In Boulogne-Billancourt,
Tradition obliges, it was in the premises of TF1 that Didier Deschamps announced the list of 25 players selected for the World Cup in Qatar, provided that no one freaks out this weekend, given how it continues to fall in battle - hello Sadio Mané - because of this damn world stalled between the pear and the dessert.
Finally, tradition, tradition… This year exceptionally we had to stuff ourselves with reports on the shortage of diesel, the Retirement Savings Plan and the benefits of food supplements before our great Raïs could finally spit out his valda, at 8:23 p.m. not too precise.
And what did he announce?
We're coming, we're coming, take it easy on the amigos.
Goodbye Mike, hello Steve
We'll make it very short for you on the choice of the three goalkeepers (Lloris, Mandanda and Areola) since Mike Maignan's injury and so little playing time since the start of the season leave little room for heated debate.
DD chose to take this old veteran Steve Mandanda instead of the young guard.
His choice to join Rennes and his rather honorable performances since the start of the season play for him.
But it is above all his experience, his knowledge of both the Rance group and the great competition passes to play tarot, as well as his ability not to make waves in his role as lining, which weighed in the balance.
DD, it's up to you:
“Steve is there because he's an experienced player and he made sure to continue to be competitive.
There will necessarily be a hierarchy, because it is important.
But I prefer to warn them first.
I'm not going to explain too much about Mandanda otherwise I risk answering your question on the hierarchy (laughs).
» Ok, Mandanda in 2, it is noted.
Zero surprise ahead, even for Giroud
We will not dwell much on the list of attackers either, which we could have put down with our eyes closed on paper (which we did by the way), as it is without surprise.
Coman, Dembélé and Nkunku will accompany the winning triplet Mbappé-Griezmann-Benzema in front.
Note, however, that Giroud has finally won his napkin ring after doing (and doing well) the job on the side of Milan in recent months.
His remarks on the fact that he can accept this role of joker without batting an eyelid despite his former status as titu ', when the friend Deschamps put this forward to justify his choice to keep him away for almost a year of the group, have paid.
Well done Gire!
Isn't it Didier?
" His status ?
He knows him.
I have a position in relation to Olivier, he knows it through the exchanges we have had frequently.
The situation has changed [Benzema and his sore thigh], that's why I think it's better for the France team that he is with us.
»
A defense colony
Now that the all-comers are dispatched, let's come to the Groooooooos file, which will quietly make us chatter until the first match against Australia, namely the defense.
But beware, not just any.
Defense with a capital D, Avengers version.
Of the big, heavy, sturdy kind, responsible for protecting a Lloris exposed to the four winds during the last Euro.
To tell you that we didn't sense the Trafalgar blow coming would be a lie.
A little… After the elimination against Switzerland last summer, DD had admitted to having “certainly deviated from [his] first idea”, defensive solidity.
"I tried to improve the offensive animation, even if it meant having a little defensive deficit, but I would have liked this deficit to be less important", he had dropped one evening of depression in Bucharest.
But feel the trick in such widths?
No.
By taking in his luggage no less than eight professional central defenders, the coach clearly announced the color for Qatar: blood, tears and… blood and tears.
Exit the Lucas Digne, Ferland Mendy or Jonathan Clauss, and hello the Konaté, Upamecano and other William Saliba to accompany the traditional Varane, Kimpembe, Hernandez siblings.
Suffice to say that we are going to travel light on the wings... Mister Concrete has tried to justify himself by arguing that many of these guys could play very well on the sides, we are already bleeding from the eyes at the idea of finding Koundé along the touchline as against Portugal at the Euro.
But this diabolical plan does have a reason for being, and it is called a system.
Three-way defence?
Done, hello.
On this point at least, one cannot reproach Deschamps for showing a certain frankness.
From the first question asked, this one did not turn around the tureen: yes, it is over with the system of three (or five, it's as you like) behind and return to the fundamentals of 2018 which have given the success that we know.
If he was frank, DD still tried to make us swallow the unavoidable, explaining to whoever wanted to listen (NOBODY) that he had not only used this system for the past two years .
The problem is that numbers don't lie.
And what are they saying?
That the Blues have evolved 65% of the time in this configuration since September 2021. On arrival, this choice is up to him and he will die or triumph with it.
Very marked by the failure of 2021, or, in the words of certain well-informed colleagues, DD would have sometimes let himself be dictated to by this choice of going three behind at the Euro to put the front trio in an armchair, the coach acts a very clear takeover of his power.
Like “I listened to you guys last summer and we saw the results, now recess is over, dad is in charge”.
That's about it, Mr. Deschamps, isn't it?
“After analysis with my staff, we concluded that we did very good things in this [three-man] system but we were also in difficulty.
We have very often been out of balance, and I know too well that to exist in a big competition, if you are not solid defensively... You will have to defend well, defend better, not at the expense of the offensive animation, but if I made this choice it is because I am convinced that it is more suitable.
I made different player choices based on that system.
»
And in the middle flows a lack of creativity, right?
So if we know how we are going to play behind, what about the rest?
Because given the profile of the chosen midfielders (Tchouaméni, Camavinga, Fofana, Rabiot, Guendouzi and Veretout, yes, yes, Veretout), it is not insulting them to say that in terms of creativity we have instead of the young guard.
His choice to join Rennes and his rather honorable performances since the start of the season play for him.
But it's Didier, can you explain to us?
: above all his experience, his knowledge of both the France group and the great competition passes to play tarot, as well as his ability not to make waves in his role as understudy, which weighed in the balance. up a notch to play in a box-to-box role.
Didier, can you explain to us? :
“Antoine is an attacker but he has the ability to have a high volume of play. And even when he is attacking he comes back very low, sometimes too much for my taste.
In his club too, sometimes he finds himself in a triangle in the middle, it does not pose a problem for him.
»
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