EXCLUSIVE | Chris Waddle on Marseille’s crisis: “Roberto De Zerbi handled it pretty well.” | OneFootball

Retired England international and Olympique de Marseille winger sat down with Get French Football News to reflect on a turbulent couple of weeks for his former club.

Marseille found itself in crisis after an opening day defeat to Rennes saw Jonathan Rowe and Adrien Rabiot clash in the dressing room. How do you think the club have handled the situation?

You’ve got to have a lot of respect for the manager; it’s not an easy job at Marseille. It’s a very pressurised job; expectations are very high. Obviously, since the emergence of Paris Saint-Germain many years ago, they’ve found it difficult to be the top club and have been knocked off the top by Paris, their bitter rivals.

I thought Roberto De Zerbi handled it pretty well. I think we’ve all been in changing rooms where we’ve had arguments and heated discussions, but to come to blows. I saw De Zerbi’s comments, where he said, ‘I’ve never seen anything like that.’ And he said that he fought on the streets as a kid, but that he’d never seen anything like that in a changing room. So I think he’s done the right thing.

Rowe’s gone to Italy, and that might open the door to Rabiot getting back in, who was an influential player last season for them, and who helped them qualify last season for the Champions League. So maybe with one of them going, it might open the door for another of them to come back in.

But listen, you don’t want to see that. We all get heated, and we all have passion, but when it comes to fighting and blows, I think they went a little bit too far.

If they’re unable to reintegrate Adrien Rabiot, how big a loss will it be?

Last year, he came in and did a really good job for them. And he’s a very talented footballer. I’m sure they can patch it up. Football is, let’s be honest, a very fickle business. And I’m sure if he apologises, it’s not hard, I don’t know why he hasn’t because by all accounts, [Rowe and Rabiot] were both out of order. So he should apologise to the manager, the club, the fans, and the team. And if he is big enough to do that, I don’t see the reason why he can’t put a Marseille shirt on again.

Drama is never far from Marseille. What is it about the club that makes it so combustible, and why do they keep finding themselves in these situations?

I had three years there, and it’s a very, very passionate club. The supporters are really fanatical. And they want to know everything that’s going on about the club. They don’t accept losing easily. So they do put a bit of pressure on the players, and expectations are high.

But you know, since my day we were top of the table, and we won the league, and we were going to the Champions League, and doing well in the Champions League. You know everything was riding along nice, and I think for a couple of years after that, they were still at a good level. And then obviously, the financial situation and whatever hit Marseille, and then the emergence of Paris Saint-Germain. I think the fans are finding it hard to accept that they’re not top of the tree anymore. It’s a club with a great tradition, great history, and they find it very hard, especially with it being Paris… I think they’d find it hard if it was any team… but with it being Paris, it’s even harder to accept.

I think there’s a lot of frustration in the club, and obviously for the supporters as well. It’s been hard for them to cope with no longer being the top club in France, and their biggest rivals, Paris Saint-Germain, taking that status

You mentioned this a little bit earlier.  What are your thoughts on Roberto De Zerbi’s time in France so far?

Marseille have gone through a lot of managers trying to find a success. I think qualifying for the Champions League and finishing second was a great achievement. We all know what Paris have done, they’ve won the Champions League, and they’re regarded as the best team in the world, never mind in Europe or in France. So he’s done the best he can to get near them, to compete against them, to be the second-best club in France, at the moment. So he’s done a very good job.

Marseille don’t have the money that Paris Saint-Germain have got. They can’t go out and buy [the same quality] players. When you look at who PSG have bought, Lionel Messi, Neymar, and Kylian Mbappé, the quality of players that they get, and the ones that they produce and bring through, Paris is a massive football club. Marseille used to be like that, and it’s very frustrating for them.

But I think De Zerbi has done a great job. Take Paris out of that league, and Marseille would have won it. Everybody is juggling for that second, third, fourth place, because they know Paris are going to win it. So that is the nearest Marseille can get, if they finish second, that’s the equivalent of winning it in my eyes.

On a more positive note, the club are back in the Champions League after a two-season absence. What should the expectations be around the club?

Just to qualify, to get into the next stage. If they can get into the latter stages of the league table or finish in the top eight. I think if they can get into that, that would be a major achievement. There are some big clubs in the Champions League, you’ve got Paris, you’ve got Milan, Napoli, Barcelona, Real Madrid, Atlético de Madrid, there are some really big clubs, and clubs that spend an awful lot of money. That’s not just counting the English teams, as well. For Marseille to compete, to get into the next phase, for me, that would be an achievement. I don’t see Marseille winning the Champions League, they’re nowhere near to winning it, let’s be honest. But as I say, if they can qualify for the later stages, then they have done really, really well.

Marseille have managed to recruit a lot of English players. Why do you think they are attracted to this project?

A lot of players who play in England got frustrated, and in certain cases had to leave in a certain way. Marseille is an attractive club; it’s got a good set-up, a great stadium, great fan base. You know that they’re going to be in the top four or top five. I think a lot of players sample English football, and not everybody wants to be in the Premier League. I think some people think, I want to play in other countries, and they might do a two or three-year stint at Marseille, and then they might go on to Italy, Germany, or Spain.

I think a lot of players now are quite open to playing around the world. And with Marseille, maybe they think good value on the players they’ve picked from the Premier League, you know, Mason Greenwood has done really well and is scoring goals, and has increased his value. Pierre-Emile Højbjerg was at Tottenham and Southampton, a good player, who again probably suits what De Zerbi was looking for, a good passer of the ball. He fits their description.

I think a lot of players are now very open to going abroad. Back in my day, when me and a few others went, it was a talking point, ‘Why? Why have they gone to France?’ But now, I think it’s very easy for players, like they come to England, and it’s very easy now for the Brits to go to these countries, they’ve obviously got quality, they play in the Premier League. And for the French clubs, they probably think the Premier League is a lot stronger than the French league.

Chris Waddle was speaking exclusively to GFFN on behalf of esportsbets.

GFFN | Nick Hartland