Like Paris Saint-Germain (PSG), Olympique de Marseille (OM) faces intense media pressure. This is due to the enormous popularity of this French club, which boasts an impressive fan base both in France and worldwide. OM coaches tend to be sacked as soon as the club experiences a string of poor results.

This season, Marseille have had two coaches: Roberto de Zerbi and Habib Bèye. The Senegalese coach, appointed last February, has not had a better start at the club. He has only managed 4 wins in 9 matches played.

"When I see the matches we're playing today , it's a scandal."

Marseille's latest defeat came against Lorient last Saturday in Ligue 1. Habib Bèye's men were beaten 2-0 by the Merlus. Immediately after the match, sporting director Mehdi Benatia vented his anger to the press.

“When you’re here, you always have a sense of responsibility. Personally, I have no problem with that. If people tell me I brought in a coach for a project that was supposed to last longer, who unfortunately left, no problem. If people tell me the players we brought in, who were very good in September, have become very bad now, I still have no problem with that. And if I brought in a new coach who isn’t good either, I accept that.”

"But when I see the matches we're playing today, it's a scandal," the Franco-Moroccan player said.

"When you have five finals to play for a Champions League spot, it should show, but it doesn't."

He says he doesn't understand the attitude of the players who, according to him, didn't really give their all.

"We have five finals. We do training camps, it costs us money, but why? Because you want to work, you want to build a connection with the guys, because that's what's been missing. But in your opinion, how many came into the locker room today and turned the tables? Zero, nobody! You play for OM and you have a match like that and you accept it? When you play Lorient, who have nothing left to play for, and you don't win a single duel, you don't make a run forward, you're not enterprising, you don't try anything... When you have five finals to play for a Champions League objective, it should show. Except it doesn't. Going onto the pitch, winning duels, that's not something I'm good at," Benatia fumed.

To salvage what they can, the former Bayern Munich player intends to toughen the club's program in the coming weeks.

"I told the players not to plan anything for the next four weeks... To spend a little more time together.

"At the training ground, we're going to work hard. If we play like this, we're not going to win many points, that's for sure. If we have to spend the four weeks together, we'll spend them together. I have no problem with that. Work in the morning, in the afternoon, a good nap in the middle, and we'll get to work. When you play this kind of match against Lorient, you need to work on everything," said the OM sporting director.

A challenging program

No rest for the players this Monday. They will all be on duty. For Tuesday and Wednesday, the management has scheduled a training session in the morning and another in the afternoon. From Thursday to Sunday, the players will spend three full nights at their training center, La Commanderie, for a pre-season retreat.

The Marseille management clearly wants to signal to the players that their lack of commitment against Lorient is unacceptable and that things must change. These new measures by Benatia are therefore a form of punishment.

This evokes the image of a disciplinarian punishing his children for misbehaving. What the club's management seems to forget is that the players have egos.

"If your heart isn't really in it anymore, your legs won't follow."

Many players may find this punitive measure very difficult to accept and fail to deliver the expected results on the field. If their heart isn't in it, their legs won't follow. It would be a fundamental mistake to think that you can force a player to give their best on the pitch. They have to want to do it, even if it's their job.

The big loser in this story could well be OM, if at the end of the season they do not secure their place in the Champions League.