KPatterson

Saturday 2nd August 2003

Marseille v Rennes
Stade Velodrome
French First League

A crowd of almost 44000 turned up this evening to see us face Rennes on the first day of a long and, what I hope will be, an ultimately successful season.

We lined up in the same 4-4-2 system that we’ve been using all pre-season with what I believe to be our strongest line-up. Vedran Runje was always going to get the nod in goal ahead of new signing Filimonov. Our back four lined up (from left to right) as Torres Mestre, Khrapkovskiy, Mexes and Beye. Three of the four are new signings with Habib Beye the only survivor from the team I inherited. Having said that, he was signed just before I arrived so it may take them a while to gain an understanding. I had originally signed Khrapkovskiy as a backup player, but he has been so impressive thus far that I decided to play him. In fact I went one step further by naming him as captain for the day due to the absence of the injured Manuel Dos Santos.

In midfield we went with Vachousek on the left covering for the injured Skacel, and Edson Araujo came in on the right after looking like our best player for that position in the friendly matches. In the middle Mikel Arteta took the holding role, with Kim Kallstrom encouraged to push forward more.

Finally, up front I paired Didier Drogba with Mido.

The first half an hour or so was a tense affair, with neither team willing to commit too many men forward. In fact, it took until the 34th minute for either team to register a shot on target.

Thankfully, things brightened up a bit after that as Drogba powered a header just over the bar from a Torres Mestre corner. Then Mido gave us the lead on 39 when he ran onto a Edson Araujo flick on and powered a shot past Rennes keeper Petr Cech. The crowd went wild and I have to admit that I showed a bit of emotion too. Drogba nearly added a second goal five minutes later, but was denied by a fine save from Cech to leave the score 1-0 at halftime.

I was pretty happy with the first half performance, so at half time I just told the players to keep on doing the same things in the second 45.

We continued to control things after the break, but Rennes held out until the 78th minute before Arteta put the result beyond doubt. Once again, there was no fancy build up for the goal. Beye put a long throw into the box which Mido got to before Cech, flicking it on to Arteta who had the simplest of finishes from 15 yards.

By and large a pleasing performance, but I was particularly satisfied by the fact that Rennes failed to register a single shot in the 90 minutes. If we can defend as well as that against the stronger opposition in the league, we’ll have a real chance this season.

Marseille 2 – 0 Rennes
Marseille: Runje, Beye, Torres Mestre, Mexes (Borbiconi 78), Khrapkovskiy, Edson Araujo, Vachousek, Arteta, Kallstrom (N’Diaye 78), Mido, Drogba (Dagoberto 68).
Marseille scorers: Mido, Arteta
MoM: Mido

KPatterson

Wednesday 6th August 2003

Our Brazilian based scout was on the phone again yesterday to talk about Robinho. Who else? I seem to spend half my life chasing him. Anyway, Robinho’s contract is due to expire in six months time and that means that he is now able to sign a pre-contractual agreement with any club that wants him. If that is the case, he’ll move without a fee when his contract runs out. I know that there are a whole host of top sides interested in signing him so we’ll face strong competition for his signature; conversely he may even decide to follow the example of Alejandro Dominguez of River, who chose to stay in his homeland instead of moving to Europe.

The only problem is that I think we’d need to offer him wages in the region of €60k per week (about €3m per year), and maybe even more if we want him to move here rather than, say Inter, who I know are also interested. At present Vedran Runje is our highest earner, but he is on less than €20k per week. If I give three times that to the 19 year old Brazilian, then I’m sure I’d get others knocking on my door asking for a new deal. It’s a tough situation to be in, but I’ve been after Robinho almost since the day I took over here. He’s flying over here tomorrow to have a look around, I just hope his demands aren’t as high as I’m expecting them to be.

I took my mind off Robinho tonight by travelling to Bosnia to watch Leotar take on Kaunas in the second leg of their Second Qualifying Round of the Champions League. Leotar took a 4-2 lead into the game so I fully expected them to go through. Kaunas did cause them some problems at the back and the 5-0 result flattered Leotar a bit, but they did look like a good side. They have some good young players mixed with strong attackers, and Kaunas found it hard to cope with them. In particular, 20 year old midfielder Dusan Kerkez looks like his runs from midfield could cause us problems, and striker Pavle Delibasic looks like a handful, especially in the air. That’s not to say that he’s bad on the deck either.

