This is a tactical analysis of Marseille's encounter with Lille in the 19/20 season.

1. Olympique Marseille V LOSC Lille
19/20 Season
TACTICAL ANALYSIS BY TIKITAKALMR
Christophe Galtier – Lille Head Coach
Andre Villas Boas – Marseille Head Coach
Stade Vélodrome - Adresse, Horaire - Mappy
Weather: Clear
Temperature: 21°

2. Starting Line-ups
30 Mandanda
18 Amavi 15 Calte-Car 3 Gonzalez 2 Sakai
4 Kamara
8 Sanson 21 Rongier
10 Payet 9 Benedetto 17 Sarr
1-4-3-3
1-3-4-3
16 Magnan
6 Gabriel5 Soumaoro2 Djalo
28 Reinildo
24 Soumare21 Andre17 Celik
10 Ikone9 Remy12 Yazici

3. Marseille in possession set-up
As seen in the image above OM lined up in a 4-3-3 in possession and were very wide and expansive when in possession as seen by the positioning of the fullbacks and
wingers, this can also be seen by looking at their heatmaps (provided by whoscored.com).
#2 Sakai - DR #18 Amavi DL #17 Sarr FWR #10 Payet FWL

4. Marseille out of possession set-up
Out of possession OM formed a 4-1-4-1, this formation worked well as the 4 in midfield outnumbered the 2 Lille central
Midfielders and the wide Lille midfielders were 1v1 with the Lille fullbacks whilst Ikone was marked by Kamara and the two
Strikers were obviously marked by both OM centre backs.

5. Lille in possession set-up
When in possession Lille played a 3-4-3, they have a man over covering in defence this also allowed them to build from the
back as one striker obviously can’t mark three defenders. When Lille win possession the fullbacks push up and wide and
play as wingers, this gives the team width.

6. Lille out of possession Set-Up
Lille set up in a 5-3-2 when out
of possession, they had a spare
man to cover Marseille’s single
striker #9 Benedetto, not only is this
useful when defending it also allows
build up play from the back to be
easier as you always have a free
player as an option. The fullbacks of
course mark the wingers ( #17 Sarr
and #10 Payet) and maintained a
narrow and a compact relationship
with the centre backs. This midfield
triangle is effective when defending
as the deepest pair mark the most
advanced Marseille midfielders ( #21
Rongier and #8 Sanson) whilst the
point of the triangle marks #4
Kamara. Of course the front two will
seek to press the central defenders.

7. OM – Defensive Organisation
During this phase we see that
Marseille block any clear and
simple forward options, the Lille
defender attempts to create
something himself but is
dispossessed. This phase also
displays Marseille’s high intensity
of pressing and their pursuit of
having numerical superiority
around the ball in pressing zones.

8. Marseille – Defensive Organisation
(continued)
This screenshot from the previous clip clearly shows that Marseille
man mark out of possession which results in a lack of short passing
options so the defender attempts to carry the ball himself. This also
displays Lille’s lack of movement in the build up phase.
As #2 Dialo (Lille) drives into the space created by the man marking system of OM,
he is instantly pressured and as I mentioned is dispossessed.

9. OM – Defensive organisation (continued)
We can see a 2v2 in the wide area, which leaves space for players to attack. The players receives the ball in the penalty area and
immediately is pressed by a collection of OM players (4v1)

10. OM – Defensive transition
There are many things we can identify by analysing this clip, lets break it down.

11. OM –Defensive transition (continued)
1. When OM lose the ball, instant pressure is put on Soumare by Rongier and Kamara, meaning
that there is a numerical advantage in favour of OM (2v1), this forces him backwards.
2. The highlighted area (blue) is completely dominated by Marseille players
(7 OM players and 4 Lille players) meaning that any possible passing lanes
are blocked for Lille, but Lille still want to progress forwards and the only
way of doing this is by passing to Celik whom is free and in space on the
right hand side(seen in yellow), this is exactly what OM want.

12. OM –Defensive transition (continued)
4 v 1
The ball is passed to Celik out wide and as Lille actively search for a ball forwards or horizontally he passes
to Soumare whom is surrounded by 4 OM players. As a result of this:
OM win the ball back, as instant pressure is put on Soumare and is isolated amongst OM players

13. OM –Defensive transition (continued)
• This was another example of OM’s intense/aggressive style of
defending, this was also shown in the 20 tackles that OM won across
the game:

14. Lille – Defensive Organisation
In this clip we see that Lille are very aggressive in their press and press in numbers (5v5), they also man mark and block the
options for the player on the ball which prevents OM from progressing into attack and eventually forcing them to play long

15. Lille – Defensive organisation (continued)
Lille press and organise themselves to have a numerical equality
with Marseille which makes it hard for OM to play and advance up
the pitch. This photo shows them man marking OM in a 5 v 5 scenario.
As all of the ball carrier’s options are marked he doesn’t know what to do and
this almost results in Lille winning the ball high up the pitch, he can’t turn forwards
so he’s forced to play the ball backwards all the way back to the goalkeeper. The
ball is eventually kicked long by the goalkeeper and Lille restore possession.

16. Lille – Defensive organisation (continued)
Again this clip shows how aggressive Lille pressed and blocked all nearby options, this forces an error from #15
Calte Car.

17. OM – Offensive play
In this counter attack alone there are things we can identify as characteristics in the way that OM attack

18. OM – Offensive play (continued)
Ball is on the left hand side, and OM
decide to reload the attack and switch
the point of attack.
The ball is then passed backwards to a Sanson in space,
he then switches it.
Changing the point of the attack
Sakai receives the ball on right hand side,
meaning that the point of the attack has changed

19. Lille - Offensive play
Here we see Lille win the ball back deep in their on third and within a matter of seconds they almost breach into Marseille’s
penalty area. So how exactly did they manage to do this?

20. Lille - Offensive play (continued)
• Midfield rotation to create space
The two OM players are blocking the passing lane to Ikone who is unmarked and in space.
So the midfielder moves away from the play, dragging two OM players with
him, which opens a clear passing lane to either of the two players.moves from yellow to red

21. Lille - Offensive play (continued)
As Ikone has a lot of space by dropping deeper and as the ball is about
to be played into him, one of the OM players steps out and challenge him,
this leaves a space behind which Lille do well to expose.
Here Ikone lays the ball of to Soumare who
plays the ball vertically beyond the OM back
line.

22. Lille - Offensive play (continued)
This clever wide play by Lille was very effective and uses intelligent combination play as well as smart moving by the Lille
players.

23. Lille - Offensive play (continued)
Instantly we can recognise that Lille are an advantage in this
situation 4 Lille players v 3 OM players.
Intelligent first time pass played into Reinildo who is 2v1 on Sakai with Ikone. Sakai decides to
press Reinildo which leaves Ikone in space and Lille do well to expose this.

24. Lille adopted a 4-2-3-1 late in the 2nd half to have more stability in the midfield area. It did have
work to some extent but OM changed into a 4-4-2 to challenge this

25. OM changed into a 4-4-2 late in the 2nd half, in order to deal with Lille’s 4-2-3-1