Lille’s 4-0 defeat to Monaco on Friday leaves them 18th in Ligue 1 with no wins and just a single goal since the opening weekend of the season. They began the campaign the way they finished last season – by beating Nantes 3-0 – but they have been blunt, lethargic and brittle since then. Their manager has taken a lot of criticism from the press but he came out fighting this weekend: “I will not leave this club, even if we have to fight relegation until the last day of the championship – unless I am relieved of my responsibilities by the club. I am ready to deal with whatever I will be faced with, because I know what it means to suffer in defeat.”

Bielsa’s reputation for eccentricity has only intensified in the last few seasons. He resigned from his job at Marseille just before the start of the 2015-16 season and he left Lazio after just two days in charge last summer. When asked last week if he would quit at Lille, like he had done at Marseille, he was insulted by the question: “If I resigned from Marseille three days before the beginning of the league, it is because Marseille’s owner’s lawyer, a Russian man, and another man named Philippe Perez, came to tell me that I would have a 10% salary reduction, without providing any argument for it. ‘But do not take it personally, because it is not against you. We will take away 10% from your colleagues.’ So I responded with the following question: ‘Are you sure about what you are doing? You represent the president and owner of the club?’ They responded: ‘Yes sir.’ Very well then, thank you very much. So I left.”

Perhaps most startling was Bielsa’s claim that a prominent club official at Marseille had shouted “Mexico! Mexico! Mexico! Mexico!” at him, a reference to an approach he received – and ignored – from the Mexican football association, who were interested in appointing him as their manager. Bielsa was furious at the suggestion he was a quitter, but it remains to be seen whether or not his continued presence at Lille is good for the club.

Lille’s recent displays have been static, disjointed and oddly dull. Some of that is to be expected. They are just seven games into the season and Bielsa is working with a playing staff that has been ruthlessly overhauled since new owner Gérard Lopez took over the club in January. Seven players were parachuted in on the final day of the January transfer window and another nine significant signings were added over the summer. Seventeen first-team players have left the club this year. Incredibly, Ibrahim Amadou was only one player from the starting XI for the opening fixture last season who was still in the team for the first match this season.

Some departures made sense – most notably the rapidly declining former France international Rio Mavuba – but others were unfathomable. Vincent Enyeama, one of the best goalkeepers in Ligue 1 in recent years, appears to have been exiled; Nicolas de Preville, their top scorer last season with 14 league goals, was sold to Bordeaux and told his employers “needed the money”; and battling midfielder Xeka left for Dijon despite some influential displays after signing from Braga at Christmas.

The squad has been stripped of experience. Kévin Malcuit, still seen as a relatively youthful signing given his late breakthrough at Saint-Étienne last season, is the oldest player on the pitch and he is just 26. The team’s average age this season is less than 22 years. Having a youthful team is not a negative in itself – especially in Ligue 1, a fertile breeding ground for young talent – but some of Lille’s fledgling stars seem lost without any guidance or experience.

Nicolas Pépé, a 22-year-old winger who arrived from Angers with some promise, was installed as a striker, a position that leaves him uncomfortable and isolated on a weekly basis. The acquisition of the 20-year-old central midfielder Thiago Maia from Santos was seen as something of a coup for Lille, but after some ineffectual displays he was moved to left-back for the visit of Bordeaux earlier this month. He struggled and was eventually sent off.

Bielsa’s strange decisions are not helping his players. The manager had to substitute two injured players against Strasbourg due to injuries, but that didn’t stop him from making a third substitution for tactical reasons before half time. When goalkeeper Mike Maignan was sent off for throwing the ball at an opponent’s head, Bielsa put 5ft 9in De Preville in goal before replacing him with Amadou. Strasbourg won 3-0, with all three goals scored in the second half.

Discontent has been apparent in the last few weeks, with some fans criticising Bielsa for hacking apart the team unnecessarily and treating senior players with disrespect. Goalkeeper Enyeama, towering centre-back Marko Basa, full-back and recent captain Franck Béria, and Portugal forward Eder were all unceremoniously dismissed over the summer when they could have been used smartly in a transitional season to guide and help their youthful colleagues. The team is cripplingly timid, has no spine and seems to lack any sense of togetherness. The squad has quality but it also has the look of an under-21 side that has been hastily assembled before an international tournament.

Bielsa seemed to blame his players after their defeat to Guingamp last week, when he said he could not be held responsible for their level of effort, but he fronted up after their loss to Monaco this weekend. “It would be impossible not to be worried. I feel responsible for the situation. I very much regret that the price paid by the players for the reality that they must face. I am very disappointed by the fact that it is not up to expectations.”

Bielsa’s style, eccentricities and influence on fellow managers give him something of an aura. Other managers with the same abysmal start would be in far greater danger than he is. We are only a few games into the season, but there is a growing feeling that he may be another manager who the game is leaving behind. His last real success came in 2012, when he took Athletic Bilbao to the Europa League and Copa del Rey in finals (and lost them both). In the last five seasons, the European game has continued to evolve but Bielsa may not have. His sides tend to start quickly before their form falls off a cliff but Lille are already on a downward trajectory.

