News Focus
- Habib Beye keeps his job despite five losses in ten league fixtures
- Marseille sit seventh in Ligue 1 with only two matches remaining
- The squad faces another strict training camp lockdown at La Commanderie
- Director of football Medhi Benatia remains furious with player attitudes
- The club is chasing a UEFA Europa Conference League qualification spot
Olympique de Marseille will not dismiss manager Habib Beye before the season ends. The French giants made this decision after suffering a heavy 3-0 defeat away to FC Nantes on Saturday.
Beye will remain in the dugout for the final two fixtures against Le Havre AC and Stade Rennais FC. French newspaper L’Équipe reports that the club refuses to make another managerial change at this late stage.
Roberto De Zerbi departed earlier this year, and Jacques Abardonado took temporary charge for a 2-2 draw with RC Strasbourg Alsace in February. Marseille do not want to repeat this short-term solution.
The former Senegal international has lost five of his ten league matches in charge. However, club leaders believe the problems run much deeper than the coach. They point to a fractured dressing room, an exhausted squad, and a lack of authority figures within the team.
Marseille originally aimed for automatic UEFA Champions League qualification. They have now dropped to seventh place in the table. Their only realistic target is securing a spot in the UEFA Europa Conference League playoffs. This outcome depends on RC Lens defeating OGC Nice in the Coupe de France final later this month.
The latest defeat follows another disastrous away performance at FC Lorient in April. The club has now imposed another lockdown at their La Commanderie training base. Players returned on Sunday morning after the trip from Nantes. Officials informed them they must stay together under stricter conditions from Monday night.
The exact length of this training camp remains unclear. The club will plan on a day-by-day basis. Similar disciplinary measures introduced after the Lorient loss reportedly had little effect.
Director of football Medhi Benatia is reportedly still furious with the squad’s attitude. He publicly criticised the players after the Lorient match. Following the latest collapse, he chose not to address the team directly. Instead, he travelled to Rennes on Sunday to watch Marseille’s reserve side compete in the Challenge Espoirs final.
Sources inside the club suggest most players are already thinking about summer transfers. This mentality leaves few voices capable of motivating the group during the closing weeks of the campaign.
Beye was reportedly satisfied with training quality before the Nantes clash. He was left stunned by the scale of the collapse during the match itself. Despite the worsening results, the 46-year-old has no intention of resigning before the final whistle of the season.