"THE PROGRESS OF FRENCH PLAYERS IS UNIQUE IN THE HISTORY OF FOOTBALL"
Alain Bernard | 23/10/1941

This is the opinion of Eisenhoffer, Hungarian international and ex-coach of O. M.

Marseille beaten by Nimes! This is news that would upset Eisenhoffer. We know that the famous Hungarian insider, who lived in France for nine years, who was a player, then coach of O. M., left for his country a few weeks ago.

Eisenhoffer has a real passion for football. I remember a conversation I had with him in Marseille a few days before he left.

We naturally talked about football and the Olympics. And here is Eisi's opinion on French football:

Eisenhoffer: I think that the progress made by French players from 1932 to 1939 is unique in the history of football! Without the war, France would have been among the strongest nations in Europe. And this thanks to the leaders, and especially to the players who have acquired the professional sense of adhering to a strict rule in order to have good form and keep it.

Eisenhoffer spoke of the time of buxom and succulent meals, very detrimental to form before a match... At least that is a temptation that players today will not have! The best French according to him are, among the old ones, Delfour and Nicolas, among the youngest, Courtois, Ben Barek and Bastien.

Eisenhoffer: In Marseille, the fittest at the moment is Aznar. What a great player!

The Hungarian is proud of it. It was he who discovered him in 1935, in Oran and today, after two league games, he leads the scorers with four goals, ahead of his club mate Virage and Zatelli with three goals.

Eisenhoffer's training methods have given good results. We saw it with the O. M. The Hungarian's secret is simple. Here it is:

Eisenhoffer: In my opinion, any training method must be based on the experience and knowledge of the players; above all, we must not bore them. We only do well what interests us. It is therefore important, for it to be effective, to make training fun, and to make everyone work according to their preferences. A few hours before the match, I always bring my players together to give them tactical advice. Athletics are essential for good physical condition. What makes a team strong? In order: homogeneity, morale and good individual who play for the team and not to shine in the face of gaiety. I quoted Ben Barek earlier as one of the best French, it is true, but he has one flaw: he is too personal, too spectacular. His feints, his passing from one foot to the other denote an astonishing skill, amuse the audience, but delay the attack. Sometimes a sober game will be more effective.

The successes and losses of O. M. went to the heart of Eisenhoffer. He loved his club.

Eisenhoffer: Next season the O. M. must regain the free zone championship and do better than last year in the Cup. It must be said that if I got such good results, it was thanks to the managers who gave me the freedom to run the training as I wished, and to the players who put in the effort and were disciplined.

And as I asked him if the O. M had. valuable young people:

Eisenhoffer: Yes, three, he said to me, who, in my opinion, can become very grown up players: Roger Scotty, 16, he has just left the Minims and will play this year inside right among the juniors; very gifted physically, he is already a good tactician, Jeannot Robin, 19, inside left in the first team, plays very intelligently, has a good shoot with both feet, he needs to improve his fighting spirit and his head game, and audit that he is developing physically. Finally, the third, Pironti, 19, left half, who has serious qualities.

These last two have just left for the youth camps. The O. M. will be deprived of them this season, but this internship can only do them good.

I wanted to know who was the player Eisenhoffer had most admired in his career.

Eisenhoffer: Scarone(He replied without hesitation), an Uruguayan inside right. He was an amazing player, he never trained! He united in him all the qualities: feints of Ben Barek, shoot of Kohut, tactics of Veinante or, even better, of Alec James. Never have I met a more remarkably gifted, more complete player.

Finally, I asked one last question:

— What do you think of the suppression of professionalism in football? 

Eisenhoffer: Completely removing professionalism means going back twenty years.