Sporting and Belenenses fight to survive
Paulo Fonseca’s high-flying Braga receive Marseille at the Quarry tomorrow knowing a win will all but secure progress to the knockout stages of the Europa League.
Elsewhere Belenenses travel to Switzerland to take on Basel and Sporting host Albanian outfit Skenderbeu. Both Portuguese sides need a positive result to keep their chances alive of staying in the competition beyond Christmas.
With the aid of Europe-wide football experts, PortuGOAL analyses tomorrow’s Europa League opponents of Portuguese trio of representatives in the competition.
French football journalist James Eastham (twitter: @james_eastham) gives us lowdown on Marseille.
1. Current form. How have Marseille looked form-wise in recent weeks?
Marseille have made a really disappointing start to 2015/16. Their league position – 16th out of 20 – and poor stats (W2-D2-L5) tell their own story, as does their 0-1 home defeat to Slovan Liberec in this competition at the start of this month. Most neutral observers would agree that Marseille’s league position is a fair reflection of their performances: other than a couple of convincing home wins – 6-0 v Troyes and 4-1 v Bastia, both over a month ago now – they have been mediocre.
2. Ones to watch - Who are Marseille's star players?
Ex-Chelsea and Real Madrid midfielder Lassana Diarra has been a revelation. He joined Marseille on a free transfer over the summer after more than a year out of the game. He has done so well he earned a recall to the France team for their internationals v Armenia (4-0) and Denmark (2-1) earlier this month.
Striker Michy Batshuayi is also a key man. Marseille’s leading scorer in Ligue 1, he has netted seven times in 10 appearances, no mean feat considering Marseille’s generally poor form. Since joining Marseille from Standard Liege for around €7 million in summer 2014 Batshuayi’s Ligue 1 strikerate is remarkable: he has scored 16 goals in 15 starts and 21 substitute appearances, finding the net once every 108 minutes. Having scored in his last four Ligue 1 starts the 22-year-old Belgium international will be Marseille’s main danger man.
3. Strong points/weak points – what must Braga beware of and what can they exploit?
Marseille’s strong point is their attacking potential. It’s fair to say they haven’t always exploited that this season but France international playmaker Remy Cabella can be influential when he finds space between the lines and Romain Alessandrini is an energetic and committed winger who causes problems when he cuts in from the right wing on his stronger left foot. If Braga give those two players too much space then the pair should be able to supply chances for Batshuayi.
The lack of a settled centre-back partnership is a potential weakness. Cameroon international Nicolas Nkoulou is a good defender but Marseille coach Michel has yet to decide who the best partner is for Nkoulou. Summer signing Karim Rekik – who arrived from Manchester City via a loan spell at PSV Eindhoven – was the initial choice but in recent weeks ex-FC Porto centre-back Rolando has ousted Rekik from the team. A lack of understanding at the heart of the defence is something Braga can exploit, especially as reports on Wednesday suggest Nkoulou will be rested.
4. Formation and playing style – what system do Marseille usually play? Would you describe them generically as an attacking or a defensive team?
Marseille have used a 4-2-3-1 and a 4-3-3 this season. Generically I’d say they are an attacking team, although they haven’t always lived up to that description this season. The fact they have scored six times and four times in two of their Ligue 1 home matches this season underlines the attacking potential they have got, but they have simply been too inconsistent from one match to the next for you to confidently predict how they will perform.
5. Marseille were the favourites to win the group when the draw was made but currently lie second. How seriously do you think they are taking this competition?
They’re taking it seriously but right now their lowly Ligue 1 position is their overriding concern. Marseille need to correct that as quickly as possible – and if that means putting the Europa League on more of a back-burner than they would like to, then so be it. Like a lot of clubs Marseille have rotated players out of the team in this competition so far. With a tough Ligue 1 fixture at Lille on Sunday afternoon it would be no surprise to see three or four players rested.
6. Mood in the camp – judging by player/coach quotes regarding this game, do you think Marseille go into the match in a confident frame of mind?
The mood in the camp is fairly flat because of their poor Ligue 1 performances and results. There are no clear signs of underlying tension between manager Michel and the players but more of a general anxiety because things are not going the way they wanted them to. With only three wins from 12 competitive fixtures in all competitions and no wins from their last six matches (W0-D3-L3) it will be impossible for Marseille to go into this game firmly expecting to win. The fact they have already won away from home in the Europa League – 3-0 at Groningen – will give them some hope, however.
7. What do you think the result of the match will be?
Marseille are good enough to avoid defeat. 1-1.
