Didier Deschamps’ French team continues to spark debate. Its unappealing football divides opinion, while the results are relatively up to par, with appearances in the last four of the last two major tournaments.
His criticisms irritate the coach. And they don’t leave the players indifferent either. Jules Koundé, one of the major players in this selection, spoke out on Tuesday to denounce this treatment, which he considers particularly harsh.
“When you take part in a competition that you don’t win, you have to see what you did well or less well,
he began by emphasizing. We made it to the semi-final, we have to give it more value than we gave it. We could be more beautiful to watch play but the results are important. We will work to improve to bring back a trophy in the next competition.
Koundé recalls its main mission
The former Bordeaux player also felt that observers were also a little too demanding with him: “There was a misunderstanding of what the coach was asking of me and of the player I was. I am not a right-back by training. There is an evolution in this position. It is a vision of football, I want to be a better player. I am a defender, I am there to defend. When I do this part well, it is the most important thing. There was a gap between what you could write and my vision of the position.”
In Germany, the Barcelona player was still among the best French players. He is pleased about it and hopes to continue in this vein: “I was always confident that with work, it would come. It’s not a natural position for me, it’s something that would take time. I still have a lot to work on in this position. There are configurations that allowed me to express myself in the Euro. On the offensive side, I tried to take advantage of the spaces, to have more confidence. It’s a position that took me a while to want to play without ever refusing to play there.”
