De Zerbi supports his African star in crisis

Six game and no goals. Not even an assist. Amine Gouiri is in crisis as the beginning of the season. What is worse, the Algerian striker has a strong competition for the starting spot in Marseille and he has failed to score so far. When he arrived in Olympique in January 2025, he was an instant success and scored 10 goals (along with three assists) in 14 games. Gouiri still has a lot to prove on a personal level as he was branded a big youth start back in Lyon for which he played only 15 games (without any goals) before making a move to Nice where he netted 28 times in 89 games. When he moved to Rennes, he failed to reach the potential he had, scoring only 31 goals in 103 games. And now, at the beginning of the very successful Marseille season, he is in crisis.

One African better than the other one

But he has full support of his manager Roberto De Zerbi. The Italian believes that the jounralists are actually making a hype about the Algerian’s lack of form,

"I still see him in good shape. I think you're asking too many questions and worrying a bit too much about Gouiri. I don't think Gouiri is asking himself as many questions as you are. I think he's calm. He knows he can play from the start, he knows he can come on in the second half. It's true that up front there's Aubameyang, there's him, there's Robinio Vaz who can also come on and do great things at any time. There are a lot of matches. This year it's easy for me to manage the squad: there are so many matches that everyone is playing. The field is always the judge, in the end it's always the field that speaks. I don't like to try things and do tests. But Amine Gouiri is a strong player and he must remain calm. He must not listen to you, he must listen to me" said De Zerbi.

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Marseille boss had to explain once more that Gouiri is different king of player compared to Aubameyang, who has already scored a couple of goals.

"He has different characteristics from Aubameyang, different from Robinio Vaz and other strikers. He's a game player, he likes to play and make others play too. He's not a player who is always in the box. He's never scored 20 or 30 goals in a season, he's not a player who attacks from deep like other players can. But his qualities are the ones we want" said De Zerbi.

LIGUE 1 - MATCHDAY 7

Friday

Paris - Lorient 2-0 (2-0)

/Kebbal 25, Krasso 30/

Saturday

18.00: (6.60) Metz (4.50) Olympique Marseille (1.52)

20.00: (1.90) Brest (3.70) Nantes (4.30)

22.05: (3.80) Auxerre (3.75) Lens (2.00)

Sunday

16.00: (1.88) Olympique Lyon (3.70) Toulouse (4.00)

18.15: (3.25) Le Havre (3.30) Rennes (2.40)

18.15: (1.90) Monaco (3.70) Nice (4.40)

18.15: (1.70) Strasbourg (3.80) Angers (5.10)

21.45: (4.40) Lille (3.80) PSG (1.80)

***odds are subject to change***