Bill Tuiloma (Charlotte FC | USA)

Highlights of the match

https://www.om.net/en/videos/255631/om-1-2-lausanne-highlights

its a shame what's happening to OM. a once proud club. hope they get a motivated owner soon.

Ain't that the truth.

Twice Champions League finalist, twice Europa League finalist, 14 times French Ligue1 winners. Their supporters are showing what they think of the situation. Only 3000 season passes sold for 2016/2017 compared to 43,000 5 years ago

Bill started again for the first team in a 1-0 win over Div2 side Nimes yesterday. He once again played DM and was subbed after 75 minutes. Match report said he did nothing wrong but didn't really impose himself.

It has been reported that OM are about to get the Columbian International midfielder Sanchez?? from Aston Villa on a loan. So that will be more competition for Bill. However I don't think that the club ever had in mind that Bill would be the No1 midfielder for the upcoming season. If he can secure plenty of time off the bench then that would be a success for him 

from British Columbia?

Extended highlights of Marseilles' 2-2 draw with Ajax this morning in a friendly:

You can see Bill congratulating the Marseilles penalty taker after he scores their first goal.

i went down to Beziers to see this game. Its nice watching football live on a hot summers evening. Bill started and played the full 90 minutes. Must say it was nice to see a kiwi boy step out for a match between two of the great old names of European football. These two sides have won 5 Champions League titles between them. Though they both now are sadly, former shadows of their great past.

Ajax dominated the first 30 minutes. OM played their two CMs(Bill and Angussia) deep, right in front of their  CB's. Ajax had all the possession and threatened to swamp the OM defense. Ajax scored after 20?? mins and then the OM coach pushed Bill further up field to try and break up the Ajax possession. From then on OM more than matched Ajax. OM scored two goals(one a penalty) and it was only a late goal by Ajax that resulted in a 2-2 draw. It was a very entertaining game. Ajax always play a nice brand of football and the young OM side played really well for the last hour of the match.

Bill had a good game. He did not look at all out of place playing at this level. He looked a bit nervous at the beginning, especially playing deep and being pressed by the Ajax players. Many of his passes were the safety first option...either short and square or back to the keeper however as the game wore on he passed forward and created opportunities on several occasions. I was pleasantly surprised by some of his long passing.

The official match report was generally critical of the OM performance...especially the first 30 minutes and Bill was criticised for his apparent lack of speed in covering the Ajax players during the first spell. Not sure if I agree with that. The OM attackers did not track back and left their defenders exposed. THe Bloggers on the OM supporters site generally thought that Bill had an OK game.

I think Bill has a future at this level. He is by no means a star, however he has the skills to do OK. He will probably end up a bench player for the first team when the new recruits arrive but he will get lots of game time this season. His game is all about simplicity. He does the basics right( he only made one error in the match) He makes his passes, makes his tackles and is generally in the right position. He is not really what you call a "busy" player...you often don't notice he is there. However he is very young for a DM.....if he continues to progress and has luck with the right coaches then he has a solid career in European football in front of him

Good effort mate

Sounds like the French league could really suite his all round playing style cheers for the match report.

Will be great having the Ligue 1 coverage on Sky's new beIN sport football channel this coming season.

Hopefully we'll see a few Marseilles games.

Bill getting some minutes in another pre season friendly 

https://twitter.com/OM_Officiel/status/75939250320...

Nice goal too.....from a set piece Bill rose above his marker and guided the ball inside the upright.

Quite disappointing that Bill missed the cut for the first team for the opening game of the season. He had a solid preseason where he played in six out of the seven warmup games....including five starts. Quite a few fans on the OM fan forums also said he has been unfarely treated.

Unfortunately for him the Marseille coach went for the older experianced players Diaby and Diarra in midfield. Neither of these players had featured in preseason and they were rumoured to be leaving the club. I guess when you are only 21 its hard to compete against players who have have played at the top level at Madrid and Arsenal.

However there is some hope for Bill. Diarra has been fined 10 million euros by FIFA for a contract breach when he walked out on CSK Moscow two years ago. He is desperate to sign a big contract and his agent confirmed they have had talks with PSG and Man U and also in China. Diaby is a wreck. He is always injured. He only managed 3 games in two years???? at Arsenal and only played a few games at OM last season. He is almost certain to break down again.

Bill had a very good game for the reserves. He just needs to bide his time and his chance will come. The summer transfer window closes at the end of August and OM don't have the funds for top level recruits.

Thanks for the summary. Last few months seems to have been positive for Bill. Probably the only NZ player in Europe that appears to be moving his career forward right now.

there are rumours about a possible return of Marcelo Bielsa

A communique just released by Olympic Marseille that the club has been officially sold.

The new owner is 63 year old American squillionaire Frank McCourt. This guy used to own the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team which he sold for 2.1 billion USD in 2011, a world record for the sale of any sporting franchise( I guess he can easily afford Olympic Marseille)

I guess this is a disaster for Bill Tuiloma. The new owner said he wants the club to perform at the top level in Europe. If he does a Man City or PSG then he will flood the club with top international players. Unfortunately there won't be a place for 21 year kids trying to make their way in pro football.

IMO the best option for Bill would be if OM sell/loan him on to another French club.....maybe mid lower Ligue1 or a better side in Ligue 2. Bills real problem is that he is not yet matured as a footballer. At 21 he is not going to boss a game from DM for many pro clubs. The worse thing for Bill would be if the club just cut him( contracted terminated by mutual consent like Rojas) In which case the A-League might be his next option.

