Marseille fans felt both relief and regret when Roberto de Zerbi left midway through his second season.
Relief because the final weeks were desperately poor, but regret too because De Zerbi – a former ultra with immense passion – looked at times a perfect fit for the Mediterranean club.
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His first year was promising: Marseille finished as runners-up and returned to the Champions League. A raft of new signings raised hopes, especially after a first home win over Paris St-Germain in 14 years and a six-goal rout of Le Havre sent them top.
Yet there was always a sense Marseille were just a couple of defeats from crisis. The squad almost imploded when Jonathan Rowe and Adrien Rabiot clashed in the dressing room, and De Zerbi’s uncompromising style alienated certain players.
He infuriated observers by constantly changing systems and selections, leaving players bamboozled.
For the most part, De Zerbi lined up in a 4-2-3-1 and fans occasionally saw glimpses of the front-footed, attacking style he wanted to implement.
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Yet Marseille’s midfield pairing – usually Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and Geoffrey Kondogbia – lacked the technical skills and mobility to perform in that system against stronger opposition. The defence would be left exposed, while the attack relied too heavily on individual exploits from Mason Greenwood and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
When a flagging Marseille crashed out of the Champions League, losing 3-0 to Club Brugge, reports emerged De Zerbi had lost the dressing room. A pitiful 5-0 defeat at PSG – the heaviest in Classique history – made his exit inevitable.
De Zerbi left with the highest win percentage of any Marseille coach this century (57%). That Igor Tudor (56%) ranks second suggests Spurs fans should treat that statistic with caution.
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