Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has scored 18 goals and provided 8 assists in 34 matches for Olympique de Marseille this season, across all competitions. He recently scored in Marseille’s victories against Shakhtar and Montpellier, helping the team secure back-to-back wins under new coach Jean-Louis Gasset. However, Eric Di Meco does not believe these numbers measure up to Alexis Sanchez’s performance last season.
Di Meco stated, « This is evidence of the new tyranny of statistics. We are comparing a player who has been instrumental in the team’s progress, results and team spirit, with another player who is scoring goals – he may even reach 30 goals – but had a disastrous first six months. Maybe it took him longer to adapt, maybe the team is not as good, I don’t know… But who did he score against? There are only 2 goals against teams above Marseille in the league table out of 8 out of 14 possible matches against those top teams… Last year, Alexis was alone. He provided crosses, assists, tackles to regain possession, created space, made runs… (…) But these things are not reflected in the statistics. » It should also be noted that Aubameyang is the top scorer in the Europa League this season with 7 goals…
