Flying Kiwis: Bill Tuiloma, 2016-17 Season Preview
Bill Tuiloma – Olympique de Marseille (French Ligue 1)
Last year was not a great time for Billy T. Loaned out to Strasbourg a few divisions down, he was expected to have the chance to really work on his game as a regular starter but it didn’t pan out like that. Tui would only make two league starts for them, with seven oppos off the bench and another seven games for the reserves. 168 total minutes of footy. He wasn’t even injured a lot of that time, just stuck on the bench.
But while that didn’t go as planned, it probably still worked out better than things did for his parent club Marseille. It began with Marcelo Bielsa resigning after only one game. Franck Passi took over in the interim before Michel got the gig full and proper. Although he guided them to the knockouts in the Europa League and the final of the Coupe de France – a lot of that down to the goals of Michy Batshuayi, who is now at Chelsea – their league form was abysmal and their 13th place finish the worst the club has managed in 15 years. As if that wasn’t chaotic enough, they sacked Michel and have continued to sell their best players. An investigation into possible illegal transfer dealings threw some more shade upon them and fan trouble only added to that. Then there’s the state of the club’s ownership with Margarita Louis-Dreyfus looking to sell the club she inherited from her late husband. No solution there as of yet either. It’s been a disaster of a 12 month period.
These days Passi is back as the full-time manager which is a cool thing for the 50 year old who played 61 times for the club in Ligue 1 back in the day and has been assistant manager since 2012. But he still hasn’t been able to keep hold of his best guys. Following Batshuayi out the door have been Benjamin Mendy (Monaco), Mario Lemina (Juventus), Brice Dja Djedje (Watford), Nicolas N’Koulou (Olympique Lyon) and Steve Mandanda (Crystal Palace) to name a few key ones. This from a club that last season sold Giannelli Imbula, Dimitri Payet, Andre Ayew and Andre-Pierre Gignac. The season before that Mathieu Valbuena, Lucas Mendes, Morgan Amalfitano and Jordan Ayew. It’s so hard to keep battling when you lose that much talent in such a short space of time.
But they say that with every crisis comes an opportunity and that could be the case for Bill Tuiloma here. OM haven’t done all that much of interest in the transfer window but Remy Cabella has made has move from Newcastle permanent while Florian Thauvin is returning on loan and so is Bafetimbi Gomis. Tomas Hubocan and Saif-Eddine Khaoui were their two other money transfers, each signing for small cash sums. Cabella, Thauvin and Khaoui can hopefully add some more creativity into the midfield and Hubocan is a solid enough defender, while Gomis will be tasked with getting the goals and they’ll hope the Gomis they get is the one with 102 goals and 31 assists in 309 Ligue 1 games and not the dude who scored only 13 times with 1 assist in 64 Premier League games.
The reason that it’s been so hard for them to retain players is simple: money. They couldn’t afford to offer Gignac or Ayew new contracts. Even after selling most of their compelling targets they still work in a budget deficit and it ain’t getting better. Not until they get a new owner anyway.
But when you add all that together, you get a team that could be about to offer a rare opportunity for a young kiwi midfielder who struggled a few divisions down. See, the rest of the squad has their weaknesses but in central midfield the fans have been begging for investment all off-season. Lassana Diarra is quality and would have played for France at the Euros had he been fit… but despite his agent saying he’s staying, that hasn’t stopped the rumours. Abou Diaby you’ll remember for only ever being injured at Arsenal and then you have 20 year old Zinedine Machach, 20 year old Andre Zambo and 21 year old Bill Tuiloma.
To be fair, Tui would be the third choice there, but that still leaves a clear path to the first team whereas it was pretty hard to imagine that a few months ago. And his situation isn’t unique in a squad that is fair stacked with 19-21 year olds. Obviously a lot of youth teamers got the promotion while the first team exodus was going on.
Expectations aren’t the highest for Marseille, they don’t expect this team to be winning trophies or making it into Europe but if they can avoid any worst case scenarios then that’ll be decent as they hope to find a few young gems to build their team around into the future. Brazilian CB Doria is one to definitely watch out for in that regard. Huge ability.
So in their first friendly, Tuiloma had just gotten back from All Whites duty and was fitter than most which was a bonus. He started in a 2-1 loss to Lausanne, playing the first half and then the last 27 minutes as well – hey, it was a friendly after all.
He and Zamba started in the middle, Dutch defender Karim Rekik also having a run there. Next up it was a 1-0 win over Nimes where the fan violence became a problem. Then a 2-2 draw with Ajax, Tui started both.
Following that, a training camp in Germany. That included a double header against Alemannia Aachen, which OM lost on penalties after a scoreless 90 minutes and then a 2-1 loss to Koln, before they faced (and lost 1-0 to) Arminia Bielefeld. Tui played 35 minutes as a sub in the Bielefeld one – a game which featured the first OM appearances for Hubocan, Machach and Gomis. That in itself was a positive sign that Tui is being spotted up for the first team, almost certainly as a reserve but still. That XI was something close to their first team.
In their final hit outs before the league opener, Tui was named on the bench with Machach and Diaby starting. This was Diaby’s first appearance of the pre-season so read into that what you will, he was okay but Machach was a bit sloppy this time. Tui and Zambo replaced them in the second half, Tui getting 13 mins and Zambo 28. Then they met Palermo for a 1-1 draw – Tui didn’t start that one with Zambo and Machach getting the nod instead.
The Ligue 1 season begins in a few days and if all things are proper it’ll be Diarra and Diaby that start in midfield, though all things are definitely not that. It’s a wait and see situation and Tuiloma could just as easily be out on loan again if they bring in another dude in his position. The way things are for now though, he’s only an injury/transfer or two from getting in that matchday squad on the regular. Chris Wood could tell Billy something about the pressures of playing for a trainwreck team but in this case, it’s actually worked out quite well for the fella.
Probably OM starting XI:
Pelé – Sakai, Rolando, Doria, Bedimo – Diarra, Machach – Thauvin, Cabella, Sarr – Gomis
Up Next: The Ligue 1 season begins for them against Toulouse at 6.45am Monday