Marseille suffered a torrid start to the season under interim manager Franck Passi, winning just one of their opening six matches, which left them in 15th place heading into October.
Their early season struggles were to be expected following a turbulent 2016. Former boss Michel was dismissed in April, with the club citing poor behaviour as the reason for his exit. His exit came as no surprise, given the club were languishing just six points above the relegation zone, just 11 months on from finishing in fourth place in 2014/15.
The summer piled yet more misery on the club, as last season’s star performer Michy Batshuayi, who played a part in 26 of Marseille’s 48 goals throughout the 2015/16 season, opted to join Premier League heavyweights Chelsea in a £33 million deal.
Replacing Batshuayi was always likely to cause the club problems, but Bafetimbi Gomis, the goalscorer brought in on loan as his replacement, has done a decent enough job, scoring eight times in 16 Ligue 1 appearances. However, his impact alone was unable to secure the club points throughout the early stages of the season.
However, while Gomis’ efforts fell short, the arrival of Rudi Garcia has, so far, turned things around for the struggling French club.
The former Roma manager kicked off his Marseille reign with a 0-0 draw against current champions Paris Saint-Germain and has been gradually building the club back up to the force that they were two years ago. Heavy defeats to Montpellier and Monaco in November showed that they aren’t quite back to their best, but there have been plenty of positive signs.
They are likely to face yet more difficulties against the league’s in-form sides, but Garcia will be happy with the fixture list heading into the winter break. The club have won back-to-back games for the first time this season by overcoming AS Nancy and FCO Dijon, two sides that find themselves in a similar position to Marseille, and with Lille and Bastia, two more mid-table sides, to come before Christmas, they will be confident of finishing the year on a high.
They were unable to overcome second tier side FC Sochaux in the Coupe de la Ligue, succumbing to a penalty shootout defeat following a 1-1 draw in normal time, yet their early exit from the competition could work in Marseille’s favour. Given their struggles, climbing the Ligue 1 table should be at the top of Garcia’s to-do list and he can now push on free from any distractions.
With a promising new manager, a seemingly happier squad and new club owner Frank McCourt vowing to dip into his bank account to fund a January spending spree, every