We’ll face them at Stade Velodrome in the first leg next Wednesday. It could turn out to be quite a testing match for us, but it has a huge level of importance both sides. We budget on reaching the group stages of the Champions League, and if we fail to do that there could be severe consequences for the club. That includes not even being able to think about signing the likes of Robinho!

Before that game though, we have to concentrate on Saturday’s league match away at Lens. They lost their first game 3-0 away to Lyon, but don’t let that make you think it will be easy for us; they will be a different proposition at their own ground.

KPatterson

Friday 8th August 2003

I’ve decided that we should put all of our resources into going for Robinho. I told the chairman when I joined the club that I wanted us to make an impact on the Champions League within the next five years; the only way we’ll do that is if we sign top class players. Even at such a tender age he has extraordinary talent, the fact that he already plays for the Brazilian national side proves that.

I was a little worried, however, that when he and his advisors did land, they told me that he is also due to meet with Juventus, Inter, Hertha Berlin, Stuttgart and Dortmund within the week. We’re really going to find it difficult to get him with that lot interested as well. We do have a lot of positives as well, but I’d be fooling myself if I thought that we were a bigger club than the likes of Inter and Juve.

I did my best to persuade Robinho that we are the right club for him. I stressed that we have an exciting young team here and that we’ll be one of the best teams in Europe in the coming years. He would be a big part of that and, even if things don’t go our way, he can learn about European football here in France under less pressure than he would in Italy or Germany. I also told him where I think we can improve his game, for example his tactical awareness and playing with his back to the goal.

In the end though, things inevitably come down to money and that could be where we fall down. We simply don’t have the resources of the big Italian and German sides, but we’ve offered him pretty much everything we can. At least if we don’t get him, we’ll know that there was nothing more we could do.

KPatterson

Saturday 9th August 2003

Lens v Marseille
Stade Felix Bollaert
French First League

Today’s game reminded me a lot of our pre-season game with Ajax. We started well and took the lead after 9 minutes when Arteta played in Drogba to smack the ball home from an acute angle. But then we had numerous chances that we wasted, with Drogba the main culprit. He tends to snatch at chances when he gets them, even when he doesn’t need to.

As the game wore on, Lens came into it and they started to put us under a bit of pressure. In fact Vedran Runje was forced into three great saves in the second half which kept is in the game.

Thankfully Drogba’s goal was enough to give us two wins out of two, and we go into Wednesday’s clash with Leotar in good spirits. However, Beye is in a race against time to get fit for that one after he picked up a calf strain in the second half of today’s match.

Lens 0 – 1 Marseille
Marseille: Runje, Beye (Borbiconi 82), Torres Mestre, Mexes, Khrapkovskiy, Edson Araujo, Vachousek, Arteta, Kallstrom (Ghioane 82), Mido, Drogba (Dagoberto 82).
Marseille scorer: Drogba
MoM: Runje

KPatterson

Tuesday 12th August 2003

I’ve had a busy couple of days trying to tie up a few loose ends of a transfer that we’ve been working on for a week or so. I hadn’t mentioned it because my mind was set on Robinho, but we are close to signing Ajax’s Tunisian right back Hatem Trabelsi on a pre-contractual agreement. We still have a couple of things we need to sort out, but I don’t foresee any problems.

I was first impressed by Trabelsi when he played for Ajax against us in the Vodaphone Cup and, knowing that his contract runs out in January, we’ve been monitoring his progress since. I actually flew to Holland on Sunday to watch him in action in the Dutch Super Cup match between Ajax and PSV, but he was sent off after just 14 minutes! Talk about a wasted trip, he’d better not do that when he plays for us. To be honest, I hadn’t planned to sign another right back, but I felt that this was too good an opportunity to turn down.

Meanwhile, still no word from Robinho or his advisors.

