French team: is there a pilot on the plane?

It’s a strange atmosphere that has enveloped the France team since the end of Euro 2024, which ended in the semi-final against Spain. The end of the cycle felt even more suddenly materialized with the unexpected international retirement of Antoine Griezmann, but Didier Deschamps, despite being increasingly contested by observers, decided to continue the adventure. Despite a visible loss of influence among its players. Today more than ever, the national coach has lost his control over his group of players.

According to our information, his communication is even poorly received by some of his flock, both in substance and in form. Deschamps has always chosen his relays, but the others are not entitled to many words. Certain special cases have also been talked about, like that concerning Warren Zaire-Emery, 0 minutes of play during the Euro. The Parisian community even wondered what he was doing there, when he could have played in the Olympic Games. Another annoying subject, particularly among clubs, is work outside of training deemed insufficient, such as care or athletic work. Some clubs have thus heard of some problems and are not necessarily delighted by the departure of their players for the selection.

Tensions with Mbappé

The major problem revolves around Kylian Mbappé. And we’re not talking about his absence during the last rally, becoming a terrible disavowal for his coach afterwards. But many previous events, which now result in palpable tension between Deschamps and the Real Madrid striker. The preferential treatment sometimes granted to Mbappé was of course noticed by the other players, who were also able to witness one day a particularly curt response from the player to his coach. This inevitably contributes to a loss of credibility for Deschamps in the eyes of other elements…

Mike Maignan, for his part, is not afraid to use strong words to express his feelings, and Kylian Mbappé has sometimes been the target of his reproaches, which he did not appreciate. But the AC Milan goalkeeper, with his frankness, has indeed acquired leadership among his partners, and he is particularly listened to when he speaks. Like Antoine Griezmann was eminently respected by his partners. His international retirement has nothing to do with any generational clash, on the contrary, since he was even considered almost a captain. It is the strange turn taken by the Blues in recent months which convinced Griezmann to hang up his crampons. He, Didier Deschamps’ base man for so many years, saw clearly that his coach had chosen a different path. It remains to be seen whether it will lead to new successes.