Longoria: “I was wrong about Marcelino”

The president of Olympique de Marseille, Pablo Longoriareviewed in an interview with RMC briefly passed the bench of the Vélodrome of Marcelino García Toral, was named on Monday as Villarreal’s new coach, and he even admitted that he was wrong to choose him.

“I have to be self-critical. It was a mistake not to study enough and I underestimated the impact of switching from one style of play to another,” admitted the Marseille leader.

Longoria chose Marcelino last summer, an old friend and Asturian like him, to replace the Croatian Igor Tudorwho refused to renew, but in September he resigned after a very tense meeting in which representatives of the ultras threatened the management of the club and the coach, among other things because of his appointment as leader of the team.

This match plunged Marseille into a crisis after the first games of the season Marcellinus, who advocated a more conservative game than the Tudors, is very disappointing. They achieved two wins and three draws in the first five days and, in addition, they started the season by eliminating the previous round of the Champions League

now trained by Italian Gennaro Gattuso, Olympique is tenth in Ligue 1.

“This is a very shallow review on my part”

“When Marcelino asked me what I thought about the style change, I told him I wasn’t worried. We found it to be a very superficial analysis on my part,” Longoria explained.

“Some players have internalized the way of playing since last season. And the transition to a very organized game like Marcelino wants to do, or like Gattuso wants to implement, is something we don’t take into account, ” added the OM president.

Focus on the project

Although he took a few days to reflect at the height of the crisis in September, Longoria reaffirmed his commitment to leading Marseille.

“From the moment I decided to move on, I intend to invest in it for the long term. The opposite would be irresponsible, unfair, unconscious and disrespectful to the institution.” LOngoria clarified. “If I had weakened? I do not believe. “I have a lot of energy, a lot of desire,” he said.