The Spanish team celebrates its arrival in the final and receives well-deserved praise. Lamin Yamal is praised, who from the poles of his youth shows that age is just a number. The credit goes to the brilliant midfield with Rodri, Fabián Ruiz and Dani Olmo, who brilliantly replaces Pedri. Jesús Navas and Nacho are applauded for coming to the rescue in the absences of Dani Carvajal and Robin Le Normand.
After the semi-final, I only want to talk about Spain. But in reality, they still had one rival. The French team, unlike the Spanish, were among the first-rate favourites before the start of the Euros. An unlimited squad, a coach who has been in his position for a long time, plus experience in big games and big victories. France, of course, had an initial group of obvious favourites.
But now, with France eliminated and having scored just one goal in the match in six games (the rest were own goals plus Kylian Mbappé’s penalty against Poland), it is important to determine which of this package did not work. The composition was and remains unlimited. Of course, Mbappé’s injury had an impact, but we will return to that a little later. Experience has not disappeared; it does not tend to fade when almost all the same people are in place.
What about the coach? Is Didier Deschamps in the right place? There were doubts about this before the tournament, but they were shattered by the French team’s results: two World Cup finals, one of which they won, the Euro 2016 final, victory in the Nations League. It sounds like it!
Didier Deschamps in the match against Spain
Photo: Fake Images
However, the question of Deschamps’ future is now extremely serious. He did not play brilliantly and did not pay off pragmatism (which is invariably associated with boredom) with results. What was he missing? You could refer to Mbappé’s injury. And Deschamps referred to it: he openly said that Kilian is no longer the same as he was seen before. It is not Mbappé’s fault that this happened. But we have what we have: he is not in the best moment at the moment.
Okay, accepted. When your best player is not in form, it cannot help but affect the team’s performance. It would be strange if the French team did not take advantage of Mbappé’s talent and therefore did not depend on him. Another thing is that Deschamps did not keep this dependence within appropriate limits.
We warned you!
The French team needs new ideas. Deschamps’ team has two serious problems
With such a rabid resource, he could have made the team more diverse. He could have made sure that, apart from the option of a healthy, happy and cheerful Mbappé, ready to tear anyone apart, there were other options. However, they simply weren’t found. It turned out that, apart from hope for Mbappé, France offered nothing else.
Deschamps was watching, though. He tried to find a role for Marcus Thuram, he tried to play Bradley Barkol. In the match against Spain, he moved Mbappé to the flank and released the textured Randal Kolo Muani in the centre. He scored and it was generally clear that the Spanish centre of defence was having a hard time against such a giant. It is even stranger that in the second half, when France had to recover, Deschamps removed Kolo Muani first, already in the 62nd minute.
Kylian Mbappé and Olivier Giroud
Photo: Dan Mullan/Getty Images
In previous years, the Mbappé-Giroud combination worked well in the French national team’s attack. There is simply no Giroud at this Euro. He, of course, came on the field, but he had exactly the same number of useful actions as Deschamps had new ideas: zero.
The French coach, who had Thuram, Barcol, Kolo Muani, Ousmane Dembélé, Kingsley Coman and Antoine Griezmann at his disposal, did not bring anything new in attack. The reliance on individual talent did not materialise. Partly because of Mbappé’s injury and poor form. And partly because relying solely on individual talent without any tactical seasoning is a very dangerous thing. Talents will not play well, so what to do? It seems that Deschamps has not found a solution to this problem.
Another great coach who found no solution:
The main reason for Germany’s exit from the Euro. But Nagelsmann had been warned!
France also lacked defensive reliability. It did concede only three goals during the entire tournament, two of which were in the semi-finals against Spain. But this does not negate the fact that in every game there were moments in the French goal. Sometimes there were fewer, sometimes there were more. Once upon a time there were many, as in the match against Holland. The fact is that France had no cement at the back.
William Saliba and Deotshankul Yupamecano
Photo: Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images
Questions have been raised about the central defensive pairing of William Saliba and Deotshankul Yupamecano in every game. There have also been questions about Jules Kounde, on the right, who has often allowed himself to be outplayed. But neither of them has ever been rotated.
All three played the entire Euros, from one match to the next. Even though Ibrahima Konate and Benjamin Pavard were in the reserves. It is not a given that things will improve with them. But you could try them, at least in a group. However, Deschamps did not do this.
France’s best players at Euro 2024 are goalkeeper Mick Maignan and N’Golo Kanté, who is so professional that he didn’t drop in level even in Saudi Arabia. The only thing is that their quality doesn’t depend on Deschamps. Well, or it does, but a little. Maignan is a goalkeeper. And Kante is a hyper-professional who has given a high level in every game since he arrived at Leicester. These are gears that Deschamps doesn’t really need to adjust.
Those who needed adjustments spent the Euro badly. Based on the result, the semi-final is of course not a failure. Moreover, France lost to Spain in the match. But Deschamps’ team disappointed in the match. And the semi-finals will not compensate for this disappointment. Only a title could do that.
Kilian becomes self-critical:
Mbappé failed at Euro 2024. The statistics prove it
