Tudor promises to deliver crowd-pleasing football

New Marseille coach wants his players to play ‘attacking, organised’ game to challenge for trophies

MARSEILLE:

French football giants Marseille will play a style of football that will make their passionate fans happy when they leave the stadium, new coach Igor Tudor said on Tuesday.

The 44-year-old former Crotia international signed a two-year deal and replaces Jorge Sampaoli.

The Argentinian quit Marseille earlier this month because of what he said were differences with the club's hierarchy after guiding them back to the Champions League.

Tudor too left his post at Serie A side Verona after disagreements with the club bosses on how to build on an impressive ninth-place finish last season.

Tudor said at his first press conference that talking about tactics could go on forever but he had a clear idea about how he wants last season's title runners-up to play.

"I believe in one thing, it is attacking football, with intensity, organised and courageous," he said.

"Football lends itself towards rhythm, intensity.

"But I am also talking about organised play, passing, running without the ball.

"I want the people who come to the stadium not to leave disappointed."

Tudor, who spent the majority of his playing career at Juventus and won 55 caps for Croatia, said he wanted his team to be instantly recognisable in the style they played.

"I want us to have an individual style of play, that is to say a nice-looking team, who knows what to do with and without the ball," he said.

"The result will be a consequence of that."

Tudor, who has amassed an impressive number of clubs as a coach since his first job in 2013 including stints in Greece and Turkey, said a club with a reputation like Marseille needed to win more titles.

Marseille remain the only French side to have won the European Cup, beating AC Milan in the 1993 final.

However, the last of their 10 Ligue 1 titles came in 2010.

"The history and size of this club dictate its targets and that, of course, is to win," he said.

"How we will play, you will see very quickly."