Pires calls for patience as Beye began his Marseille stint

Former France international Robert Pires has called for patience with Habib Beye as he begins his stint at Olympique de Marseille.

Marseille have finally completed the contractual obligations of Habib Beye’s three assistant coaches after receiving administrative approval.

The trio of Sébastien Bichard, Yann Cavezza, and Olivier Saragaglia have officially begun work after signing their contracts on Wednesday evening. 

This means they have been authorised to work with the first team, having joined Marseille at their mid-season training camp in Marbella.

They will therefore be present on the bench for Sunday’s Olympico against Olympique Lyon.

Beye, after his appointment as Marseille manager, had been awaiting final clearance for his preferred staff.  The delay had prevented the full implementation of his technical structure. 

They will now be able to assist Les Phocéens ahead of their upcoming two vital games, which could switch the balance of their season. 

The first is a vital clash against Lyon with Champions League qualification on the line, before a Coupe de France quarter-final clash against Toulouse next week. 

The trio were his assistants at Stade Rennais. There was a delay in their appointment at Marseille because they were waiting for their contracts to be terminated with their former club before joining up with Beye at Marseille.

Cavezza and Bichard were part of Beye’s backroom staff at Red Star FC from 2022-2024, before the latter oversaw a challenging campaign as manager of Clermont in Ligue 2.

Pirès has called on the club’s hierarchy to show patience with  Beye, drawing comparisons with Mikel Arteta’s early struggles at Arsenal.

Speaking in an interview with local paper La Provence, the former Arsenal winger said the best example to follow is the current Arsenal manager. 

“After three months, Arsenal wanted to sack him. But Edu trusted him, and we know the results,” he added.

Beye has managed one match so far: a 2-0 defeat to Stade Brestois last weekend.

Pirès, who acknowledged the scale of the task, said it’s a complicated situation for Les Olympiens, saying the former Senegal international knew exactly what he was walking into.