Didier Deschamps | Champion du Monde

Jib said:
With players like Pogba, Rabiot, Benzema, Griezmann, Fekir, Mbappe, Nzonzi and ball playing CB like Varane, Laporte and Umtiti... you can play the possession.
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Nah I think counter attacking football suits this France team perfectly.

Matuidi and Kante can both get up and down incredibly well, Pogba can hit passes into runners like nothing.

Mbappe and Griezman both make great runs, and Giroud is a very good target man.

One of the problems with playing possesion football is that it forces the other team back, and Mbappe when he's forced to play against packed defences is nowhere near as effective.
 
Needs to retire as manager and let someone else take charge (Arsene, anyone?) in order to escape the winner's curse.
 
MackRobinson said:
It's reasonable but completely overstated. These players are being drilled constantly in the tactics of their clubs teams. I actually think it's outside of the norm for a national team to run like a well oiled machine, especially when most of the players play on different club teams.

France were 2nd in the Euros and just won the World Cup. I'm not talking about you but it's mind boggling to me that others say they don't rate Deschamps. It tells me that their criteria for a good manager is based on personal biases and little else.
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True and there have been plenty of teams in the past that have won the World Cup by growing into the tournament. My issue with Deschamps is not his approach (I don't care how you win a football match, let alone the World Cup) but rather how pedestrian they can look despite their talent. It's a juxtaposition. Not dissimilar to United actually.
 
He has learnt from Lippi when he played for him at Juventus: his teams don't play well, but are efficient.
 
Santi_Mesut_Alexis_87 said:
He has learnt from Lippi when he played for him at Juventus: his teams don't play well, but are efficient.
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I seem to remember that his UEFA coaching license was from Italy but I have failed to find a confirmation.
 
I wasn't a fan of the way he approached games with the talent we had as a country, but winning a world cup has a funny way of changing all of that. He did it his way, and it worked in the end. I always said France are notorious slow-starters, so as long as we were winning the group, however unimpressive it looked, that we would grow in this tournament. I think the Argentina game was key for Mbappe to realize no one at this world cup can stop him, and bringing in Matuidi with Pogba and Kante solidified his plan of counter-attacking football. It was quite an Italian-looking team with a French twist and a brilliant Mbappe and Kante. I don't know if DD goes on from there, we should find out shortly but I believe in him now. It may not always be pretty, but there's still moments that will be memorable in this world cup and we won, what more can you ask for?
 
Sayros said:
I wasn't a fan of the way he approached games with the talent we had as a country, but winning a world cup has a funny way of changing all of that. He did it his way, and it worked in the end. I always said France are notorious slow-starters, so as long as we were winning the group, however unimpressive it looked, that we would grow in this tournament. I think the Argentina game was key for Mbappe to realize no one at this world cup can stop him, and bringing in Matuidi with Pogba and Kante solidified his plan of counter-attacking football. It was quite an Italian-looking team with a French twist and a brilliant Mbappe and Kante. I don't know if DD goes on from there, we should find out shortly but I believe in him now. It may not always be pretty, but there's still moments that will be memorable in this world cup and we won, what more can you ask for?
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It is hard to be a fan of the style tbh. You just hope that team can hold itself because you always know there is a period where France will unleash its talent.
Like you said winning it makes you forget about all its negative aspects. Deschamps has found a formula and knows the players he needs for it to work.
 
This France team is great but so is Germany so credit to him.
With that said , am I the only one who feels like the team was just holding back in most cases? It always feels like they will just go on to score whenever they want.
 
Lebo said:
This France team is great but so is Germany so credit to him.
With that said , am I the only one who feels like the team was just holding back in most cases? It always feels like they will just go on to score whenever they want.
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This French team definitely gave a feeling that they were just giving that one extra percent over the opponent to win. They didn't smash any teams, they were just slightly better whenever it was needed. I also think this team is far from the finished product. Mbappe will eventually be the leading striker, Dembele will improve, they are going to be much more dangerous and beautiful to watch in the future, at least that's what I think and hope for.
 
Just like Messi needs to play for Stoke to prove himself, Deschamp needs to come to Premier League to manage a newly promoted team, and win the League in his first year.
 
More than likely either Lopetegui, Valdano or Kovac will win the next CL. Often we give manager's way too much credit on here. Deschamps is not suddenly a great manager.
 
You don't need to be a genius manager to win the World Cup, or even the Champions League. A lot of times it comes down to luck and the players you have at your disposal. Low has always been pretty questionable and dumb with his tactics, and always got the feeling he didn't get the best out of Germany, yet he won it in 2014. Deschamps has the best collection of players in the world, and they pretty much never look convincing or a level above whoever they play, yet they won it because of player quality. Like, he's not absolutely awful, but he puts out a lineup that functions somewhat decently as a unit and then they just grind it out. People put far too much stake in a manager winning certain cups. In case anyone needs reminding, fecking Di Matteo won the Champions League with Chelsea. Only example needed. Fair fecks to France for winning it in the end, they won't care, but I do feel like they can play so much better.

