Didier Deschamps is nothing if not forgiving. The 1998 World Cup-winning captain has been involved in a number of personality clashes during his coaching career at Monaco, Marseille and now France. Yet if some of the grudges endure – former OM sporting director José Anigo is unlikely to be swapping Christmas cards with Deschamps any time soon – Deschamps has always understood that football comes first. If a player can be useful, find a way to get over it, and move on.
The latest to be brought back into Deschamps’ good books could be a big one. Dimitri Payet had waited nine long months since his last France call, in the June defeat to Albania, and despite plundering all before him in the Premier League this season, his Euro 2016 prospects looked bleak as recently as a month ago.
In the midst of what was a rotten summer of 2015 for France, Payet had complained that he didn’t “know what he (Deschamps) wants from me,” and was quickly excommunicated in the aftermath. Despite his dazzling form for West Ham since arriving (8 goals and 8 assists for an average rating of 7.71 – only Leicester’s Riyad Mahrez has higher marks this season) that, it seemed, was pretty much that.
Rarely has Deschamps’ circumspection looked like paying off so handsomely. Payet was France’s star man (rating 8.43) in Friday night’s friendly win in the Netherlands. On a night in which full and just tribute was paid to the late Johan Cruyff, the delectable skills of West Ham’s kingpin tipped a hat to perhaps European football’s greatest ever in the best way possible.
If Payet’s breathtaking close control is the initial thing that made Premier League fans fall for him, the more direct, decisive side of his character was in view in Amsterdam. Despite starting on the left, Payet spent plenty of time getting involved in central positions – the area of the pitch in which Marcelo Bielsa really unlocked his potential in their year together at Marseille – and managed to get away 4 attempts on goal from these positions, more than any of his teammates.
Even better were his 6 key passes, delivered from a variety of areas. His set pieces are always a useful weapon and it was one of his corners that eventually fell to Olivier Giroud for the Arsenal man to score France’s second. All in all, Payet’s individual performance was one of such authority that it’s already tempting to think – even with almost three months to go until France kick off the tournament - that it will be a straight battle between him and Anthony Martial to occupy the left side of Les Bleus’ attack against Romania.
Martial made his own impact too, laying on the winner for Blaise Matuidi and underlining the plentiful options open to Deschamps. The Manchester United forward and Payet are markedly different, but both are offered the opportunity to maximise their talents in a loose, flexible 4-3-3.
With Antoine Griezmann – whose sublime free-kick to open the night’s scoring showed exactly the sort of quality needed to keep Payet from direct free-kick duties – nailed on for the slot on the right side of attack, the possibilities are mouthwatering going forward. What’s possibly more of a concern is France’s defensive shape.
Make no mistake, this is a game that France should have won by a country mile. Despite possession being shared equally, Les Bleus had twice as many shots as their hosts (16 to 8), yet were left to sneak a win via Matuidi’s strike after Ibrahim Afellay equalised late on. It was partly due to their own profligacy (France had 7 efforts on target to Netherlands’ 5), and the extra lungs added by Danny Blind’s introduction of Riechedly Bazoer, Memphis Depay (who contributed two assists) and Afellay.
Yet there is no avoiding France’s vulnerability in defensive situations. Part of that is a question of shape, with advanced full-backs in Christophe Jallet and Patrice Evra not covered by their wide players Payet and Griezmann, especially with the star pair frequently drifting inside, as we mentioned.
There is not as much collective defensive effort as Deschamps would like either, though. As we can see from the players average position map, there is often a significant gap between the back three – created when Lassana Diarra drops back to cover in between Raphaël Varane and Laurent Koscielny, becoming a de facto third centre-back – and the rest of the team.
Pogba and Matuidi’s contributions in the final third are key, but they contributed just 4 tackles and 3 interceptions between them, which is far less than you might expect. The lack of a collective plan was exposed in the confusion that left Afellay with oceans of space to slide in the equaliser, with Matuidi expecting Martial to pick the Stoke midfielder up and the United man nowhere near close enough – and expecting the PSG dynamo to bail him out.
This is something which must be addressed before the tournament if France are going to go all the way. Better teams than the Netherlands, who remain a work in progress, could expose these weaknesses even more brutally.
One possible idea is looking at defending more actively from the front. Griezmann and Payet are well versed in pressing for their clubs in recent seasons. Giroud is unlikely to replicate this, and neither is Karim Benzema, should he be cleared to play. It is the one area in which Alexandre Lacazette, Benzema’s fellow Lyon academy product whose hopes of making the finals are fading fast, would provide a considerable upgrade.
It’s understandable, with Deschamps blessed with so much talent at his fingertips. Amsterdam proved useful in both crystallising the very best of those options and underlining where France need to tighten up in order to make their dreams come true.
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