It’s over for Deschamps!

This November 9 is a sad birthday for Jonathan Clauss. Because if he should be in the list of Blues summoned by Didier Deschamps to face Gibraltar and Greece, the Marseille full-back had not heard his name mentioned by the French coach during the announcement of the 25 players for the World Cup in Qatar. An absence experienced as a real trauma by the former Lensois.

The reason for the absence of the native of Strasbourg? The end of the three-way defense on which the French coach had relied since Euro 2020. And this in particular in order to rely on the qualities of Théo Hernandez in the left lane. “ We have done good things in this system, but we have also been out of balance a lot. It’s not going to win us in a big competition. We will have to defend better,” he justified at the time of the announcement.

Only one professional side

At the end of the 2018 World Cup, Didier Deschamps explained that the Blues would have to renew themselves to surprise, which was done after the failure of Euro 2021. But if the France team relied on this system to win the Nations League, a year earlier, the defensive imbalances did not go unnoticed in the eyes of the pragmatic Basque.

The absence of Jonathan Clauss did not benefit a full-back with a more defensive profile. Théo Hernandez was thus the only professional full-back on the list, Didier Deschamps choosing to bring eight central defenders, including Benjamin Pavard and Jules Koundé, responsible for occupying the right lane, and Lucas Hernandez, the first choice of the champion of the world 1998 left side.

A year later, if the French coach has not deviated from his four-man defense, the lines have moved. Because if Jonathan Clauss made his return to the Blues, it is due to the discomfort of Benjamin Pavard in the right lane, notably during the World Cup in Qatar, the former Marseillais now considering him as a central defender .