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The Secret Behind Marseille's Resurgence: How Did Gasset Do It?
The French team ended their bad streak of results by qualifying for the Europa League round of 16 in Gasset's debut with the team.
New coach, guaranteed victory. That's what the saying goes, and it's not always true, but in the case of Jean-Louis Gasset and Olympique de Marseille, it certainly applied.
The "Phoceens" prevailed 3-1 against Shakhtar and sealed their place in the Europa League round of 16, where they will face Villarreal, coached by Marcelino García earlier in the season.
Marseille has put an end to a seven-game winless streak, all under the guidance of their new coach, but what's the secret? What did the former Ivory Coast coach do to turn the team around? He explained it himself in a press conference after the European victory:
"I don't believe in a 'Gasset Effect,'" began the coach. "I believe the team has become aware. Yes, of course, my speech may have influenced that because that's what it's all about," he said.
"When you've only been in the position for 48 hours, you watch videos to understand what happened in the previous games, try to see which system suits the team best. So, you don't come in revolutionizing everything and wanting to change everything from top to bottom. No. It was more a matter of mentality and confidence, especially confidence," Gasset added.
The recipe is simple. Don't bombard with new concepts right away and work on boosting the morale of the players after a bad streak that was devouring the team from within. "We couldn't add more pressure, we simply went back to basics."
And it worked wonders. Now it remains to be seen if this morale boost for the team helps turn this good result into the start of a positive streak for Marseille.