The Italian defeat was difficult to digest even for Didier Deschamps. “I assure you that it hurts and it must hurt everyone. But I’ll stick to the facts,” said France’s national coach. The facts: 1:3 against Italy at the start of the Nations League, an overwhelmed and unimaginative B team, only three shots on goal in 90 minutes. In three days against Belgium, “things have to go in the right direction again.”
It all started wonderfully in the Parc des Princes in Paris. Bradley Barcola scored in the twelfth second, earlier than any Frenchman before him. Until Friday evening, Bernard Lacombe held the record, having scored after 36 seconds at the 1978 World Cup – also in a loss to Italy.
Harsh criticism
What followed was not only goals conceded by Federico Dimarco, Davide Frattesi and Giacomo Raspadori, but above all it was a wasted evening. “The defense was catastrophic, with no offensive ideas and weak in finishing,” wrote “L’Équipe” and was harsh in its criticism of the team. “They played in circles without any brilliant ideas and accepted the defeat as well as their mediocrity.”
Deschamps made six changes to his starting eleven, which lost to eventual champions Spain in the European Championship semi-finals. Bayern’s star signing Michael Olise made his debut. “He did a few good things with the ball in the first 20 minutes. He has impressive potential and still needs to take a few steps,” said Deschamps.
Weak in duels
The coach described the defeat as a “collective failure”. “We put Italy in a comfortable situation. We were weak in our efforts, especially in the duels,” said the world champion coach. The fact that the 55-year-old himself was once again the focus of criticism did not bother him much: “I was born with criticism. I’m fine.”
Things will have to improve on Monday against Domenico Tedesco’s Belgian team. Deschamps wants to rotate the team again and let rested regular players like Dayot Upamecano, Jules Kondé and Ousmane Dembélé play from the start. “We need to be clearer in our heads again. We owe it to ourselves to win this game,” said goalscorer Barcola.
© dpa-infocom, dpa:240907-930-225783/1
This is a message directly from the dpa news channel.