Perhaps worst of all, this season feels familiar to Lille. In the preceding two seasons Hervé Renard and then Frédéric Antonetti were employed to revive the team, but both were swiftly fired in autumn when relegation battles loomed large. Renard was sacked in November 2015; Antonetti made it to November in 2016. Will Bielsa last longer? “I am aware of our position,” said Lopez after the defeat to Monaco. “The coach must find a way to change things. We continue to support Marcelo.” This is the right attitude to take given that the squad is talented, the manager is potentially exciting and the season is only seven games old, but Lopez could put Lille in danger if he keeps faith in Bielsa for too long.

Ligue 1 Talking Points

• With Memphis Depay and Maxwel Cornet both left out of the Lyon squad with an eye on their Europa League match against Atalanta on Thursday, Bruno Génésio opted for youngster Houssem Aouar on the left wing against Dijon on Saturday. Lyon’s defence left much to be desired in a 3-3 draw at home, but the academy product was impressive. His only prior start had come last spring in Lyon’s infamous trip to Bastia but he hardly looked a callow teenager on Saturday. He scored a fine goal from Kenny Tete’s low cross and generally tormented the experienced Fouad Chafik. Much of Aouar’s strength lies in his positional versatility; he started on the wing on Saturday but is comfortable taking up a more central role as well. Deceptively strong despite his wiry frame, his movement dovetails with Nabil Fékir’s, giving Lyon a third creative presence alongside the captain and Bertrand Traoré. If Saturday’s evidence is anything to go by, Aouar may find himself starting more often – despite Depay’s hefty price tag – continuing Lyon’s impressive run of academy graduates finding success in the first team.

• Paris Saint-Germain were without the injured Neymar for their trip to Montpellier on Saturday but the leaders would have been confident of securing a seventh straight win of the season. Things didn’t come off that way, though. Michel Der Zakarian’s 5-4-1 worked a charm as Montpellier secured a goalless draw. Montpellier were one of the bottom half’s better sides to watch last season, with marauding full-backs, Steve Mounié and Ryad Boudebouz all eager to attack. The departures of Mounié and Boudebouz were unsurprising, but the appointment of the former Reims and Nantes boss Der Zakarian was a shock, as he had never achieved much beyond a reputation for negativity at his previous clubs. Fans of attacking football may have been disappointed, but the new boss has already proved his worth. Montpellier sit in mid-table with the fourth best defence in the league. With Casimir Ninga still working to get back to his best after an ACL injury and Giovanni Sio having served a lengthy ban, the team has been rather grim in attack, but Der Zakarian’s emphasis on defensive solidity has kept them afloat. Monaco loom on Friday, but on the evidence of Saturday’s result, the champions should be wary of their southern neighbours’ organisation and focus.

• Tactics also made the difference in the west, as Bordeaux’s shift away from their habitual 4-3-3 helped them beat Guingamp 3-1. With Nicolas De Préville and Lukas Lerager both struggling and the team only drawing 1-1, Jocelyn Gourvennec brought on Alexandre Mendy and Jonathan Cafu in their places. Mendy is an archetypal targetman who offers a different look to the clever but undersized De Préville. The substitutions saw the hosts shift to a 4-2-3-1, with Malcom taking up a more central role. He was brilliant once more, almost immediately slipping in Mendy to give the team a 2-1 lead and later making an important touch in Cafu’s goal. 4-3-3 may be Bordeaux’s best system, but seeing them be so effective in a different formation only lends more credence to their continued challenge for the top three. Their trip to Paris for Saturday’s early kick-off looks increasingly interesting.

• We placed a great deal of emphasis on Jean Michaël Seri’s impressive form for Nice a fortnight ago but, on the evidence of their last three matches, another player could yet prove as influential. Mario Balotelli’s first season in Nice was plagued by inconsistency and a few disciplinary and injury issues; he did score 17 goals but he seemed indifferent and petulant at times. Balotelli was in the referee’s notebook again against Angers on Friday, but he was also on the scoresheet, giving him six goals in seven starts across all competitions. In those seven starts – four of which have come in the league – Nice have picked up four wins and two draws, compared with a solitary draw against Ajax in the club’s four matches without Balotelli. For all of Seri’s inventiveness, Nice are plainly a more dangerous team with the Italian fit and leading the line. With Balotelli among the goals, Nice have every chance of continuing to climb the table and renewing their challenge for European football – something had seemed wholly unlikely a month ago.

Ligue 1 table

Ligue 1 results

Nice 2-2 Angers, Lille 0-4 Monaco, Montpellier 0-0 Paris Saint-Germain, Bordeaux 3-1 Guingamp, Caen 1-0 Amiens, Lyon 3-3 Dijon, Metz 0-1 Troyes, Saint-Étienne 2-2 Rennes, Strasbourg 1-2 Nantes, Marseille 2-0 Toulouse.

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