EDITORIAL - Tensions between Corinne Deacon and the Lyonnaises: "This team has lost its joy of playing"

EDITORIAL

The French women's football team receives North Macedonia on Friday evening.

Corinne Deacon, the coach, has tested positive for Covid-19 and will not be there.

However, it remains in everyone's mind, because of the tensions that oppose it to some of the players.

For our sports columnist Virginie Phulpin, there are only two solutions: Corinne Deacon must change or leave. 

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"Corinne Deacon will eventually overtake Raymond Domenech on the podium of the most criticized coaches in France, proof that the problem is deep between the coach and part of her locker room. It is with the Lyonnaises that the cloth burns in public. In question: the non-selection of Amandine Henry, yet captain of the Bleues. This is not the first time that Corinne Deacon has targeted a Lyonnaise. There were sharp criticisms of the game of Eugénie Le Sommer during the Coupe du world, or the unceremonious removal of Wendie Renard's captain's armband.

This is how it works: for Corinne Deacon, no head should protrude.

She's leading a team and the players have to fall in line, otherwise it's the punishment.

In a military camp, this may be the right method.

In the France team, I have doubts.

This team has lost its joy of playing.

Reynald Peydros, the football consultant of Europe 1 and former coach of the women's OL, says of the players that they are going in selection with "the ball in the stomach".

The martial atmosphere is not successful for them, the Blues are treading water.

They will probably not be worried by North Macedonia, but in major competitions, this situation risks generating blockages.

A heavy atmosphere for a lack of convincing results, that is complicated to defend. 

The art of undervaluing a crisis 

The players are now complaining openly.

Not all of them, of course, but the Lyonnaises, yes.

It must be said that they are the executives of the France team.

So they dare to speak more easily.

If there was only one player to complain, we would take the plunge.

However, it is not a question of a person's whim, but of a real wave of discontent.

So at the French Football Federation, we pretend all is going well in the best of all possible worlds.

Corinne Deacon's contract has been extended until 2022, until the Euro.

And we just admit that the coach may have some communication problems, but nothing serious. 

This team must be built around the Lyonnaises.

These players, five times European champions in a row, are the backbone of Les Bleues.

Their thirst to win, their fluidity in the game, must also be found in the France team, which is not the case.

I am not saying that they should have all the rights because they are the best.

No.

But Corinne Deacon must dialogue with them, include them in the project.

So either we sit around a table and burst the abscess, or we move on.

Frankly, I am almost happy that the Euro has been pushed back by a year.

At least they will have time to fix the problem. "