Ligue 1 Review | Marseille rediscovers ‘hope’ in Jean-Louis Gasset’s winning start

“ As long as there is life, there is hope, ” Jean-Louis Gasset determined after Olympique de Marseille’s victory over Shakhtar Donetsk on Thursday evening. The newly appointed manager was ostensibly talking about the club’s chances in Europe, but it was a message that could summarise his early tenure. 

Gasset was not brought into the club with a grand future in mind, as his contract only runs until the end of the season. Instead, his role has been to provide an experienced head and a steadying hand to a difficult season for Marseille that has lurched from crisis to crisis without much reprieve. 

“ With my players, I tried for 48 hours to be positive, to relax them. I felt they were a little tense. There was no point in sulking in a corner and not being happy with yourself. ” A sentiment that struck a stark contrast with that of the manager he replaced last Tuesday. 

Gennaro Gattuso’s final comments as Marseille’s manager were a declaration that the team had “ hit rock bottom ” and a vague allusion to a relegation battle, “ the truth is that we’re going to have to start looking behind us. We can no longer speak about Europe. We just need to take the necessary points to be calm in the standings .”

The decision to fire Gattuso had looked obvious for weeks, yet it was still a surprise when the Marseille board finally pulled the trigger on the Italian’s time at the club. He had failed to win a single game since the 17th of December, outside of a narrow 1-0 victory over amateur side US Thionville Lusitanos. However, there was still the feeling that the manager would see out their Europa League second leg against Shakhtar Donestk. 

This was not to be the case as two days ahead of the most important fixture remaining in