KPatterson

Thanks SUPAH AP

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Wednesday 13th August 2003

Marseille v Leotar
Stade Velodrome
Champions League Third Qualifying Round, 1st Leg

As I’d expected, the Hatem Trabelsi deal has been finalised and he’ll join us at the start of January. It means that I’ll probably try and sell one of our other right backs, but I’m concentrating on other things just now. After all, there’s no rush.

Speaking of right backs, the calf strain that Beye picked up in the Lens game wasn’t as serious as we had first thought, so he took his place in the same starting line-up that had beaten Rennes and Lens.

To say that we overran our Bosnian visitors would be like saying that Pele was an OK player. We created chance after chance, but they just kept throwing bodies in front of the ball. We must have hit the woodwork about 3 times and their goalkeeper made four or five great saves. In spite of this, they held us out until the half hour mark when Philippe Mexes headed home his first goal for the club from a Torres Mestre corner. The Spaniard has a sweet left peg and he uses it to deliver some accurate corner kicks.

Going in 1-0 up at half time is sometimes a difficult thing to do in European games at your own ground. Do you sit on the lead, happy that you haven’t conceded the dreaded away goal, or do you go for it and try to put the tie beyond doubt?

I decided to go for it, but I was made to regret it almost immediately. In a rare foray forward, Leotar won a corner. I’d already told our players to be wary of the opponents height at set pieces, but they clearly chose to ignore me as Halilovic headed home the equaliser.

That seemed to rile the players up a bit and we upped the pace of the game. Things were still not going our way though as shots bounced off legs and bodies and bounced clear or went wide. I thought it wasn’t going to be our night until Mido pounced on a loose balls in the box to give us a one goal advantage.

Just as it looked as though it was going to end 2-1, substitute Tiberiu Ghioane struck a fine volley in injury time to give us a bit more breathing space going to Bosnia for the second leg.

Marseille 3 - 1 Leotar
Marseille: Runje, Beye, Torres Mestre, Mexes, Khrapkovskiy, Edson Araujo, Vachousek, Arteta (N’Diaye71 ), Kallstrom (Ghioane 83), Mido, Drogba (Dagoberto 71).
Marseille scorers: Mexes, Mido, Ghioane
Leotar scorer: Halilovic
MoM: Mido

KPatterson

Friday 15th August 2003

With the end of the transfer window looming, things are beginning to heat up in the market and I’ve been on the phone almost non-stop for the last couple of days. I’m not looking to buy anyone (unless you count my constant badgering of Robinho’s agent looking for an answer); it’s mainly clubs enquiring about our players.

One player that I certainly don’t want to sell is Vedran Runje, but that hasn’t put Lens off trying. They want to pay €5m for the ‘keeper plus young striker Ibramina N’Diaye. I’ve asked them for a bit more because I want to keep the keeper (so to speak), but I am interested in N’Diaye; he’s a good prospect. Meanwhile, I’m on the lookout for a replacement goalkeeper in case they come back with an improved offer.

A couple of bids that I was happy to accept were from Gueugnon and Monaco for Karim Dahou and Bruno Corvasce respectively. Neither of the players is in my plans so I’ve told them they can leave. Both deals include sell on clauses so I think we’re safe to let them go.

I’ve also accepted a couple of bids for 20 year old defender Fabien Laurenti. I think he’s a decent prospect for the future, but with Trabelsi on his way, Laurenti will become fourth in line to play at right back. I don’t think it’s fair on the lad to deny him the first team football that he needs for his development, so I’ve agreed to let him go. The fees we’ve been offered seem fair for a player of his potential so he’ll go with my blessing.

Finally, we’ve accepted a loan offer from Toulon for young midfielder Mathieu Flamini.

KPatterson

Saturday 16th August 2003

Marseille v Bastia
Stade Velodrome
French First League

Today’s win against Bastia means that we’re the only club left in the league with a 100% record intact. It’s been a positive start, especially when you remember that we’re yet to concede a goal in the league. However, you also have to remember that we haven’t played any of the big guns yet.

For a while I thought we weren’t going to get much out of today’s game, such was the tenacity and desire of our visitors to leave with a point. They defended in numbers, and they did it well, but in the end they shot themselves in the foot.

