Manchester United-linked Roberto De Zerbi 'showed his limitations' in Liverpool Champions League defeat, says Julien Laurens

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It was a night to forget for Marseille in the UEFA Champions League as they fell to a 3-0 defeat against reigning Premier League champions Liverpool. And with the spotlight on manager Roberto De Zerbi amid links with the Manchester United job, plenty of criticism followed. TNT Sports pundit Julien Laurens questioned whether the Italian would be a sensible appointment for the Red Devils.

Man Utd-linked De Zerbi 'has shown his limitations' as Marseille boss - Laurens

Video credit: TNT Sports

TNT Sports expert Julien Laurens suggested Roberto De Zerbi may not be the right manager for Manchester United after Marseille's UEFA Champions League defeat to Liverpool.

The Ligue 1 side were well beaten at Stade Velodrome, losing 3-0 thanks to strikes from Dominik Szoboszlai and Cody Gakpo as well as an own-goal from Geronimo Rulli.

And Laurens claimed the hosts' performance "showed the limitations" of De Zerbi, who has been linked with the United job.

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"I think it's a good debate to have," Laurens said. "As good as he has been at times with Marseille - we mentioned some of the really good performances they've had against Newcastle, the game against PSG in the French Super Cup - at times, like tonight, and I know Liverpool are very good, I'm not really sure what he's trying to do.

"It's not good enough, and if it's not good enough for Marseille would he be good enough for Manchester United? I'm not sure.

"Obviously it's a high risk, high reward style of football - we've seen that in Italy and at Brighton before. Tonight there was just no high risk at all, so there was never going to be any reward.

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"I feel that here he's struggled to implement what he wants to do with this current squad, but this is a squad that he's picked; him, Medhi Benatia, the sporting director, and Pablo Longoria, the president. And if he can't get a tune out of this team in these kind of games I'm not sure he's the right guy for United.

"This was a big chance for Marseille to make a statement first of all, to make a big step towards qualification, maybe even dreaming of top eight with a win tonight. Now they will be under massive pressure next week against Brugge.

"They've got a huge game here against Lens in the league on Saturday, third against first, and it could turn into a horrible week for De Zerbi and Marseille.

"Maybe he's lost a bit of credit. I still think United probably rate him because of what he did before, and I can understand that. But tonight showed his limitations."

Marseille are now 19th in the Champions League league phase table, with nine points from seven games.

Gerrard: Marseille were 'bang average'

Liverpool legend Steven Gerrard was equally unimpressed by De Zerbi's side, but praised Liverpool's resilience.

"There was a big pressure on Liverpool tonight, going to Marseille," he said on TNT Sports. "I expected more from them, but I thought they were bang average from start to finish.

"De Zerbi will be really disappointed in his team, especially the goals they conceded were really poor. We questioned Liverpool at the weekend for not killing teams off, so the pressure was on them tonight. But they were ruthless.

"I don't think we can doubt Liverpool's ability to handle an atmosphere. We know they've got very experienced players and so it's a question of consistency now. Now they've got to reset, and they now have to take the same mentality to Bournemouth and treat that game like they did tonight."

Marseille travel to Belgium to face Club Brugge in their final league phase fixture next week, while Liverpool host Azerbaijani side Qarabag - with both games live on TNT Sports and discovery+.

Stream the Premier League, Men’s and Women’s FA Cup, UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, UEFA Conference League and more on TNT Sports and discovery+

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