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/image%2F0934432%2F20150124%2Fob_be2849_omfbanner960-2.jpg "OM – Le Puy (1-1) : the Match Girls")
OM – Le Puy (1-1) : the Match Girls
By Philippe Serve
The Olympique de Marseille féminin could not do better than a draw snatched at home and in injury time against Le Puy (1-1), on behalf of the final day of D2 Championship’s first phase (Group C). A 100th anniversary somewhat spoiled...
We had high expectations of this meeting. A performance and a result in the form of a firework worthy of coming Christmas. Of course, the opponent, Le Puy 43 Auvergne, was not a sin offering, far from it. With their third place just behind OM, the Auvergnates hoped "to pull it off", as we wrote in these columns...
Warning: If this article sounds too critical in the eyes of some, it was written in the light of hopes and certainty that the Olympians have created; and because we project ourselves on the prospect of an entire season, putting every game in relation to those before and those who follow, not per se, isolated.
OM stammers its results
This Sunday, December 7, 2014, was not meant a day like any other for the Olympians and their staff management. Not only it was the end of the first half of the season, but also — perhaps especially — Christophe Parra’s and all its group’s 100th game since the launch of the women's section of the OM, in summer 2011. An anniversary ! To celebrate with legitimate pride.
How Christophe deserves well this jersey autographed by all his group !
So, we were hoping Christmas before Christmas. Let’s not remain silent, we are disappointed. Behind the draw conceded to a very good team (1-1), which would be nothing objectionable in itself, a new painful performance at home is hiding. The Olympians have gone a hair of a terrible disappointment of a first home defeat and must thank loudly their pocket scorer and box vixen Pauline Cousin, who knew how to slide between the legs of the keeper a ball that the latter had released at the end of extra time (90 + 4 ') !
Thanks, "Popo" !
This is the third consecutive time that the team stammers its football at home after the snatched win over modest La Véore-Montoison (2-1 after being down 0-1) and the draw given to FA Marseille who was outnumbered and led 0-2 (2-2). Another cold sweat score of parity with Nivolas-Vermelle should be added (2-2, whith this time the Olympians trailed 0-2 after 15')... For a contender for the accession to D1, an ill-came slowdown on accounting term, and only in accounting term, a sign perhaps that something is sticking.
Will good-will and mental strength be enough ?
Once again, and they must be congratulated for this, the Olympians have displayed their usual strength of character, which drives them to never give up, to fight to the last second. Let’s not nitpick : this asset will always prove extremely important and cause many victories, such as those brought from Claix (2-1) or Nimes (1-0). But can we climb to the top of the D2 hierarchy — it must be recalled that only one team will go to D1 — if this asset, indispensable, became vital ? In other words, how often will the Olympians be able to still snatch wins or draws in the injury time or after being down the score ? By playing with matches, we often end up burning our fingers...
Charline is on watch...
As said above, no shame in not beating an excellent team as Le Puy, and OM would have deserved the win. Yes, but here it is : the lost points are lost, hence the need to put a tourniquet and stop the bleeding when it occurs. 4 pts left at Nivolas’ and against the FAMF are not such anecdotes they allow to give other two at home. Since the creation of D2, no team having finished top of Group C and accessing the D1, has left more than 10 pts in way during the season, with the exception of Rodez in 2009-2010 (13 pts). OM already accounts for 9 of its liabilities. There are still 11 games to go. In that, yes, we believe that this draw against Le Puy, as a beautiful team it is, can be analyzed as an underperformance the Olympians cannot afford any more, especially at home. Apart from its two defeats (6 pts lost) against its two main competitors Toulouse and Marseille, Nimes has dropped any points to anyone. If football has nothing to do — thankfully! — with Mathematics as a science, arithmetic admits no mercy at the end of the calculations.
Imperative: tighten the defense.
This OM féminin always creates a lot of scoring opportunities, but although the best attack in Group C, too many of them end up wide, on the goalie or the posts. Bad luck does not exist in football, and serves as a balm on the wounds of the least demanding only. The ball hits a post ? The shot was out of target. That is all. Refusing to invoke bad luck is not the same as yelling at any faulty clumsiness, let’s emphasize it. Criticism is easy and football difficult... We won’t establish as an absolute rule the bombing of the opposing goal from all angles and growth of shooting statistics. No, the only valid rule is : send the ball into the net. Better to put a decisive goal from a total of three occasions, rather than none out of ten shots on target or not. It has a name: realism. You should know killing games. OM did it in Nimes, Le Puy almost succeeded at Roger Lebert stadium, within seconds...
Anaïs not far from her first goal in D2…
Nevertheless, OM scores every Sunday. No goalless game since the start of the season. Which promoted team can boast of such a thing ? Pauline Cousin, recruited to score, maintains her rank (8 goals) and Alicia Pourquiès keeps her promises (6). But if the team shines at the 2nd place in the ranking with the best attack, it has the fifth defense only with nearly double goals taken compared to Nîmes, the leader : 12 against 7. If this gap from the simple to double (almost) continues, no doubt it would deprive the Olympians of their season’s end dream. No team ending with such a differential and defensive liability has accessed the D1 in this group C since the beginning of the D2, seven years ago. The last three promoted, Toulouse, Muret and Albi, all finished with the best defense...
Leader in the standings for the first time three games ago, here are the Olympians now three points behind the Nîmoises Crocodiles, and under the direct threat of Toulouse who, if winning its late game in Le Puy, would join them, and even pass ahead thanks to the goal difference, personal (first criterion for separating tie teams) as well as general.
Capt'ain Léa sounds the charge !
A welcome break
Sunday evening December 14, after the French Cup match (1st Federal Round, equivalent to 1/64, at ASPTT Montpellier’s ground, a DH Team) for which Christophe Parra announced his intention to change his workforce to reward some players of the group in need of playing time, the Olympians will leave for three weeks of well-deserved vacation (1). With the balance sheet showing 7 wins (one in Nîmes), 3 draws and only 1 defeat in Toulouse in the very first day. Who would not have signed on the morning of 14th September for such a midterm result ?
Yes, if you want to give yourself a learning year in D2 for a group that, staff included, is discovering the level, out of three or four players. Neighboring FA Marseille shone in 2012-13. Promoted without the exceptional means of OM, they had finished second, with Alexandra Moziyan scoring 24 goals. But this performance did not lead to next year's Grail however, and most likely not this season either...
The championship will only resume on January 18 with the welcoming of Muret, on its way to relegation, and beaten 0-5 at home by OM in the first leg. Then two games in February : 1st of the month in Aurillac and the 15th at home against Claix... Make a fresh start and not leave any point on the road, here are the Olympians’ duties in 2015. And remember Muret who, in 2012-13 had lost 10 points in its first 7 matches before winning ... the next 15, without a single fail, and finished first, 9 points ahead of the FAM... An example to be meditated... and imitated !
(1) On condition to be qualified in French Cup, the 1/32 being played January 4, 2015.
P.S.
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