Marseille will open their 2022-23 Ligue 1 campaign with high expectations, hosting Reims at Stade Velodrome this weekend.
Les Olympiens finished second in 2021-22 with 71 points, the most they have accumulated in a domestic season since 2017-18, while Reims went unbeaten in their final three road encounters of that Ligue 1 campaign, eventually ending up in 12th.
The former nine-time league champions are under new management, with Igor Tudor now at the helm, following the shock departure of Jorge Sampaoli.
Tudor brings plenty of experience in big and small clubs, where he notably guided Hellas Verona to ninth place last season in Serie A, while previously working as an assistant to Andrea Pirlo at Juventus, with previous stops made at Hajduk Split, Galatasaray and Udinese.
He is considered a journeyman coach given his short tenure at numerous clubs, though he employed an appealing brand of football at Verona, focusing on progression and verticality when gaining possession.
While Marseille have some talented individuals capable of playing that way, it would be a bit of a contrast from what we saw from this group in 2021-22, as this was a patient team who liked to knock the ball around the pitch and build up play before progressing forward.
Despite only managing to win one of their pre-season friendlies, Marseille have been able to get off to good starts in recent campaigns, going unbeaten in their first six league games last season.
They have not lost their opening domestic encounter since the 2019-20 campaign, when they were blanked 2-0 at home to Stade de Reims.
In 2021-22, this was one of the top defensive units in Ligue 1, conceding the second-fewest goals (38), posting six clean sheets at home, while dropping only five matches at Stade Velodrome.
Oscar Garcia has a massive job ahead of him, as the Spaniard looks to keep the once mighty Reims side from decades ago competitive in this domestic season.
It will be a tall task seeing as the club lost their star goalkeeper, who was third in clean sheets last season (11), while their top goalscorer has been loaned out to the reigning champions Paris Saint-Germain.
For this team to finish near the middle of the table in the previous campaign, given the number of injuries they suffered, had to feel like a moral victory.
Garcia has done an excellent job at developing this squad into an intelligent team who are technically strong on the ball, though, as he has admitted, they will not always be able to have possession for long stretches against some of the stronger sides in the league.
In those situations, he has relied on a smart and well-organised defensive unit, who were fifth last season in terms of goals conceded (44).
They were especially tough to break down away from home in 2021-22, posting five shutouts, conceding a goal or fewer on 15 occasions and earning 25 points on the road.
Marseille pre-season form:
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Reims pre-season form:
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We say: Marseille 1-0 Reims
Without arguably their two most significant difference makers from a season ago, it could take a while for Reims to adjust their game accordingly, though they should be a difficult team to break down defensively once again.
On the other side, the core of the Marseille team from last season are back, and they have made some new signings which should make them a more dynamic team in the attack, so we expect their individual talent to eventually find a way through a Reims backline that could be put under a lot of pressure throughout this contest.