67 kilometres in three games
The figure comes from Sofascore, picked up on Monday by Foot Mercato. Over the first three rounds of Ligue 1, Olympique de Marseille covered 67 kilometres. No team in the division has managed less.
The comparison is damning. Le Mans, promoted this summer, top the chart with 114.1 kilometres. Lyon are just behind on 112.4. Lens sit fifth with 108.1. PSG are down in 10th with 105.5. Marseille are miles off the pace on a raw measure of work rate.
The context does them no favours either. On Sunday night, OM lost at the Velodrome to Paris FC (2-3). Lassine Sinayoko, a summer signing worth 8 M€, hit a hat-trick. Amine Gouiri dragged Marseille level twice. Still not enough. A second defeat in three league games leaves the south coast side 10th.
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Genesio points to mistakes, not tired legs
Bruno Genesio did not mention the kilometres after the match. He went straight at the defending.
“We made a catastrophic start. From the kick-off we give the ball away, then we get caught with a ball in behind and concede straight away. It’s never easy after that. We left far too much space for this team and you can’t expect anything else with that many defensive mistakes,” said the Marseille coach.
His verdict and the Sofascore stat tell the same story in different ways. A side that keeps handing opponents space is usually one that’s slow getting back into shape. Marseille shipped three at home to a team that went up last season.
A cut-price summer is now biting
OM spent the summer selling. Leonardo Balerdi left for AS Roma. Igor Paixao and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg were at the centre of the rumours right to the end. Frank McCourt had already warned the club would need to move more players to keep the books in line.
The effect shows in the intensity. A thin squad, reshuffled, asked to juggle the league and the Europa League. Three games do not make a season. They do point to a trend, and Marseille now have a fortnight of international break to put some legs back into the side.
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