OM unrest laid bare as Medhi Benatia lambasts players again | OneFootball

According to L'Équipe, after a 0-2 defeat at Lorient on Saturday, Medhi Benatia again castigated OM’s players, a group increasingly distant from him and looking worn by a season of strain.

After the 0-3 exit at Bruges on 28 January he called it professional misconduct, saying some walked through what felt like a final. In Lorient he labelled the display a scandal and bemoaned a dressing room that stayed calm.

The season has felt raw since the 0-1 opener at Rennes on 15 August, when Adrien Rabiot and Jonathan Rowe were removed after a fight. One insider says leaders rarely rebel and players, including captain Pierre-Emile Höjbjerg, now accept decisions amid repeated talk that the door is open.

Senior figures such as Mason Greenwood had already stepped back before the trip to Brittany. The rift had deepened after Benatia’s rebuke of Leonardo Balerdi in Kuwait before the Trophée des champions on 8 January. OM now look mentally and physically worn, a focus for Habib Beye since February.

Beye has chased intensity with tougher sessions than under Roberto De Zerbi, and some at OM link that to recent muscle alerts for Quinten Timber, adductors, and Igor Paixao, calf. Following the 1-3 defeat at Reims on 29 March 2025, Rabiot spoke up. On Saturday only Benatia and Beye were heard, and the coach also questioned supposed leaders. On 10 April incoming president Stéphane Richard suggested the club might need calm. The week will show if it works. Four weeks remain.

Source: L'Équipe