Marseille slips to another defeat in French league

By JEROME PUGMIRE

AP Sports Writer

Associated Press Sports

updated 3:42 p.m. ET March 6, 2012

PARIS (AP) -Marseille's hopes of securing a Champions League place for next season took another blow after a 2-0 loss at Evian on Tuesday condemned the former champion to a third straight league defeat without scoring a goal.

Veteran midfielder Jerome Leroy scored both Evian's goals in the first half, as eighth-place Marseille fell eight points behind third-place Lille.

"Everyone knows the mess we're in," Marseille defender Jeremy Morel said. "It's becoming problematic. We're not creating anything. We're going to have to get back on track, otherwise the end of the season is going to be difficult for us."

Marseille has not won since beating Inter Milan 1-0 in the first leg of their last-16 Champions League match on Feb. 22. That win extended Marseille's unbeaten run to 16 games, but it then lost 1-0 away to Brest and 1-0 at home to Toulouse last weekend.

"There are still a lot of points to get and we have to be optimistic, but we've lost three in a row," Marseille coach Didier Deschamps said. "We were poor in so many areas tonight against an opponent that played with pace and aggression.

"I didn't see the Evian goalie make a save of note in the second half. It shows that we're too tame at the moment. Opponents are hurting us because they're creating a lot of chances. We've lost our solidity at the back."

Marseille, the French champions two seasons ago, has little time to regroup with a league game at relegation-threatened Ajaccio on Friday, followed by the return leg at Inter four days later.

"It's going to be a battle against Ajaccio, a team that is fighting to stay up," Morel said. "They're always hard games."

Tuesday's match was originally scheduled for early February but was postponed because of freezing weather conditions.

Marseille, which was missing top scorer Loic Remy and tricky winger Mathieu Valbuena because of injury, wasted two chances to take the lead before Leroy's opening goal.

In the sixth minute, Evian failed to properly clear right back Rod Fanni's cross and the ball landed to Benoit Cheyrou, only for the midfielder to volley wide of the open goal from a good position.

Winger Andre Ayew's pass then put Morel clear with only goalkeeper Stephan Andersen to beat, but his shot hit the side-netting.

"We're lacking in movement, spontaneity. We played well in the first 15 minutes but we didn't take our chances, and at the back we got caught out by two long balls," Morel said. "If we can't deal with every long ball that comes our way, we're going to be in trouble."

Evian took the lead in the 16th minute. Striker Yannick Sagbo passed to Leroy, and he shimmied past Fanni before expertly clipping the ball into the top corner.

The 37-year-old midfielder, who played for Marseille between 2000-02, has a habit of scoring against his former teams. He hit his second goal in the 22nd, beating goalkeeper Steve Mandanda at the second attempt after his first shot from close range was saved.

Ayew forced a smart save from Ayew at the start of the second half. But Mandanda was also called into action, punching away defender Brice Dja Djedje's 30-yard shot.

Mid-table Evian should have made it 3-0 with 15 minutes left, however midfielder Cedric Barbosa unselfishly tried to set up Saber Khlifa and the chance went begging as the pass didn't quite reach him.

? 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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