Some feared a purge, we finally attended a collective sinking. On the lawn of the Stadion Poljud, the French team completely missed its subject, this Thursday evening. Logically defeated (0-2) by Croatia as part of the first leg of the Nations League, the Blues delivered a cataclysmic service, especially in the first period, like a completely outdated defense. Aligned in 4-3-3 with a defensive quartet composed of Lucas Digne, William Saliba, Ibrahima Konaté and Jules Koundé, the men of Didier Deschamps have, in fact, showed a disturbing weakness.
Fragile, shy, guilty of countless loss of ball and too often late in the duel, the Blues finally cracked quite logically shortly before the half hour of play. Speeding, Koundé left Perisic Center and Budimir was a saliba to open the head of the head (1-0, 26th). Off-subject throughout the first act, the defense of the Blues was even crucified just before the break … Taking advantage of the tricolor defensive generosity, Perišić, an opportunist at the second post, tried Maignan with a superb half-volley from the right to the ground in the small opposite net (2-0, 45+1st).
Konaté Outdoor, Koundé Fragile, Saliba at fault!
A score that would also have been heavier without the penalty postponed by Mike Maignan after only 8 short minutes of play. Aware of the difficulties of his rearguard, Didier Deschamps reacted logically at halftime by launching Dayot Upamecano in place of Konaté, totally out of date in the first period (1 duel won, 3 lost balloons, a fault and fault on the conceded penalty). In the wake of the cataclysmic performance delivered by the Reds defender, credited with a 3 by the FM writing, Jules Koundé also showed his limits. Often taken speed by Ivan Perisic, the Barça player will have largely disappointed, in the same way as Saliba.
Guilty of many recovery errors and caught in the air on the opening of Budimir's score, the Roc des Gunners clearly did not reassure while Lucas Digne – without committing individual blunders – was not successful near the Croatian surface. A worrying general table despite a second more convincing period. So yes, the defense is not the sole responsible for tricolor bankruptcy, which is more than the non-existent performance of the French midfield or the overall failed performance of Ousmane Dembélé but there is no doubt that the partition rendered by the rearguard of the Blues will feed many debates in the coming hours.
The Blues remain optimistic!
Questioned at the microphone of TF1 After the defeat of his family, Dayot Upamecano also recognized a completely missed first half. “We started the start of the match badly, we lost a lot of balls, we were not there in the duels, there was a good reaction in the second period and we will play the qualification at the Stade de France now. We will remain positive and we will try to overthrow all of this in France. There is a match left, we're going to give everything, we play in our stadium and I hope we will release another match ”. An optimism also present in Mattéo Guendouzi's speech, also questioned by the diffuser on the disappointment of the Blues.
“I think we missed the first half, we lost balloons that we do not usually lose, we lacked aggressiveness, there is positive in the second, we did not have the efficiency but there remains a return match and if we do the same that in the second period, we can pass. We must respect Croatia, everyone had their half-time, they had the effectiveness, not us but that's it. We know that with a goal, everything can change, we know that the next goal will be important, it's up to us to start the next goal strongly but we believe it ”thus assured the 25 -year -old midfielder before the speech of Didier Deschamps, necessarily frustrated by the scenario of this first shock and the yield of his defense.
“Our first half is not good. We made a good start but loss of bullets, technical errors we gave opportunities to the opponent. They have the qualities but they were given without them needing to go get. There is the penalty that Mike stops, we have slipped often. The ball, we did not master it enough. They defended well and we did not find the effectiveness. There is an example to find, this is this one (Ukraine 2013, editor's note) but it depends on us. I repeat, all that we could give them in the first half, we were punished. We left with good intentions but too much technical waste ». One thing is certain, to create the feat, the French team will have to find a sovereign defense.
