It seems that men lie, but numbers do not. So here are some of them, and these are the statistics of the French team’s attackers at this gathering.
We start with captain Kylian Mbappé, just one match, one goal. We continue with the dynamite Michael Olise, who compiled 4 goals and 2 assists in 4 matches. We continue with Désiré Doué, who embellished his record with 1 goal and 2 assists against Belgium. And for the others? Nothing for Estéban Lepaul (3 matches, 159 minutes), nothing for Bradley Barcola (4 matches, 174 minutes), and nothing for Ousmane Dembélé (4 matches, 261 minutes).
For the last three cities, we have a new kid who probably needs to get his bearings (Lepaul) and a player transferred at the end of summer, who is struggling to find great form at the start of the season (Barcola). For Dembélé, on the other hand, it is more difficult to find explanations. Because the Parisian striker was not really effective either in the center (his club position) or on the right. And even if Zinédine Zidane praised his pressing, his movements and his behavior, which is not nothing, the glass is half empty, a recurrence for Dembélé in the France team.
Dembélé relegated to the bench?
As a result, Dembélé is one of the big losers of this gathering where the boss of the Blues tested his new ideas.
“After the first four matches of the Zidane government and a quarter of an hour like this, there are winners, losers, revelations, as always, but within the framework of the 4-3-3 and certain general principles of the new coach, it is perhaps the exile of Kylian Mbappé to the left which will seem the least natural, in the long term”observes Vincent Duluc in his report for L’Equipe.
Here is in fact what immediately comes to mind, in view of the next gathering in November. “As long as Dembélé struggles to be a major player in the blue jersey more regularly, it will be tempting to return to something simple, Olise on the right, Mbappé center forward and Doué on the left. » And for the 2025 Ballon d’Or, a luxury joker role?
