So that’s what this new French team is. Once yes, once no. A collective that advances slowly without much certainty. These post-Euro Blues, stripped of the best internationals of the last decade, are defined, and this is not a surprise, by their inconsistency. A catastrophic first period in Brussels, a renewed enthusiasm in the second. Five days earlier in Budapest, same story. In September, the collective resignation against Italy (1-3) was followed by a nice reaction against the Belgians (2-0). Inconsistency seems to be the new DNA.
How can it be otherwise? In two years, this team has lost its entire spine (Lloris, Varane, Pogba, Griezmann, Giroud). With kids without much experience at the highest level, it’s difficult to have the same demands. The minimum level of selection has invariably fallen. The first half hour observed in Brussels, facing a Belgium that was clearly downgraded, harkens back to very distant times during Didier Deschamps’ mandate, when he was still looking for the right formula.
Eduardo Camavinga and Manu Koné in the French team in Brussels
Credit: Getty Images
“We got shaken up. What I didn’t like was everything we did for 25, 30 minutes“, admitted Deschamps after the match. Even those who should lead this team do not yet have the makings of those who left it. Aurélien Tchouaméni has been blowing hot and cold for two years. Very good against Israel, he disappeared before being expelled in Brussels However, it is on him, among others, that Deschamps must rely to rebuild a threat and maintain the ambitions of the Blues. But, with rare exceptions, the international level is demanding. time. It’s not enough to be excellent in a big club to break everything with France.
“Kolo Muani took an option over Thuram”
Just ask Marcus Thuram and his two small goals in 27 caps. Paul Pogba waited four long years before finding his cruising speed, Antoine Griezmann two years and Hugo Lloris also took time to definitively keep the competition away from Steve Mandanda. In Blue, nothing is built in the blink of an eye. Unless your name is Kylian Mbappé. But such generational talent remains, by definition, an exception.
Maignan only all-risk insurance
Today, only Mike Maignan continues the big matches and has completely chased away the questions but he discovered Clairefontaine in 2019. He is the only all-risk insurance of the team with, all the same, Kylian Mbappé who has sufficiently proven with the blue jersey so that we no longer doubt him. Even William Saliba, although gigantic this year, experienced a very spectacular downturn in Brussels. Today, the Gunner remains one of the strong incarnations of the post-Euro era but other heads must stand out. Especially in attack where the departures of Olivier Giroud and Antoine Griezmann leave a huge void.
Randal Kolo Muani’s double comes at the right time but he too has gone through matches without weighing in as he did against Israel. Bradley Barcola and Michael Olisé have a good look as successors but the Munich player’s completely failed match in Budapest on Thursday reminds us that the road is still very long for him as for the others. It’s not the new Griezmann who wants. The necessary renewal of generations brings the vice-world champions into a gray zone. The whole challenge for Didier Deschamps will be to make it last as short as possible.
