This Sunday, the Blues deconstructed Poland (3-1) to reach the quarter-finals of the World Cup. After this success, mainly due to Kylian Mbappe (a double and an assist), Didier Deschamps was at a press conference in Doha.
What conclusions do you draw from this victory?
DIDIER DESCHAMPS. This match is the seesaw match. You have to win it to give a little more meaning to the competition. The adversary gave us a hard time. We had favorite status. But we saw for 20-25 minutes that it was difficult, that we were laborious. We weren’t doing things right. We corrected positions at half-time. We lacked pep, we left too many possibilities to the opponent. I changed the positioning of Antoine Griezmann to have more danger across the width. Antoine knows that he has scattered a bit. His positioning left little space for Kylian. It was necessary to compensate for the opponent to go a little more on Ousmane Dembélé.
A word on the performance of Kylian Mbappé?
It’s Kylian! He talks with his feet and he talks very well with his feet. He was not in the best of moods, he knows that. He can change the course of a match at any time. Her happiness, her smile are so beautiful and we all want to share it. The France team needs a great Kylian and will always need a great Kylian.
Why do Mbappé and Giroud get along better than four years ago in Russia?
They weren’t positioned the same. Kylian was on the right in a 4-4-2. There they are closer. Olivier had not had the efficiency. One needs the other even if Kylian can make the difference on his own. He also likes to have a supporting striker.
A word on Olivier Giroud’s record?
He’s always been an important player even though he didn’t score four years ago. He was rewarded, he has this ability in his head, in his mind. This is not a trivial record, although someone can beat it. Congratulations to him, his longevity and his partners who allowed him to score all his goals.
