It is the story of a young coach who had ideally started with the Belgian selection, before being singled out today by a large part of the press. Domenico Tedesco, aged 39, had the difficult mission of succeeding Roberto Martinez and above all of making people forget the golden generation of the Red Devils, a good half of whom were over the age limit. By instilling youth with Doku, Lukebakio, Openda, or even Theate, he initially seduced by achieving good results for his first months, finishing 2023 undefeated.
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But Monday evening, at the King Baudouin stadium, it was “Tedesco resignation” that resonated in the enclosure during the last quarter of an hour. The Belgians were led 2-1 by France, and were going to lose for the third consecutive time against the Blues in 2024. However, some analyzed this performance with a form of indulgence. “It was the best match for the Devils under Domenico Tedesco, in any case it is certainly the best of the last three matches against France. The Devils obtained 2.59 xg of expected goals. The last time France conceded so many chances was in the World Cup final against Argentina, and the match lasted 120 minutes.slipped Guillaume Gautier, journalist at Vif.
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Belgium – France: the Belgian press is fed up
The whistles sounded
He is one of the few to spare Domenico Tedesco, some of whose choices are still not understood. Above all, the lack of offensive resurgence of his men after the expulsion of Aurélien Tchouaméni exasperated. “That or nothing, for me it’s the same thing. Now, there are real questions to ask, Tedesco’s choices, Tedesco’s reaction at a given moment… It’s so obvious that there are a series of people who don’t see it, or he’s very well paid, it costs too much, we know we don’t have money, but at some point…”said Vincenzo Ciuro, sports editor-in-chief of RTL Belgium.
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At a press conference, Domenico Tedesco did not deny the whistles against him. “I was told after the match. It’s part of the game. We can play better, we could win, I can understand that because of the result the supporters are not happy. But we put in a good performance against, I remind you, a French team which has power in the middle, an incredible team”. And if he has already been criticized by his own players for his tactical choices, that was not the case this Monday evening, on the contrary.
The players step up to the plate
“I didn’t hear (the whistles, editor’s note), but we showed that the plan was good here from the start of the match. It was much better. We are all behind the coach”explained Loïs Openda in the mixed zone. “Everyone can have their opinion, but it’s too easy to target just one person. Do you still see that he does a good job? He is very clear in his instructions. In Italy they didn’t execute their plan, here they did.”confirmed Wout Faes. And Tielemans drives the point home: “This is an unfair reaction from the public. The coach does a very good job. He implemented two interesting game plans, even if we didn’t win. If we base ourselves solely on the results, this is a bit of hollow reasoning in my opinion. You also have to look at the content ».
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The content, praised by players, has not yet impressed that much. If Belgium dominated France in the first half, a bit like in the first leg in Lyon, it collapsed afterwards, dropping in intensity and failing to take advantage of its numerical superiority. It is in particular this lack of character which clearly annoys the supporters. It remains to be seen whether Tedesco will be able to resist this popular revolt for much longer.
Pub. the 15/10/2024 11:00
Update 15/10/2024 12:12
