Saint-Etienne vs Marseille preview - Bielsa coy over Marseille future

Posted Saturday, February 21, 2015 by PA

Marseille's preparations for their crunch match against St Etienne have been thrown into disarray after coach Marcelo Bielsa refused to commit his future to the club.

Marseille supporters have a fond place in their hearts for Bielsa after he embarked upon a Ligue 1 title charge with the club.

The Argentinian's progress has not gone unnoticed. Japan and Saudi Arabia are both reported to be interested in making Bielsa the national coach of their respective nations.

Bielsa did little to play down the possibility that he might leave Marseille on Friday.

"Such rumours are common during this time of the year," the 59-year-old said when asked if there was any truth linking him to the Saudi national team.

"There is nothing new to say. I only speak of concrete facts and I will not confirm or rebut this."

As it stands, the former Argentina, Athletic Bilbao and Chile coach will leave at the end of the season because he was only given a one-year deal when Marseille appointed him last summer.

"All I can say is that both sides have agreed to this," he added.

"As soon as the championship ends, the contract ends. So we will need to set up a new one because this current contract will be null and void."

When asked whether he could leave Marseille, he replied: "I can't eliminate the possibility. But I can't confirm it either."

Although Bielsa's stock is high among Marseille fans, the 59-year-old has watched his side slip down the table of late after a run of one win in four matches.

Marseille are second in the table, level on points with third place Paris Saint-Germain, who are two points shy of leaders Lyon.

"My responsibility is total," he said.

"There is no reason for me not succeed to get the best from them.

"The role of the coach is to prepare the players and make sure they play well together. Since the beginning of the year, we were not superior to inferior teams. You can not blame someone other than the coach."

St Etienne may be fourth in Ligue 1, but they have also suffered from a poor run of form recently.

They have won just once since the turn of the year, but coach Christophe Galtier is hoping to return to winning ways at Stade Geoffroy-Guichard on Sunday.

"We want to reboot," Galtier told St Etienne's website.

"To do this, we have to go dig deep.

"It will be a very difficult to match Marseille."