Marseille master art of winning ugly

19Feb 2013

One week before Marseille take on leaders PSG, they have rediscovered what it takes to win games without playing well, explains Ben Lyttleton...

It's one week to go until France's biggest grudge match, when leaders Paris Saint-Germain take on Marseille.

In recent years, the match has meant far less in terms of league importance than just for bragging rights, with two sets of fans extremely hostile towards each other. Next week's game has a different complexion to it, though: not just because it could be David Beckham's first home league appearance for PSG, or that he may be up against Marseille midfielder Joey Barton, who described him on his arrival in the French capital as "the second best-looking Englishman in Ligue 1".

No, for once, PSG and Marseille are two of the teams at the top of the table. While this is a title race that PSG should, and expect to, win - despite their shock 3-2 loss to Sochaux, which left three teams within five points of them - Marseille will not make life easy for them. PSG moved out to 1.31 to win Ligue 1, with Marseille 26.0.

Despite a patchy run of form, which saw them winless in three and fall eight points behind PSG and two behind second-placed Lyon, Marseille picked up a crucial three points in a 1-0 win over Valenciennes on Saturday night.

For a side that prides itself on home support, Marseille's home record was threatening to destabilise their campaign: six wins out of 11 is not quite top three form, with 16 goals scored, 15 conceded, and 20 points earned from a possible 33. That now reads 23 from 36 after Rod Fanni headed home a late winner in a bland affair against Valenciennies, whose nickname of 'Barcelona of the North' seemed like a joke, such was their cautious approach to the game.

Marseille's target is to finish in the top three this season, and with PSG assured of that, the biggest threat comes from Lyon, whose 4-0 Sunday win over Bordeaux leap-frogged them into second, while Nice and Saint-Etienne are three and four points back. Normally, a home total of between 34 points (Toulouse in 2007) and 41 points (Lille in 2006 and 2012) is enough to secure third. With seven home games left to play, the best Marseille can hope for is 44 points.

The three points did not quite dispel the concerns around the team, which were laid out by L'Equipe on the morning of the match. The paper claimed that Mathieu Valbuena was not happy being subbed off in the last two games, against Nancy and Evian, though he was Marseille's best player and their likeliest source of a goal. He played the full 90 against Valenciennes.

There were also question-marks about just what Barton brings to the side given that Charles Kabore, the Burkina Faso captain now back from leading his country to the final of the African Cup of Nations, is back and available. Alaixys Romao is a January arrival from Lorient and he joins Benoit Cheyrou and Barton for the place to partner Kabore. That said, Barton has totally won over his team-mates and everyone connected to the club with his easy charm and positive outlook (even though he does complain about the music played in the dressing-room).

The biggest plus from Saturday night was Marseille's clean sheet, its first since December 23. The team started the season brilliantly, defensively, conceding only once in the first six games. But going into the weekend action, it had only the eighth-best defence, caused in part by three big losses, to Valenciennes (1-4), Lyon (1-4) and Lorient (0-3), and also the lack of regular centre-back partner for Nicolas Nkoulou (Souleymane Diawara has not been at his best this season, and Lucas Mendes inconsistent).

In fact, it is testament to coach Baup that the team with the eighth-best defence, ninth-best attack and a goal difference of just plus three is on the podium at all. "That's the crazy thing about Marseille this season," wrote So Foot. "They don't appear to be much, but you just can't write them off." If any team has perfected the art of winning ugly, it's Marseille. PSG would do well to remember that next week.