Since the start of the Euro, the French team has shown great inefficiency. With two goals, it is the worst record in a group stage since the arrival of Didier Deschamps. And the latter is asking himself questions.
In front of the microphones, Didier Deschamps never said he was worried about his players’ finishing difficulties. Even if he is aware of the shortcomings. “The group is there, we have the state of mind, the solidity, we create chances. Maybe other teams have shown more potential since we haven’t scored,” he admitted after the match against Poland. “Sometimes you can have a lot of chances and not score. If you score more goals, you have a better chance of winning matches. I would be a lot more worried if we didn’t have chances.” Only one team did worse than the Blues (two goals), Serbia, with one achievement.
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“DD” regarde les expected goals
But in reality, these missed opportunities torment the coach. Didier Deschamps is also very attentive, during training, to the shooting sessions of his players. In fact, since the end of the group stage, the boss of the Blues has had statistics running through his head. His players have accumulated 5.7 expected goals (xG) in three matches. These are the goals “expected” following the opportunities created by the team. This is the fourth best total of the qualifiers in the round of 16. An element in contradiction with the poor offensive record of the Blues. France is also the nation that has touched the most balls in the opposing area.
Working on trust
Among all the teams involved in the competition, the Blues are also fourth regarding the teams having deployed the most attacks, according to UEFA. Same thing regarding the number of shots. “DD” knows that he has players in his squad capable of finishing actions. Today, these men are unable to successfully close their opportunities. The coach is therefore focused, at the moment, on working on the confidence of his attackers so that something clicks. And that his team finally scores on its own in the game.
