Gourcuff: Blanc is not a coach

Christian Gourcuff has criticised the current crop of French coaches, and singled out Paris Saint-Germain’s Laurent Blanc for his approach.

The Lorient boss has suggested that a section of his peers should not be branded as a coach due to a hands-off approach to training, and claimed Blanc’s assistant at PSG Jean-Louis Gasset deserves credit for their success.

Gourcuff, speaking ahead of Lorient’s Ligue 1 clash with Saint-Etienne, explained that those who control all facets of the club should be classed as the leader.

“To me a coach is someone who works on the training pitch,” he told Le Journal du Dimanche. “However, there are coaches that do not do that.

“Like Laurent Blanc at Paris, where it is Jean-Louis Gasset (Blanc’s assistant) who trains (the players).

“It is a model that does not please me.

“Jose Mourinho has an influence on the training, Arsene Wenger too, but a coach who does not control that is, according to me, not a coach.”

The 58-year-old, who has been in charge since 2003, has guided Lorient to nine wins this season and they sit 13th in the table.