Jean-Pierre Pepin denied wanting to succeed Gennaro Gattuso on the Olympique de Marseille bench on Friday. The former striker, relegated to the Marseille reserve bench, welcomed Gassett’s selection.
100% win(s). If he refuses to talk about the impact attached to his arrival, Jean-Louis Gasset guided OM to their first success in eight matches on Thursday. Marseille made his debut on the bench for the first time in the Europa League victory over Shakhtar (3-1), succeeding Gennaro Gattuso. Enough to make Jean-Pierre Papin happy, even if some attribute the former striker’s desire to take over from the Italian. Present at UEFA headquarters this Friday for the draw for the knockout stages of the Europa League, “JPP” denied such ambitions.
“No, not at all. I was with my children and things are going very well,” the man in charge of the Olympian reserve assured Canal+. “The choice of leaders was Jean-Louis Gasset.”
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Pepin approves of Gasset’s choice
As reserve coach, Jean-Pierre Pepin is content with his role after returning to OM in a first advisory role at the end of 2022. After the departure of Gennaro Gattuso, some observers or advisors regretted not seeing Pablo Longoria and the Marseille management promoted him to head of the professional team.
“I asked myself why not favor an internal solution. It’s still the best in these cases,” noted Jerome Rothen on his show on RMC this Wednesday. “Since you want a psychological shock, who better than Jean-Pierre Pepin? With all that he represents: Ballon d’Or, formerly of Olympique de Marseille, advisor to Pablo Longoria. If you take him as an advisor, you have full confidence. is. him.”
And in conclusion: “The fact of invoking Jean-Louis Gasset and choosing him over Jean-Pierre Pepin is a complete lack of disapproval and respect. Is it used today? Where is the respect for elders?”
But apparently, the 1991 Ballon d’Or winner harbors no resentment or bitterness on the subject. Conversely, Jean-Pierre Pepin showed his support for Jean-Louis Gasset.
“I think it’s a very good choice because Jean-Louis has incredible experience,” continued the former scorer for the France team. “He proved that on Thursday, he gave back that little piece of confidence that we lost. This win against Shakhtar did a lot of good.”
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