With the 6-th worst defensive record in the league, the OM rearguard has taken time to settle this season. Often switched around due to injury and suspensions, the OM defence has only just, in the last few weeks, notably against Porto and then Lyon, found a strong rhythm. “It’s not a huge handicap to have changes to your backline, but without them it would have been much easier to develop our understandings and find our feet. That said, we have been training together for 4 or 5 months now. So we know what we can rely on in any of the different players who get the nod,” explains Gaël Givet.
“It doesn’t really matter who the players are if tactically we’re not rigorous and disciplined - you can’t expect anything in that case,” adds Jacques Faty. “If we don’t make the necessary efforts, if we don’t have a tactical plan, we can’t hope for anything. Against Lyon, we did well in winning the ball back, we were committed and we knocked the ball around well. Until the end of the season, that’s what we need to do. We’ll win some and lose some but we have t hang onto this foundation we’ve built that helped us so much against Lyon. That’s why I think the best is yet to come.”

On Saturday, against Metz, which has the 2nd-worst defence in the league, the Olympiens will try to apply the tactical principles they showed so well playing away to the reigning L1 champions. OM and the Lorrain club have already met this season, in the Coupe de la Ligue. 0-0 after 90 minutes, then extra time, during which 4 goals were driven home! “In the Coupe de la Ligue, we didn’t play well,” recalls Gaël Givet. “We need to give it more gas, more vigour and more rhythm. They came close to getting a result at the Vélodrome. We have to do things differently this time and prove that we really want the 3 points.”

JACQUES FATY: “I ONLY THINK ABOUT MY CLUB”
On a strictly personal level, the former Rennes player is slightly torn. An U-21 international, he hasn’t yet broken into the senior national team. “My start to the season was half-baked. With our current situation, you can’t expect to be called up to the national team, even if there are exceptions like Samir Nasri. If you’re not doing well with your club, you can’t hope for anything, but if, collectively, we get things back on track, one could hope for an eventual call-up to the France side, but for the moment I’m not thinking about that; I only think about my club.”