Also, international football in general is weird and very player/situation dependent. One manager can be amazing at one country and awful at the next. Look at Sampaoli. Won the Copa America with Chile, flopped hard with Argentina. Occasionally you get actual top managers... most of the time though it's entirely situational and more due to managing personalities and having a stacked team.
 
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I am not sure how many other coaches would have
1. Made Pavard a starter
2. Played Giroud even after so much criticism
3. Make two young CBs work together

Credit where its due. We have seen many coaches screw up even with a talented squad.
 
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CannonBalls said:
I am not sure how many other coaches would have
1. Made Pavard a starter
2. Played Giroud even after so much criticism
3. Make two young CBs work together

Credit where its due. We have seen many coaches screw up even with a talented squad.
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Made Hernandez a starter too, a guy who was truly unknown and who was tempted to play for Spain a few months ago :lol: Deschamps had both his starting full backs not fully fit at the start of the World Cup, a shit striker and still won it. Incredible
 
In France last 5 finals, they won 3 of them.
Of the wins, 2 he was captain and 1 he was manager.
Say what you want about him, but thats the kind of records they talk about in years and years to come.

Oh, and this "anybody would have won it with this team" thing..... anybody did not, Dechamps did.
 
Some people don't have a good memory. Remember France before Deschamps got the post? Talents, they not that lacking. Building a team from all the ego, different preferred playing style is not easy. Unlike Low where his WC winning team had the back bone of Bayern and passed to him from a revolution of style play since 2006. Deschamps,needed to do the heavy lifting himself.
 
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If France wins the World Cup, then it's because the French squad is stacked with superstars.

If France fails, then it's because Deschamps is a crap manager.

The man just won a World Cup ffs, give him a bit of credit at least!
 
Keeps It tidy said:
More than likely either Lopetegui, Valdano or Kovac will win the next CL. Often we give manager's way too much credit on here. Deschamps is not suddenly a great manager.
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They are given too much credit as it's obvious how much impact they have.

Check how teams played and peformed before and after these coaches took over the teams.

Pep - City
Poch - Spurs
Klopp - Liverpool
Zidane - Madrid
Simeone - Atletico
Allegri -Juventus

Obviously you need good players too but it's even more obvious you need great coach.
 
Another thing for me is that its so much more to beeing a manager than What we as fans se at the match.

We dont see how they work in training, team meetings, motivation, support, what they do to create teamfeeling, teamtalks, etc etc.

So people who think he is a bad manager think that based on what? That he just won the world cup? That would be a sign that he is a pretty good manager IMO.
 
FootballHQ said:
French posters on here were saying round of 16/quarters before tournament started although think JP Rourve was making point more about random nature of KO football which we saw with Brazil who'd have easily made the final if they were on the other half.

Losing in 2016 helped France I think. Matured them a little more in KO rounds.

Varane was simply magnificent aswell. Textbook lesson in defending and he has become the leader France need at the back.
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Varane was garbage in the final. :confused:
 
If France win this tournament they might end up topping Greece as the worst winners ever
 
France were woeful this tournament, they didn't deserve to get out of their group.
 
Hopefully we see the end of this man's criminal use of an elite talent pool to play counterattacking football for more than a decade.

Pogba was always huge for him, essentially allowed him to play defensively while knowing that on the ball he had a genius that that would always find the right passes in almost any situation.

When he doesn't have a maestro to constantly unlock teams and actually needs to build an attacking ethos, he's found wanting and the whole things becomes stale.

He's got enough trophies to last a lifetime though, I'm sure he'll always point to that and can say the ends justify the means :lol:
 
Deschamps tally:

2014 WC: QF (lost to champions)
2016 Euro: Final (lost in extra time)
2018 WC: Champions
2020 Euro: R16 (lost to Switzerland on penalties)
2022 WC: Final (lost on penalties)
2024 Euro: SF

Apart from the 2020 Euros, these are awe-inspiring results and considering that both of the finals France lost went to extra time, they were a bit unlucky not to win another trophy. Deschamps is the most successful manager of the French national team in history and no one will take it from him, I also doubt many will remember how dross their football was in the second half of the reign. Still, seems like his formula is anyhow obsolete now and that the current group of players could work better under another manager - it's a good time for change and I guess Deschamps knows this too.
 
Roberto Martinez to replace him in his latest example of failing upwards?
 
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