Perrin leads Marseille charge

By Matthew Spiro

Olympique de Marseille may have been taught a harsh lesson on their return to the UEFA Champions League against Real Madrid CF a fortnight ago, but the club continues to make giant strides under coach Alain Perrin.

Fruitful season
Last season, Perrin's first in charge at the Stade Vélodrome, Marseille launched a surprise title challenge and, though they came up three points short, are showing signs that this year could be more fruitful still. uefa.com spoke to the former ES Troyes Aube Champagne coach ahead of Wednesday's Champions League match against with FK Partizan.

uefa.com: Marseille's results have improved dramatically since your arrival last summer. You must be satisfied?

Alain Perrin: So far it's going OK. When I arrived Marseille were in a rut. They had just experienced three very disappointing seasons and desperately needed to find some consistency in their results. We have started to do that, and to qualify for the Champions League was a major bonus.

uefa.com: Having only previously coached Troyes, was it a big shock to arrive at a club of Marseille's stature?

Perrin: No, not really. It is, of course, different at Marseille to how it was at Troyes. Above all, the expectations that surround the club are huge and they certainly didn't exist at Troyes. But for me that is a bonus. I like the pressure and if I didn't I wouldn't have become a coach. Essentially, however, my job hasn't changed - I still have to pick a team to go out on to a pitch, to play against another team and try to get them to win a football match.

uefa.com: Last season no French club got past the first group stage of the Champions League. Do you think Marseille can buck that trend?

Perrin: I hope so. But I don't think we're much stronger than the French teams that played in the Champions League last year. I'm not going to pretend that we're at a level where we can compete with the very best in Europe. We're just at the beginning. But I do think that Marseille, Olympique Lyonnais and [AS] Monaco [FC] are good enough to improve on last season, and we'll do our best to get into the second phase.

uefa.com: You signed nine new players in the summer. How do you feel they are settling in?

Perrin: So far I am happy. The new guys are all starting to show their quality. [Didier] Drogba, in particular, is scoring goals, [Stepan] Vachousek and [Habib] Beye have integrated quickly too. Perhaps the most important signing of the summer was Daniel Van Buyten, who extended his contract. When you are trying to build a team you need continuity and it is crucial to hold on to your key men. Van Buyten was excellent last season and he has reached a stage now where he has become a leader on the pitch.

uefa.com: One of the new signings, Ahmed Hossam 'Mido', has had problems with his coaches in the past. What are your early impressions of him?

Perrin: He's a young man who needs to have the right people around him so that he is well advised. He's impressed me a lot. He's a player who has talent and must now settle down and familiarise himself with the job.

uefa.com: Do you now have a squad that can win the French title?

Perrin: If everything goes well, yes, we can win it this season. I think the championship will be very open again but at the very least we need to qualify once more for the Champions League.