Genesio reportedly duped by Marseille: four straight defeats and an emptied squad

Four consecutive defeats, eleven players sold without any signings, and a clash against PSG on Sunday at the Vélodrome: Olympique de Marseille is going through a severe crisis at the start of the season, and head coach Bruno Genesio is paying the moral price.

After the impressive opening victory against Strasbourg (4-0) in the first matchday of Ligue 1, the Phocaean club collapsed. The latest setback, a heavy defeat on Thursday evening away at Besiktas in the Europa League (4-1), has cemented an atmosphere of doubt around the manager.

It is in this context that journalist Dave Appadoo delivered a blunt analysis on L’Équipe’s channel. In his view, Genesio gives the impression of a man gradually realizing the scale of the trap he has fallen into. “I get the feeling it’s like in comic strips with a speech bubble around it: ‘What mess have I gotten myself into?’” he said.

Appadoo went further, suggesting that the manager had signed believing he was joining an ambitious and well-structured club. “We’re talking about a top coach on the scale of French football. For him, there had to be a kind of consecration in coming to Marseille. But the real thing, that is to say Marseille which is one of two or three powerhouses of French football. I think he had signed for that Marseille.”

The journalist’s conclusion is unequivocal: Genesio “got ripped off.” “I can’t help but think that in his head there is: ‘I got ripped off’. Because clearly, that’s what it is. These aren’t things that weren’t kept, it’s the entire program that has collapsed.”

The figures back up this reading. Marseille massively trimmed its squad this summer — eleven departures — without reinvesting, constrained by a worrying financial situation. On Sunday evening, Genesio will have to make do with this depleted group to face Paris Saint-Germain at the Vélodrome, a meeting that looks perilous for a club already searching for its bearings.