1st Team

Strasbourg 3-3 OM: OM miss out

Posted by
Frédéric Rostain
On Monday 16 October 2017 at 08:40

The last time we saw the Olympiens before the international break was out on the pitch in Nice, where they achieved their third win in a row in L1 after having been 2-0 behind after 17 minutes. They therefore began the game carefully in Strasbourg. In the fifth minute, Payet, playing with great mobility, converted a ball in from Amavi. The goal resulted from a team move begun by the Reunion player, continued by his teammates, and finally concluded by Payet. But the Marseille players were not able to drive home their advantage and the Alsace players responded well by monopolising possession of the ball. With the team deprived of Gustavo and Ocampos, Sanson and N'Jie were playing on the left of midfield and, for the first time, Mitroglou was up front right from the start of the match. Strasbourg were dominating possession and OM were playing on the counter. After attempts by Goncalves, Terrier and Da Costa, Aholou equalised, though not without a certain amount of luck as his shot took deflections from two Olympiens on the way in. His strike resulted from a shot by Terrier that Mandanda had only managed to knock half clear straight out of the area.
The match then really came alive as Rudi Garcia's men took back control of the game. Thauvin got N'jie in behind the defence but the Cameroon player missed the target. Mitroglou, released down the side of the area by Payet, attempted to thread the ball between Kamara's legs but he managed to deflect it away for a corner. Marseille's final attempt came from Thauvin, but the Strasbourg keeper had the ball covered.

In the second half, OM again began excellently, with Sanson scoring after two minutes with a shot that was meant as a cross but which ended up in the back of Kamara's net after taking a slight deflection from Koné. As in the first half, the Olympiens loosened their hold on the match and failed to keep up their dominance. In fact, Thierry Laurey's formation looked a threat when crossing the ball. Terrier was outstanding, and prevented Mandanda from getting in any powerful shots in what was his 453rd match in a Marseille shirt. The young international hope, on loan to Strasbourg from Lille, then had a missed shot on goal. And as in the first half, there were chances upon chances. Koné made things level again between the two teams from a corner.
Having lost their lead twice, the Olympiens were feeling the effects, whereas the Alsace players, cheered on by their fans, began to increase the pressure on the Marseille defence. Liénard tried his luck with a long-range shot which, deflected by Rami's head, ended up deceiving Mandana. Having been chasing the game, Strasbourg were now leading for the first time 74 minutes into the match. The men in blue might even have increased their lead further from a double attempt by Bahoken, who ended up hitting the post, and from Terrier, who missed the target, despite having a clear site on goal.
Mitroglou, Rolando, Payet and Lopez all tried their luck. Finally, after a long-range strike from Amavia that Kamari could only knock straight out, Mitroglou managed to score a true poacher's goal and equalise.

Rudi Garcia and his men come away from Strasbourg with a point. They were twice ahead in the game, however, and could therefore have won. Given that they were behind at the start of the final fifteen minutes, a point is not the worst outcome. Nevertheless, Marseille have missed out on a good opportunity to improve their position in the table. A victory would have enabled OM to get back level with Monaco in second.