France 1-1 Poland (Mbappe P 56′ | Lewandowski P 79′)
It was Gareth Southgate who, under intense questioning from England’s media corps before the tournament, put the fate of international managers in sharp perspective.
“Could it be my last tournament? It’ll be the tournament for a few of us,” he said.
The margins for error at the Euros are miniscule: form, fitness and failing to read the mood of a nation can be costly.
Didier Deschamps has back-to-back World Cup finals on his CV but even that hasn’t stopped him from edging towards the danger zone after an underwhelming performance in the group stages here in Germany.
He is a man with an abundance of talent at his disposal – and the tournament’s gleaming, shining star in Kylian Mbappe – but it has been difficult to discern what the plan is. If there is one.
Lessons from history suggest it’s foolish to write him off. We have been here before with France: the slow start giving way to inexorable momentum to carry them into the final. Deschamps is certainly not cut from the same cloth that Ralf Rangnick has tailored for his Austrian pressing machine, who stole the show in Group D.
Deschamps believes in harnessing the pace of his players to make them irresistible on the counter-attack. But the chemistry has looked strangely off-beat here, his perseverance with Adrien Rabiot curious given the compelling options he has elsewhere in the squad.
After the game social media lit up with discontent. Deschamps, like Southgate, is probably the victim of his own success. France have been wildly impressive in recent knockout tournaments but the nation wants more elan and more daring than he is prepared to give.
Zinedine Zidane’s name was the one mentioned most frequently and you do wonder whether an underwhelming tournament here might prompt a change.
They now find themselves in the tougher side of the draw – a potential collision with Portugal in the quarter-finals before the winners of Spain and Germany in the semi-finals – so will have to stumble upon a solution more convincing than the one we’ve seen so far in Germany.
Deschamps hardly helped himself by taking Antoine Griezmann out of the team against Poland, which left France reliant on Ousmane Dembele for craft and invention.
Dembele did what we knew he would: he got at Poland continually without ever conjuring goals that would have settled French nerves. His penalty box composure is a work-in-progress which, considering he is 27 and has played at some of Europe’s elite teams, might be an issue.
Are there possible issues ahead with Kylian Mbappe too? He played 90 minutes here – one of the few to remain on the pitch as Deschamps chopped and changed in search of inspiration – but the manager has suggested playing with a mask to protect his broken nose is proving uncomfortable.
He also said it is impacting his vision, although there was little wrong with his sight lines as he dispatched the penalty won by Dembele’s pace in the first half. Other chances went begging, however, which gave Poland the opportunity to clamber back into Tuesday’s game.
That has been a big part of France’s problem: a lack of cutting edge which has made them one of the lowest scorers in the tournament so far. Until Mbappe’s penalty, they had been reliant on others to score for them, which is curious given the arsenal of attacking talent Deschamps can summon.
Sometimes, though, having lots of options means lots of opinions. Only winning can quell those voices who remain critical of Deschamps.
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