Olympique de Marseille - PAOK report

Olympique de Marseille - PAOK report

By Alain Anastasakis

PAOK will face Marseille this Thursday night. The French club, are also the only club who has won the Champions League, is used to European Campaigns with 2 UEFA Cup/Europa League finals in 20 years. This season, the Sky blue and Whites are also in great form with a solid second spot in Ligue 1 with Jorge Sampaoli at the helm. 

Can PAOK do it ? 

-The players :

We all know Payet and Milik and no introduction is necessary. The legend Steve Mandanda will likely start in goal. We can imagine that all eyes should be on them but that would be a huge mistake. Gerson, the Brazilian playmaker who signed last summer from Flamengo, has been shining in the midfield for couple of months now with his technique and his passing abilities and will be one of the biggest threat for PAOK's defense.

 

Mattéo Guendouzi, a tireless worker who scored his first goal with the French National team is also a centerpiece in Sampaoli's squad such as Boubacar Kamara, the defensive midfielder who's also one of the best players this season. 

The Argentinian coach can also rely on Duje Caleta-Car and William Saliba (also a newbie with France) in defense. Turkish winger Cengiz Under and the rookie Bemba Dieng who has showed great skills as well. Luan Pérès , Pol Lirola or Sead Kolasinac are the only players who have been underperforming regarding the expectations.

 

-The tactics:

Jorge Sampaoli usually switches between 3-3-3-1, 4-2-3-1 and even 3-2-4-1 depending on the players on the pitch. 

Whilst Lucescu on the other hand sticks with his traditional 4-3-2-1, the Argentinian coach is able to use several systems in the same game. The last performances against Nice, St-Etienne and Brest in Ligue 1 or Basel in the Conference League showed an impressive collective performance.

 

Sampaoli's style is very offensive, mainly based on ball possession and fast moves in the midfield. Marseille sometimes lacked accuracy in the finishing, with an impressive shots-off-targets record. That said, when the team is able to fix the problem -which is not the case all the time- they seemunstoppable and play very offensive football. The task will be difficult for PAOK's defense who will have to find a way to counter the movements in attack and especially to stop creativity and the transitions in the midfield.

 

-The opponent's weaknesses:

Reading the matches of the Olympian club, the main weakness is on the wings. None of the side has so far given satisfaction, whether Lirola, Peres or Kolasinac. Note that the second will not be present on Thursday, probably leaving the Bosnian the possibility to play on the left side, but as mentioned above, he has not shown himself to be the complete player at this level. But beware ! If Jorge Sampaoli decides to use his 3-3-3-1, it is very likely that Pape Gueye, another good surprise of the season, will occupy an hybrid role between full-back and midfielder, as it's also the case with Valentin Rongier on the right. OM have sometimes suffered from this system without real full-backs used by Sampaoli this season, such as during the match against Nice in the Coupe de France or against Monaco (1-4 and 0-1 defeats).

-How PAOK can do it ?

PAOK will have the very arduous task against a team that is -on paper- superior in every domains, with the possible exception of the right side. The Dikefalo will have to insist on the Lyratzis-Zivkovic relationship as well as on its defensive structure. The presence of the Tsiggaras-Kurtic duo will be essential in the midfield to try to stop the Gerson-Guendouzi-Kamara movements. We can also imagine Kurtic as playmaker and Schwab starting the match to tighten the midfield a little more.

 

Polish player Arkadiusz Milik will be absent, which will be a big miss for Marseille. But the Phocians have shown that they are capable of winning without him and Payet will naturally have to be watch closely whether he plays on the left or in a false 9 role.

 

The OM team is relatively young (24 years old on average) and PAOK will have to play on its experience and collective strength. Much more than trying to keep the ball, the Black and Whites will have to do what they have done best during this European campaign: exploit the counterattacks to the maximum and look for set pieces. 

A Mitrita-Zivkovic-Akpom trio could bring the necessary percussion to break the lines.

-Conclusion:

Far more than an unbalanced confrontation between two teams which, let's face it, are not playing in the same level of league, we can expect a real battle of coaches this Thursday as well as in the return match. Two coaches with different profiles but ultimately similar in their very rigorous tactical approach and their perception of football. 

One more flamboyant, the other one more pragmatic. And this will be key for the game as the slightest error at the Velodrome stadium would be fatal and could definitely shatter PAOK's European hopes. 

But this Thursday, the club will have a chance. The chance to show the whole of Europe what the group built by the Romanian technician is capable of. 

In a game where they're not the favorites and where they seem to have nothing to lose, is exactly where PAOK can make History!

Hellas Football 

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