The depressing defeat against Montpellier was indeed an accident. After having started to wipe it from the collective memory at the Stadium, the job was well and truly finished off on Sunday, against Valenciennes. OM stuck to their task and, on top of that, had fun doing it. Their demonstration was more than convincing. The Vélodrome was not mistaken and noisily celebrated the biggest win of the season at home in the L1. A victory which meant that the team took good advantage of the slip-ups made by Bordeaux, Lille, Monaco and Auxerre this week-end and also came back to just two points behind Lille (3rd), with a game in hand.
The public was spoilt and they made sure the players knew they realised this. Not just by lifting their arms to the sky on five occasions, they also applauded each jink and turn from Ben Arfa and stood up as one when Lucho and Brandao were replaced, saluting the precision of the former and the hard work of the latter. Something which must have gone straight to their hearts.
This OM was a pleasure to watch, in a match that started energetically and was concluded with just as much juice, something that wasn’t evident in the tough qualification at Toulouse, and it came during a never-ending series of matches every three days.
In order to deal with the situation, Deschamps left Niang to rest on the bench and could also count on the return of Taiwo on the left flank. Mbia kept his place in the centre of defence, while Mandanda had to declare forfeit. From his position in the goal, Andrade had a fairly calm time of it during the first half, only really being brought into play for a header from Pujol which went just wide. The Brazilian keeper had all the time in the world to appreciate the play on show in front of him.
To sum things up, Marseille pretty much set up camp in the Valenciennes half of the field and the team from the north could do nothing about it.
The match was opened up by a simply fantastic move. Following a throw-in by Taiwo, Cissé layed a perfect ball off to Ben Arfa. In a position where most players in the Ligue 1 would have shot at goal hoping luck would be on their side, the midfielder came up with a moment of inspiration, back-heeling the ball to Lucho, who could easily slot the ball home (1-0, 34’).
A goalscorer at that point, El Commandante got back to his best role, that of a passer, just ten minutes later. Not with his feet, but with his head, following a cross from Taiwo. From the knock-down, Brandao span around and fired home (2-0, 43’).
Two goals, soon to become three just after the break. Cheyrou, who had a number of chances in the first half, was finally rewarded with a goal which flew past Penneteau from the edge of the area. The heal of Bisevac contributed in sending the keeper the wrong way (3-0, 53’).
VA managed to put the only black mark on the evening by pulling a goal back thanks to the head of Sanchez (66’), Valbuena put some more shine onto the scoreline in the 78th minute, arrowing the ball into the net from the extremity of the penalty area (4-1).
VA’s calvary would not stop there, notably for Mater, who suffered the martyr against Ben Arfa. The problems without any solution even grew for Valenciennes, with the entry of Niang. At the origin of the 4th goal, the Senegalese player was at the conclusion of the 5’. At the reception of a pacy cross from Diawara, who had come forward to get involved in the attacking fun himself (5-1).
The performance certainly deserved a “Mexican wave” and the Vélodrome did just that.