Didier Deschamps take a copy of Yoga, by Emmanuel Carrère? The coach is rather discreet about his literary tastes. In the opening pages of the book, the author struggling with depression says he likes to cling to this line from Lenin: “You have to work with the existing material, lame, miserable. » The equipment of the France team is not miserable, even if it seemed very limp between the glitches of some and the packages of others. The boss of the Blues worked “with”, but also “without”. Without the injured (Pogba, Kanté, Nkunku, Benzema, Maignan), without this famous “three-man defense” and without too many certainties too.
But now, after two games and two victories, Didier Deschamps has found his typical team and the identity that goes with it. A small feat. First qualified for the round of 16 of this 2022 World Cup after their success on Saturday November 26 against the Danes (2-1), the reigning world champions will even benefit from the luxury of letting the substitutes frolic against Tunisia, Wednesday (4 p.m. ) on the lawn of the Education City stadium in Al-Rayyan. Unless you have a lot of imagination, the first place is guaranteed to the Blues and the Danes’ scorers are promised to challenge the second in group C. Poland, Argentina, Saudi Arabia or Mexico: the card is rich.
If Deschamps of course sees “things to improve”he appreciates his team’s ability to be dangerous in attack while keeping this famous ” balance ” with the defensive aspect. A balance that the coach still did not see in the 3-5-2 system, after a year of practicing it without succeeding in assimilating it. Too bad for the turnaround, the Basque is stubborn but not stubborn. He installed this 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3 that can be adjusted according to the movements of Antoine Griezmann, midfielder or playmaker depending on the needs of the match.
Like an air of 2018, “Grizou” regained his influence, his joy of living and spun in front of journalists after Saturday’s meeting with his famous “Long live France, long live the Republic!” » We do not know if France in Doha really lives better without the unfortunate Karim Benzema, but the absence of the Golden Ball frees the axis of the field to Griezmann and allows Ousmane Dembélé to occupy the right side with a defensive zeal new to him.
A misfortune, a solution. Still had to think about it. “Antoine takes pleasure in the construction, when he touches the ball, summarizes Deschamps. He will score fewer goals, because there are many people ahead, but he is so useful, intelligent (…) and [permet] the team to have a good balance while having a lot of offensive players. »
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