UEFA Champions League Preview:
Chelsea versus Marseille (Part 3)
Last season, Marseille were the Ligue 1 champions. This has mainly been credited to the 41 year old Deschamps, who has played for top notch teams like Marseille,
Bordeaux, Juventus, Chelsea and
Valencia. Over a decorated career, the defensive midfielder for
France was viewed as a staple of the World Cup and European Championship winning French national side.
He came to manage at Olympique de Marseille in 2009 after he managed his former club Juventus from 2006 to 2007. Now with his first year at the French club, he guided them to glory.
Deschamps stated that his plan for Chelsea was simple; dominate the game and the control of the ball. That would mean that he is exploiting the weakened midfield of
Chelsea which will be without their best midfielder – Frank Lampard.
While talking to media he said that there was no room for error and therefore they will be fully concentrated on the game. He stated, “We have got to go into this game making no mistakes and playing at our top level.”
He admitted that Chelsea were in brilliant form this season therefore Marseille will have to keep eyes open on all sides of the field if they hoped to win.
He also informed the media that he had been watching the recent
Chelsea games and therefore he certainly was going to target their weaknesses.
On the issue he stated, “Chelsea have had a good start to the season but they have not played many sides from the upper echelons of the league. I did watch the game against
Manchester City, who did a lot of good things that hopefully we can repeat.”
He also expressed that the English team were the favourites on the field and the home ground factor will certainly be important as winning away games is always difficult.
Deschamps said, “We need to close the space down and impose ourselves physically. These kind of games are settled in the finer details and let us hope it is settled in our favour.
Chelsea at home in a European tie against most teams would be favourites. There are a lot of experienced heads in their team. They can cope with two defeats. But we are not here just to watch them play.”
Deschamps refused the offer to manage
Liverpool this summer. He has also spent a season with
Chelsea in 2000, and therefore might have some surprising tricks up his sleeve. He left the club on a high note as they won the FA Cup.
He articulated that Chelsea had changed a lot from the time he used to play with them. The legend stated, “It is totally different to when I was here,'' added Deschamps. ''Roman Abramovich was not
here during my time at the club, we had a different owner then. Roman has brought in lots of investment in terms of players and the training ground at Cobham, we did not have anything like that. All these things have added another dimension to the club. It
has allowed them to take a seat at the top table of European football.”
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