”

Roberto De Zerbi: ‘We have to do much better’ 

The manager explained when asked whether focusing on the counterattack was one of the club’s aims, “No, no. We have to improve on that. We scored goals, according to our style, but if you ask me about our control, possession, ball management, we have to do much better because the big teams always have more possession than the opponent.” 

He continued, “If we have to suffer because the opponent deserves it, we’ll defend with humility. We wasted too much of the ball, we were a little timid in the first half. Pol Lirola, Quentin Merlin, Derek Cornelius, and Amir Murillo could have managed the ball better as could the attackers. They must know how to attack the space and finish the actions but also keep the ball cleanly, with personality. We have to work and improve on many things.”

GFFN | Nick Hartland