What’s going on with Kylian Mbappé? On and off the pitch, a deep malaise surrounds the superstar of Real Madrid and the French team, who was still off the mark against Italy (1-3) on Friday, in the No. 9 position. Unable to get even a little closer to the level he was at in the past, particularly at the 2022 World Cup, when he carried the team on his shoulders, Mbappé has appeared to be in great difficulty for several months.
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The technical leader of the French team is no longer responding, and the Blues, orphaned of their best player, are lost. Under fire from critics after a very laborious Euro that did not prevent him from being kept in his post while another captain was called to the helm, the coach Didier Deschamps also felt the pressure increase before a match against Belgium that threatens to plunge the French team into an even deeper crisis.
A third consecutive defeat, in all competitions, would put him in a difficult position despite undeniable success in major tournaments. But without results, even an extraordinary record cannot mask poor collective performances for which he is directly responsible.
“We have many, many shortcomings”
“If Deschamps is still in the French team, it’s thanks to Kylian Mbappé,” said Walid Acherchour this weekend, in l’After Foot. “Because his game plan is only Kylian Mbappé, and since Kylian Mbappé has not been good at all, that is to say since 2022, his game plan has collapsed. He has not prepared anything. It is a big problem. When you have a coach who, since 2018, has relied on an individual, when the individuality is less good, when you can no longer use it, you are in great difficulty. Deschamps wins, it does not work anymore.”
Beyond the responsibilities that fall to the coach in the need to find answers to the challenges that present themselves to him in this new cycle that opened after a mediocre Euro, Walid Acherchour also pointed out the relative weakness of a French pool that was said to be very powerful.
“I thought we had a lot of quality and that we played in the biggest clubs in Europe, but it is clear that in hindsight we will have to have a little more humility because when we look at the photograph of the list of 23 in the French team, we still have many, many shortcomings. And even the players who play in the very big clubs, either they are not essential, or they are neither the leaders nor the brains of these big teams (…) We also have overrated players (…) I have realized in recent months that in terms of density, volume of players, quality, we are below.”
- RMC Sport
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