From our special correspondent in Paderborn,
A few seconds before leaving the podium to make way for Eduardo Camavinga, after a masterfully managed press conference, Ibrahima Konaté had a message for journalists on Saturday. “We will need you all. Even if there are some here who write some rather strange stuff. We have to stop the bullshit!”, he laughed, while skillfully getting a message across.
That of a press which, for several days and the new purge against Poland, has echoed a group which perhaps does not live as well as it says the management of Didier Deschamps and his staff during this Euro. Indeed, over the last 72 hours, we have read and heard quite a few things:
- That the substitutes complained about the lack of intensity in the training sessions, partly responsible for their lack of energy when they came on at the end of the match.
- That some players, especially the new ones, were surprised by the lack of tactical work from the coach before the matches.
- That the second (or even third) knives had difficulty accepting the fact of not having played a single minute, notably the little blue Warren Zaïre-Emery, relegated to the bottom of the midfield hierarchy.
- Finally, that part of the group, including “certain starters or executives”, according to L’Equipe, have “still not tasted in recent days the more assertive management of the coach”, who would not hesitate to sting them one-on-one, contrary to his usual habits.
Put together, it starts to add up to a nice little batch of sulking and whispers. Typically the kind of innuendos that Didier Deschamps hates, he who is known for his ability to unite groups in “life or death” mode.
Leaks, a classic when the boat is rocking
We could say that this information released in a context where the Blues are facing a lot of criticism is only the work of a badly intentioned press, happy to shoot the ambulance, the very one that Domenech criticized for its taste for “blood”. But we must understand that these complaints from the corridors did not fall from the sky as if by miracle. For information to come out about what is happening privately in the group, there must be leaks.
This is what a connoisseur of the mysteries of the French team tells us. “If the climate is good in the group, nothing special will come out. But if the criticism is harsh, obviously tension will set in and more negative things will come out, because some players will release their frustration, he assures us. It is often a good indicator of the atmosphere in the group. Here, visibly, the poor quality of the first three matches and the problems encountered by those who play less, are leading to this situation.”
“Most players talk to their agents during the competition and some, especially those whose status has changed, can open up more than usual. And then when the results are less there, everyone tends to talk more,” a close friend of a player in the French team confirms. Let’s take the example of Qatar: apart from the episode of Karim Benzema’s secret departure after his injury, nothing negative has ever come out of the group to be put in the public domain. The fact that Les Bleus won their first two group matches, thus allowing the “hairdressers” to take part in the third match against Tunisia, helped.
Agents, those chatterboxes who (sometimes) say too much
This year, seeing that their name was not on the sheet before the match against Poland or that they had not entered during the match, some players understood that their chance to play a few minutes had probably just passed. “During a competition, the days are long and the players spend a lot of time on the phone with their loved ones and their agents. They need to talk, to tell their joys, their disappointments and their bitterness. And since this whole environment is completely infiltrated by the media, it ends up coming out,” explains a former member of the Blue house.
“In 99% of cases, it does not come directly from the players but from those around them, mainly agents and advisors. I don’t believe that players have the desire to leak information or an element of atmosphere during a major competition. Sometimes they don’t even suspect that this or that person around them will know a journalist and pass the information on to him,” confides a former press officer for a Ligue 1 club for whom leaks no longer hold any secrets. .
“It makes things out of control because if you can always remind the players that they have a duty of confidentiality, that it is for the good of the group, you cannot do it with all the people around them », he continues. Supposed to represent the interests of their foes, certain advisors sometimes seem to score against their side by leaking things that could harm the group. “There can be a bit of panic when “their” player is no longer playing. You have to know how to keep a cool head, unfortunately this is not the main quality of all people in this environment.”
A sign of the coach’s loss of power?
Finally, in these impromptu leaks, there is a good deal of bad faith. Especially when the boat is rocking and you have to find a fuse to divert attention. “One of the characteristics of this environment is to avoid responsibility as soon as things go wrong. We will then point the finger at the culprits who, obviously, are always others, sighs an expert. If a player’s entourage is not very happy with the coach’s choices, we will leak something negative about him.” The poverty of DD’s tactical work in training, for example.
Does this mean that the coach has partly lost control of the group? One of those who know him very well is not far from thinking so. “Does the wear and tear of power mean that he no longer has the right reactions, the right words at the right times, as was the case for Joachim Löw after fourteen years at the head of the Mannschaft?”
A victory on Monday against Belgium and everything can swing the other way, obviously. “On the other hand, if things go badly, things will turn sour,” warns this same witness. Let’s hope he hasn’t completely lost his touch and that his famous ”pussy” is still there. » It’s true that we have tended to forget that one lately.