With just over an hour gone, Beye played an innocuous ball forward which Bastia defender Yahia picked up and played back to the keeper, who played it back to the defender again. Then Yahia tried to knock it back to the keeper, but he somehow managed to hit the ball off the leg of team mate Saveljic who deflected it past the helpless goalkeeper into his own net.

That signalled the end of the game really. Bastia had turned up with a gameplan not to concede any goals and the found it hard to change from that. Edson Araujo headed home a late second for his first goal for the club to round of a good result.

Marseille 2 - 0 Bastia
Marseille: Runje, Beye, Torres Mestre, Mexes, Khrapkovskiy (Borbiconi 80), Edson Araujo, Vachousek, Arteta, Kallstrom (Ghioane 74), Mido, Drogba (Dagoberto 74).
Marseille scorers: Saveljic OG, Edson Araujo
MoM: Drogba

KPatterson

Tuesday 19th August 2003

I don’t know whether it was the talk he had with me, or the 4 year deal worth €14m which persuaded him, but Robinho has agreed to join us when his contract expires on 25th January next year. It’s an amazing coup for the club to get someone of his talent and everyone involved in the deal is absolutely delighted with the outcome. I’m sure he’s going to be a huge star. It’s a lot of money to be paying any player, never mind a 19 year old, but it shows our ambition – it also shows that the chairman trusts my judgement to pay so much for a player with no proven track record, but I’m happy to put my reputation on the line for this one. He’s worth his weight in gold, or maybe even more!

My mood has been dampened slightly, however, by the news that Victor Manuel Torres Mestre has torn his groin muscle and needs an operation. It’s likely that he’ll be out until the end of January. It’s terrible news because he’d fitted in so well, it’s as though he’s played here his entire career. With Dos Santos still a month away from returning to training nevermind full fitness, Stephane Borbiconi will fill in at left back (with Sylvain N’Diaye the other possible replacement).

Another three players left the club today to bring our total received for transfers this season to the €15.5m mark. Not bad considering we’ve only spent €10m and, in my opinion anyway, we’ve improved the squad.

The first player to leave was young strikerKarim Dahou, who has signed for Gueugnon. Dahou is just like so many other youngsters these days: good skills with the ball at his feet, but never looks up and doesn’t have a final ball. Perhaps regular first team football will help him improve on that.

Next to leave was young defender Bruno Corvasce, who is on his way to Monaco. I’m not sure what Didier Deschamps sees in him, but I don’t think he’ll every make it in the game. Maybe he’ll prove me wrong.

The final player to leave, and the one I had to think hardest about selling, was Fabien Laurenti. The talented youngster has moved to PSG for a fee of €1.7m. I’ve already given my reason for his departure and I can’t really say anything else about it.

One player that won’t be leaving, at least for the time being, is our number one goalkeeper Vedran Runje. Lens have refused to increase their original bid for the player after we asked for more money, so that deal is dead and buried. I’m quite happy with that, because I didn’t really want to sell him in the first place.

KPatterson

Wednesday 20th August 2003

Le Mens v Marseille
Stade Leon Bollee
French First League

Our good run of results continued today as we scrapped and fought our way to a 1-0 victory over bottom team Le Mens.

A second half penalty from Edson Araujo was enough to ensure the three points came back to Stade Velodrome. The Brazilian has proved to be a good signing so far, and he has made the right midfield spot his own. I had originally signed him because of his versatility and I thought he would be a good player to have on the bench. However, he has surprised us all with the consistency that he’s shown. Hopefully he’ll keep it up over the course of the season.

I’m becoming slightly concerned with the fitness, or lack thereof, of Drogba and Kim Kallstrom. Neither of them seems capable of lasting the full 90 minutes in any game. I may have to speak to our physio about putting them on a special training schedule to increase their fitness levels.

Le Mens 0 – 1 Marseille
Marseille: Runje, Beye, Borbiconi, Mexes, Khrapkovskiy, Edson Araujo (Meite 66), Vachousek, Arteta, Kallstrom (Ghioane 66), Mido, Drogba (Dagoberto 66).
Marseille scorer: Edson Araujo (pen)
MoM: Mido