Zinédine Zidane can be satisfied. With three victories and a draw, the new coach of the France team made his debut on the French bench. But if most of his human and tactical choices paid off, everything was not perfect, like the performances of Ousmane Dembélé. Positioned in the axis in Türkiye and against Italy, then on the right against Belgium, the 2025 Ballon d’Or has multiplied the approximations.
“It doesn’t stand out in the right points, even though we tried to put it in the right positionsjudge Daniel Riolo, in After Football on the airwaves of RMC. Despite that, it still didn’t work when new, and from the side, we noticed that it was as if it could no longer find any bearings. He had to go one-on-one twice out of all the times he tried to do it. So this is a real question that will arise. »
Ousmane Dembélé, “I’m taking him out of the next eleven of the France team”
“Besides, in such a short time, when we ask to make a lineup, he is already no longer in the eleven. While this is a guy who is a Ballon d’Or winner, who is coming off a fantastic season and a half with PSG…estimates the consultant. He has already lost a lot of credit. When we saw some of his strikes or some of his gestures against Belgium, we had this vision that it was the Dembélé from before. » The one who was clumsy.
“It’s as if he had opened a parenthesis in January 2025, an enchanted parenthesis, until June 2026. But this parenthesis is only with the PSG jersey, where he has become an idol, where he is adored. But the before and after, I don’t know what it’s going to be like, adds Daniel Riolo. And in his last match, I saw the Dembélé from before again, the one who put strikes into the stands, the one who could do everything with his feet but also do nothing. »
“Sometimes we had the feeling that he no longer controlled them…he continues. There is a real pressure on his shoulders, the digestion of the Ballon d’Or, that of arriving in the French team where room is made for him… That’s a lot to manage. Maybe he will get there, but for the moment the results are not good, it is negative. I’m taking him out of the next eleven of the France team. He can’t be the nine on this team if everyone is up and running. »
For Pierre Ménès, “there is something wrong”
On his YouTube channel, Pierre Ménès generally makes the same observation about “Dembouz”, a victim of its success.
“I think what distorts people’s minds a lot is that Dembélé got this f*cking Ballon d’Or. It’s obviously a great reward, especially for the players, but suddenly it becomes a burden, a responsibility…he explains. The guy, not content with having won it, must also prove himself worthy of it in the following seasons. »
“A playing career is not necessarily linear. We must not forget that last year, Dembélé was injured for quite a long time. I am convinced that he is not physically confident, either because he is embarrassed or because he is afraid. There is something wrong, because it is not normal that a player like Dembélé makes so few deep calls and that he only managed to outrun his defenders once against Belgium. »
“You also have to understand that you have players who are very brilliant at club, and who never manage to reach that level in the selectioncontinues the former Canal+ sniper
Dembélé has 71 caps, and he does not have a real reference match with the Blues, other than a hat-trick against Norway B in the World Cup (this summer). So it’s scary…” In front of the press, Zinédine Zidane found nothing to complain about the Parisian. A facade speech?
