Against a solid but inoffensive Italian side, the Olympians won the match four days before their game against Paris. A lot of changes were made and the senior players seem to be in form.

The coach changed things around at half time
Only Azpi and Diawara remained from the side which played against Toulouse on Wednesday. As the coach had indicated the side changed and included the four World Cup players (see below). Two of the returning players were implicated in the OM goal. With great application, Cheyrou placed a corner onto the head of L. N’Diaye who scored at the back post (1-0, 7^’). The Senegalese defender also showed great composure in the centre of defence alongside Diawara.
After his loan spell with Ajaccio, Leyti has scored points with each match he has played even if the defence has been put under pressure. While waiting for the return of Mbia, he offers with Hilton – who came on at the break –another solution for the central defensive pairing. “I will finally be judged on my qualities” he declared in an interview with La Provence. This could happen a lot sooner than later. 
The six changes made at half time gave us the chance to see Gnabouyou, Ben Arfa, author of a great shot (53^’), or Kaboré at right back. In as great form as ever, Lucho, who came on 20 minutes before the end of the match also put in two great efforts (69^’, 89’) one of which hit the crossbar, the first coming just before a penalty won by Gnabouyou, brought down in the box. Brandao calmly slid the ball home (70^’, 2-0) but also hit the post in the last minutes of the game (88^e).

The return of the World Cup players
As announced, the four World Cup players (Mandanda, A. Ayew, Valbuena and Taiwo) started Saturday’s match. And as Didier Deschamps had said, they only played the first 45 minutes. For his comeback, Mandanda was rarely worried. Just at the start of their pre-season preparations, the Sicilians had very few chances, the international keeper did have one good save to make at the feet of an attacker (28^’) before being replaced by Andrade.
If Taiwo covered hi swing well, Valbuena was in particularly good form during the first half. Despite the special treatment reserved for him by the Catania defenders, the “little guy” showed a great deal of tonus with only one week of training behind him. On the left hand side of the attack, André Ayew still needs to find his rhythm within a team that he, at the end of the day, does not know that well, having being away on loan for two seasons.

What forward line in Tunis?
Niang and Brandao being suspended for the Champions Trophy match against Paris on Wednesday, Didier Deschamps will have to compose a new look attack for this game. Having performed well over the course of the recent encounters, Jordan Ayew did not play on Saturday while Valbuena was in sparkling form. Both are candidates for the right hand side of the attack. For the centre of the attack, Samassa did not play while Ben Arfa played fairly well down the left flank. But, could Didier Deschamps change his system for the match against Paris?