‘In Marseille, you always have to tread carefully’ – Roberto De Zerbi not getting ahead of himself ahead of Champions League return | OneFootball

In August Olympique de Marseille had descended into a deep crisis after their opening day loss of the season and a dressing room fight between Adrien Rabiot and Jonathan Rowe. Only a month later, things are looking more rosy for Roberto De Zerbi’s men – thanks to a Classique win over Paris Saint-Germain and an exciting follow-up against Strasbourg last Friday, all kicked off by a promising display against Real Madrid to open up their UEFA Champions League campaign.At his pre-match press conference before facing Ajax in the UEFA Champions League attended by Get French Football News, Roberto De Zerbi has warned against complacency in the face of encouraging recent results, and that a new crisis could be around the corner at any moment in a city which lives and breathes football like Marseille,.“To be at Marseille, you have to be able to deal with the critics,” said De Zerbi after being asked a question about Amine Gouiri’s lack of goalscoring form of late. “He shouldn’t have a problem with that – because fellow supporters and his teammates like him a lot.” “In Marseille, you always have to tread carefully; it doesn’t take much to cause a crisis,” added De Zerbi at the end of the conference. “We need to create balance in the group – but that has been created by the desire that the players had to come here, or those who stayed here like Balerdi, Hojbjerg and Greenwood. Medina was already in Marseille after just one phone call.“

“Aguerd and Pavard also made an effort to come here. Paixao wanted to come at all costs. You can feel the desire. There needs to be a balance between victories and defeats. When you win, you have to be careful because defeat is closer. When you lose, you mustn’t listen to the critics because victory is approaching. That’s what creates balance in this kind of city.”GFFN | George Boxall – reporting from Stade Vélodrome, Marseille.