Gennaro Gattuso’s time in charge of Olympique de Marseille has officially come to its end, as the club parted ways with their third manager of the season.
The Italian coach had come into a club in crisis. Marcelino who had started the season as the Marseille manager had left abruptly after threats from supporters , frustrated at a playing style that was considered too reactive by the fans.
The supporters clamoured for “ mouillez le maillot .” An ideal that the Marseille players are to wet the kit – to leave the field soaking from their efforts. Jacques Abardonado came in during the interim as the club searched for a more permanent manager, eventually turning to Gattuso.
To Gattuso’s credit, he managed to steady the ship and calm the brewing tensions. A difficult opening patch where the club lost to AS Monaco and OGC Nice soon gave way to a promising end to the year, as Gattuso went on to guide the side to six wins, two losses, and three draws before the league paused ahead of the winter break.
And for a brief period, it looked as if the supporters might have a manager who understood “ mouillez le maillot .”
Since the winter break, Marseille have gone on a disastrous run that led the club hierarchy to lose faith in Gattuso. Since the 17th of December, the manager has only managed to secure one victory in nine games. And that solitary victory was a narrow 1-0 win against fifth-tier side, US Thionville Lusitanos.
Gattuso leaves the club with a 31% win record, eight points adrift of the European places, and desperately needing a victory against Shakhtar Donetsk on Thursday after being held to a 2-2 draw in the first leg of their Europa League tie (a team who due to the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine had not
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