Present at a press conference on Monday, on the eve of the match against Poland, Didier Deschamps did not mince his words when brushing aside criticism of the French team’s play.
It is a certainty since Spain’s victory against Albania on Monday evening: France will play in the round of 16 as expected. Building on their success against Austria (1-0) and the draw against the Netherlands (0-0), the Blues are already assured of finishing among the best thirds.
The French team will nonetheless seek, on Tuesday, against Poland, to win first place in group D. To do this, it will very likely be necessary to win and do better than the Netherlands who are ahead for time Didier Deschamps’ troops thanks to a better attack.
The world vice-champions have in fact only scored one goal since the start of the competition and many criticisms of the French game are becoming increasingly heard. Attacks on Didier Deschamps were swept away with vigor on Monday, on the eve of the match against Poland.
“If people don’t like what they see, they change the channel”
“If I understand the criticism of the Blues’ overly defensive play? You are free to comment, to do what you want, he said to begin with. What I can tell you is that it’s annoying not to have scored with all the chances we had in the Netherlands match. It’s been a long time since we had such mastery by creating five or six chances. »
“We have popular support at the stadium and more than 10 million people in front of their TV at each match. If people don’t like what they see, they change the channel, he continued. It’s easier on television. At the stadium, they paid for the ticket, they stay from start to finish. But I repeat, not having scored is the negative point. »
A speech that his players seem to accept. Antoine Griezmann had warned even before the start of the Euro that the Blues will be “boring” to watch. Aurélien Tchouameni, for his part, recalled that the essential thing was elsewhere.
“Some people want to win, play well, play well while winning… I want to win, whether we play well or badly. We will remember the results more than the way of playing,”
he whispered to the media.
