Gennaro Gattuso believes that his side’s lack of fitness was behind Olympique de Marseile’s significant drop-off in the second half of their draw against Brighton, as they squandered a 2-0 lead at the Vélodrome.
Marseille scored twice in two minutes in the first half, however, they couldn’t hang onto their lead. Second-half goals from Pascal Gross and João Pedro salvaged a point for Roberto De Zerbi’s Brighton.
In a press conference, attended by Get French Football News, Gattuso explained that he believes his side aren’t at the right physical level to put in a full 90-minute performance, and believes that his predecessor’s style of play is a reason for that.
“We need to run for 90 minutes. We could see that until the 65th minute before the changes, we ran in a different way, we pressed in a different way as well. What we did wasn’t what we prepared, we lost ourselves a bit. We always need to be very attentive. I don’t think the draw was due to the substitutes, but if you don’t press Brighton well, and don’t do the good things, they can punish you. I respect Marcelino and his staff, but he had a different style of play and I think that the players have 60 or 65 minutes in their legs to play a high-pressing game,” said Gattuso.
He added, “I thank my team for their effort. My players are learning something new, it’s new and it won’t take just one week. There is a margin for progression, but we’re improving. The spirit is good. The performance was there tonight, even if it wasn’t enough.”
GFFN | Luke Entwistle
