Eduardo Camavinga who only slides, Antoine Griezmann unrecognizable, Olivier Giroud out of time, Randal Kolo Muani discreet and Youssouf Fofana messy. Against Poland, Didier Deschamps cannot be criticized for his wait-and-see attitude. He made as many changes as he could, threw seasoned boys into the battle but the result is always the same in international competition for the Blues: the substitutes do not weigh. It is a problem as old as the world or at least as old as DD’s mandate at the head of the Blues. Deschamps has often found solutions to everything but rarely during the match.
On Tuesday, he shook Griezmann after he came on and had a long chat with Camavinga after the match. In front of the microphones, he made an obvious observation: “We can do better. This is not to make them feel guilty. It is never easy to come back. Some will note that, from the bench, we do not make much difference. When we wanted to look for a result, we did not always have the desired effect. I understand the difficulty but, yes, it can be better..” Deschamps masters the art of understatement wonderfully. It could be better and above all it could hardly be worse.
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32 matches, 2 goals for substitutes
Over the past ten years and the World Cup in Brazil, his coaching during matches has very rarely borne fruit. In 32 major competition matches, only two substitutes have scored after coming on: Antoine Griezmann against Albania in 2016 and Randal Kolo Muani against Morocco at the last World Cup.
Beyond the goals, how many have transformed the team? Steven Nzonzi perfectly replaced an ill N’Golo Kanté in the final in Moscow, Marcus Thuram and Randal Kolo Muani woke up the Blues in the final in Qatar and Antoine Griezmann caused an own goal against Nigeria in 2014. For the rest, Deschamps’ management, like the German Euro, never really had any control over the scenario of the match.
Randal Kolo Muani, scorer of France’s second goal against Morocco
Credit: Getty Images
No supersub since… Griezmann in Brazil!
Camavinga’s strong entry against Austria remains the only satisfaction after three group matches, it’s not much. Whereas, for example, the French team brought in the best scorer and passer in its history against Poland. The bench is often resourceful, rarely has an impact on the match. Antoine Griezmann is the last super sub in a Deschamps team. This goes back to 2014 when, in Brazil, his entries gave a real boost to the team.
Griezmann: “You have to be more ‘killer’… I don’t know if you say it like that”
Since Sissoko, Martial, Gignac, Coman, Dembélé, Tolisso, Lemar, Fekir at different times and with different functions, have gone through tournaments without leaving a major trace when they did not start matches. Even if it was a close call sometimes, as for Gignac in the final eight years ago. It was a little better in Qatar with Thuram and Kolo Muani. But the general landscape paints a picture of overall inefficiency. Why? Because Deschamps has long built a group where each had their defined role: the starting eleven on one side, the hairdressers on the other. The competition was relative, especially in Russia, and the gap was large between those who started and those who finished matches.
Today, it is less clear between Coman and Dembélé, Thuram and Giroud, Konaté and Upamecano or Saliba, Camavinga and Rabiot. But the impact remains the same. The proof against Poland. Deschamps brought in five potential starters for the result we know…
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