Abdelli calls Marseille’s lapse against Le Havre unacceptable

Olympique de Marseille beat Le Havre 4-3 at home on Sunday in the eighth round of Ligue 1, having held a four-goal lead in the second half. Despite taking all three points, Himad Abdelli sharply criticised his team’s lapse after allowing their opponents back into the contest. “At 4-0, we have no right to concede three goals and make things so difficult for ourselves at the end, especially at home,” the Marseille midfielder complained.

The contrast defined the match at the Vélodrome: after a largely controlled opening, Marseille endured a notably difficult finish. Bruno Genesio’s side built their advantage through goals from CJ Egan-Riley in the fifth minute, Timothy Weah in the 33rd, Igor Paixao in the 50th and Abdelli in the 55th. Yet what had looked like a comfortable win ended with a margin of just one goal. After nearly an hour in which the match had seemed one-sided, the closing stages became tense.

Abdelli accepted that the result was positive but would not let the win obscure how it had been achieved. “We’re happy because we’ve still taken the three points. But making things so difficult for ourselves like that is unacceptable to me,” he said. His criticism centred on maintaining the effort until the final whistle. “Everyone says it: a match lasts 90 minutes. We have to give everything for 90 minutes, not 70 or 80. If we only give everything for 80 minutes, we can stupidly concede three goals.” He summed up the standard he expects: “We have to show commitment for 90 minutes.”

The midfielder also pointed to the contribution of the substitutes, while framing it as part of the team’s collective responsibility. “I’m thinking about the players who came on too. We give everything for 70-80 minutes; the substitutes have to give everything as well. That wasn’t the case tonight,” he said. He added that the team would work on it and that the substitutes might make the difference the following week.

Genesio also viewed the finish as a warning. “When you lack humility, what happened to us can happen. And we got away with it very well,” the coach said, urging his players to remember the final 15 minutes. He also expressed particular disappointment with the young players who came on, whose qualities and attitude are usually praised. Marseille have the win, but Abdelli’s and Genesio’s comments underline the need to ensure that a commanding lead does not again become a dangerous late-game situation.