Such is the life of a young kiwi profootballer. Luck plays an enormous part. If Bielsa had not left OM then Bill would probably be OK. If Rojas had not injured in his first month at Stuttgart then his career might have turned out better. Ryan Thomas got lucky....he got the right club and a manager who believed in him.

Would take him at the Nix in a heartbeat 

Bill should ask him if he wrote Angela's Ashes.

He should still ask.

Best book review ever

The A-League is a launch pad for players to get their careers back on track. Totally viable option if it comes to it.

I don't understand this mentality. Come back to the A-League, get a couple of full season under your belt and go onto bigger and better things.

He hasn't ever played a full season anywhere.

Well, yeah, but it's not exactly realistic at this point to expect that. I don't think playing in some backwater in a second or third-tier Euro league is better than playing in the A-League anyway.

new owners always say they are going to invest in the team etc. but you are right in that OM is stacked full of 19-22 year olds and they didn't invest in the off season. it's probable that a peripheral player in that scenario is going to find himself on loan or in the reserves each week.

Still let's see how Bill goes over the next month or so. Hope the international window doesn't impact him. 

Sorry...that was never my intention.

I am 100% in support of Bill and I really hopes he has a long and sucessful pro career in Europe. I just call it the way I see it. I have seen all of Marseilles matches for the last season and watched quite a few of the Reserve games. Bill is a good footballer, for sure. He has many positive attributes including being able to pass accurately with either foot, he is a good defensive tackler and he has a low error rate.

The area he needs to develop is his tactical acumen, the ability to control a match from midfield. Physically Bill has what it takes to play Ligue1 but if he wants to be given match time then he needs to be able to run a match.

His problem is lack of match time. As a young DM he needs to go somewhere we he plays regularly 30 to 40 matches a season at a resonable level. If he got 100+ pro games under his belt then he would be a completely different player. Marseille don't have the luxury of giving him that time. They will buy players who can do the job right now.

In the short term it all looks OK for Bill. The transfer window closes in 30 hours. The new owner won't actually take over untill they have completed the purchase paperwork, prob 3 months, so its highly unlikely that any new recruits will arrive before the winter transfer window. In addition it appears likely that Lass Diarra, OM's best DM will be sold to Galatasary in Turkey in the next 24 hours. As I predicted Diaby has broken down again so Bill could find himself as first call off the bench in midfield for the first half of the season. 

It appears OM is about to be propelled into the higher levels of European football. Apparently the new owner is talking of a 200+ million euro investment in his first year and then up to 100 million for each of the following years. 

Bill had a busy weekend at OM.

He played the whole second half for the senior side in a friendly against Belgium 1st Div side Standard Liege. OM lost 0-3. The next day he played a full game for the OM reserve side. They won again and are now top of the CFA div(French Div4)

Its excellent news that he is getting regular game time.

The summer transfer window closed on the 31st and OM signed a 27 year DM from from AS Roma on the last day. Unfortunately this is more competition for Bill. OM now has six central midfielders on their books.....Bill is probably ranked 5th on the pecking order.

Lass Diarra the senior OM DM did not go to Galatasaray as expected. The President of the Turkish club released a statement that Diarra was due to come but at the last moment he demanded for free, a mansion  that was worth 300,000 euros a month in rent and two new cars each worth more than 150,000 euros. Galatasaray told Diarra to f**k off!!!!!

LOL, bloody football players...they live in their own reality!!!!!

Bill should be in good shape for the All Whites campaign next month. He has played around nine games this season. Even though he has not cracked the senior side for Ligue 1 games he has had plenty of game time against good quality European teams. Ajax, Palermo, Standard Liege, Cologne

Exactly.  AT his age and place in his career he has to be playing football!  Bench, reserve and warm up games will not make you a pro.  Easily end up as squad filler

That always makes me laugh - at what stage in a career does one not need to be playing football? Not having a go, it's just a phrase that always gets bandied about for young players, old players, and those in their prime....."I'm moving 'cause at my age, I need to be playing football" says the 21/27/34 year old

Well if you are 17/18 maybe first team football is not so important

Or if you're 35

35 - "it's important I am playing at this point in my career. I haven't got many years left, so I'm determined to make an impact in the time that's left to me. If the gaffer doesn't play me, I'll have to look at my options elsewhere"

as opposed to 21 - "it's important I am playing at this point in my career. The only way for me to get better is to play games, and that's what I'm looking to do. I'm determined to make an impact in my time in football. If Mr Coachman doesn't play me, I'll have to see if I can be loaned somewhere"

16 - "I want to be the best player in the world, but right now I'm playing Call of Duty while I whack one out thinking about Selena Gomez. I'm determined my Mum won't catch me and make an impact on my arse with the kettle cord. If I don't make a go off football, I think I'll be working at Freshco with Curly Watts circa 1989, or get into Sports Management"

Not good news for the AW's. Bill is injured. He has missed the last two weeks with the OM reserve side and is still out injured this weekend. Not sure what the problem is but even if he recovers he will unlikely to be fully match fit for the USA game.

Luck plays such a huge part of the pro game. Marseille have four other midfielders out suspended or injured this weekend. If Bill had been fit he would have almost certainly made the match day squad and probably got game time.

.OM is just far to big a club for him a lower league like L2 or belguim would be much better for him