Bielsa impressed at times with his brand of attacking football, and Marseille was in contention for the league title last season before a run of four straight defeats in April ended those hopes.
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While OM ultimately fell short of both champions Paris Saint-Germain and the Champions League places following a late end-of-season collapse, Bielsa was praised for his tactical approach and his management of the club’s relatively limited resources.
“I thank the fans for always being behind me during games and on a daily basis”.
After a shocking 1-0 home loss to Caen in their Ligue 1 opener, Olympique Marseille have been handed another surprise: manager Marcelo Bielsa resigned immediately after the match. “I have finished my work here, I will return to my home country”, said Bielsa, who has been linked with a move to Mexico as a possible replacement for sacked national coach Miguel Herrera. “There are no excuses for this defeat”, added Bielsa before he dropped his resignation bombshell. I’ve given everything that I have to this team.
“I can not accept this situation of instability”.
“We had reached an agreement on a contract extension for 2016-2017, which was missing just a signature”, he wrote in a letter read out by his interpreter.
Bernardo Silva made it 1-1 six minutes after coming on as an interval substitute, then Layvin Kurzawa fired home to give his side the flawless start to the season.
That outcome looked more likely when summer signing Andy Delort sent a sublime finish beyond Steve Mandanda on 27 minutes to stun the home crowd.
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He has lasted barely beyond two years at any of his former clubs – Newell’s Old Boys and Velez Sarsfield in his homeland, Atlas and Club America in Mexico and Spanish sides Espanyol and Athletic Bilbao – with longer stints only in global jobs with Argentina and Chile.
