At the end of the 2-1 defeat in Paris which now leaves OM fifteen points behind PSG but still three points ahead of third-placed Rennes, Jorge Sampaoli, the Argentinian coach, appeared at the conference Press. “We are going to start with a maximum of five questions,” said the club’s communications officer.
Do you feel like you missed your game?
JORGE SAMPAOLI. I understand that to play this kind of game, you have to be in control. Then we can create chances. The opponent didn’t have many chances either. We could have equalized. Unfortunately that was not the case but the team played a smart game.
Are you surprised by the penalty whistle for the hand of Rongier as much as your president is?
No, it’s an arbitral decision. And I don’t comment on the decisions of the referees, it’s not up to me to do that.
In the second half, we saw you angry at some of the referee’s decisions…
It’s the game. There are pulsations, emotions in the heat of the action… But everyone is doing their job. It’s not up to me to judge his match but rather to those who appointed him.
We felt OM shy in sequences, didn’t we?
I think our best moment was after PSG’s first goal. We saw a numerical superiority in our circles because we were all running together. We succeeded in destabilizing them. Until 1-1, we were more incisive. Conversely, the last ten minutes of the first period were the worst. In the second half, it was a midfield battle. If we had played with deeper attackers, we might have lost more severely. It was not our game. We were there to control. That was the plan.
Don’t you regret OM’s lack of attacking weight despite everything?
Yes, we can see the match as you say. But you have to see the context. After the trip to Greece on Thursday, we only had one day to prepare for the match. Without this notion of control, it would have been worse. This is not a fair result. We didn’t deserve to lose. If we had had speed players in front, we would have ended up paying for it. With the three best in the world they have ahead. Opposite is another level. We would surely have paid dearly for the possible loss of bullets. We may not have had as many chances as we would have liked, but I don’t think they had many more.