Team-by-team analysis of Sporting’s Europa League Group H
Swiss football expert Craig, who runs the excellent SwissFootball twitter account (@FootballSwiss), tells us what Belenenses can expect from their trip to St. Jacob-Park.
1. Current form. How have Basel looked form-wise in recent weeks?
Basel have hardly put a foot wrong since the start of the season, losing one game in the league. Their shaky performances came against Maccabi Tel Aviv that saw them eliminated from the UEFA Champions League and they were not at their best in a 2-2 draw with bottom of the table Zurich before the international break.
But they are in great form and that game they did lose is the only game they have lost competitively in their last 21, stretching back into last season.
2. Ones to watch - Who are Basel's star players?
Breel Embolo is the star man for Basel and is touted to move to Europe sometime soon for big money. He is still only eighteen but is already a fully established first team player and has been capped at international level. He has scored five in fifteen and is a real handful for nearly any defence.
Marc Janko has become the source of goals this season and in all competitions, he has hit ten goals in fourteen games. He is also putting them away regularly for Austria so this is a man in form and someone that could be the difference versus Belenenses.
Shkelzen Gashi was the goal machine for two seasons but he has gone off form this season in front of goal and is hardly played as a striker anymore, more out wide but he is still a dangerous player and capable of finding the net.
Elsewhere, Luca Zuffi has been in good form lately while Bikir Bjarnason is someone I rate highly so far this season.
3. Strong points/weak points – what must Belenenses beware of and what can they exploit?
The strong point has to be the attack. Basel have already netted 32 goals in just 12 league games and haven’t failed to score a competitive goal since the cup final defeat at the end of last season. So, Belenenses really need to stop Basel’s attacking threats but this is easier said than done.
As for weak points, as good as the goal scoring has been this season, defensively, Basel haven’t been great. They kept a clean sheet against Sion at the weekend but had conceded in 10 of the previous 11 competitive games. Basel have also only kept six clean sheets in twenty competitive games this season and have only kept three clean sheets in their last twenty-five competitive away games which can provide some confidence for Belenenses for the return game in a few weeks.
So, the defence can definitely be breached, the task is keeping Basel out at the other end enough times for it to matter.
4. Formation and playing style – what system do Basel usually play? Would you describe them generically as an attacking or a defensive team?
Basel usually line up with a 4-2-3-1 formation in the league but tend to go to a 4-4-2 in Europe as seen in both games so far versus Fiorentina and Lech and in the UCL qualifiers against Maccabi, although they kept the 4-2-3-1 formation for the UCL games with Lech. It seems certain that the 4-4-2 will be the formation that Basel will go for on Thursday.
For me, they are definitely an attacking team and in the majority of games; this is the way they play. I’d expect them to be very positive versus Belenenses.
5. Basel have made a perfect start to the Europa League. Having also impressed in the Champions League in recent years, do the club have big ambitions in the tournament? What are the expectations?
It is a very difficult thing to reach so I’d say the dream rather than the expectation is that Basel reach the final in their home stadium. The expectation for now though is definitely to get out of the group. Having already beaten Lech twice before the Group Stages and with Belenenses, with all due respect, a weaker side, Basel definitely expected to get through with Fiorentina and that expectation has only increased following the win in Florence.
After that, it all depends on the draw. There are some big teams in this competition already and more will drop down from the UCL but many would expect Basel to give anyone a good game over two legs.
6. Mood in the camp – judging by player/coach quotes regarding this game, do you think Basel go into the match in a confident frame of mind?
I’d say its confidence. I think there is a bit of caution around it too as these games always have the potential to throw up a banana skin against opponents that you may not know so much about. Basel are a much stronger team than Belenenses and should be getting the victory, especially at home so I think there is a confidence there and the players and staff expect to win the game.
7. What do you think the result of the match will be?
I’ll be honest and say I’m not entirely clued up on Belenenses. I know who they are, I’ve seen their results from time to time but I couldn’t say I know a lot about their team. It could be a bit of arrogance on my part to say then that I expect Basel to win comfortably but given their standing in Portugal, I just can’t see them troubling this Basel side away from home and with Basel in such good form.
8. As an aside, what was Paulo Sousa’s legacy from his one season at Basel last year? How is he viewed by Swiss/Basel fans?
He wasn’t really here long enough to make such an impact but I think most have fond memories of the night at Anfield and that he took Basel to the last sixteen of the Champions League again. Any manager that does that has done an incredibly good job. The cup defeat aside, he was almost as successful as you could be in terms of winning the league and getting out of the UCL group so there is definitely fond memories.
For me, I was never a huge fan of the style he brought to Basel but I can’t deny he did a good job but I wasn’t exactly disappointed that he left at the end of last season.
