Didier Deschamps expressed cold anger this Thursday on the sidelines of the announcement of his new selection. The object of his wrath? The DTN of the FFF Hubert Fournier.
At the helm of the French team, Didier Deschamps appeared vindictive this Thursday at a press conference, upon the announcement of his selection called to face Germany in Lyon on March 23 then Chile in Marseille three days later. Asked to comment on the media outing of the National Technical Director (DTN) of the French Football Federation (FFF) regarding the need to work on penalty shootouts, the Bayonne technician was quick to respond sharply.
“ It’s very good that there are studies being done on this, I have no problem with that. On the other hand, what bothers me and what I find out of place is the release of the DTN. I would even say it’s disrespectfulsays the national coach. It’s not in relation to me but in relation to all the national coaches, the goalkeepers, the video analysts… They are competent guys, who work hard and who prepare for these penalty shootouts. We know very well that not all matches lead to penalty shootouts. (…) I spoke about it with Thierry Henry just before, who was a player and took penalties. Psychologically taking a penalty in training, during the match or at the end of extra time is not the same. »
Hubert Fournier put in his place
On February 9 on RMC, Hubert Fournier charged Didier Deschamps by evoking the failure of the final of the last World Cup in Qatar. “ He is the one in charge and everything starts from him. There would need to be a set-up, the weeks or days before the possible penalty shootout, to prepare the players. He will have to offer them a scenario while trying as much as possible to contextualize the penalty shootout. And then he will have to offer them varied exercises which will allow them to create personal confidence among the shooters. And then it will also be necessary to prepare, in the same way as that for the match, a real strategy linked to this specificity that is shooting on goal. »
“ It gives the impression that we didn’t do anything beforeis offended by the conductor of the Blues. There are other topics that interest me. I’ll give you one. Why in France do we have difficulty having full-backs? Good question. Who can answer? DTN maybe. I didn’t feel personally attacked, no. I have no problem, I make sure to understand, to be corporate, I rely heavily on the DTN, I have all the observers who come from the DTN. But there may be bad intentions on the part of certain people, it is common knowledge. I am open to new experiences, but you also need a certain amount of experience. Being on the bench, managing, is something important. All the national coaches of the youth teams, they are on the benches and they work. So I have respect for them. »
