Under the Bleus jersey, the midfielder in the 47 selections won the Euro in 1984 with Michel Platini, but he also lost the famous semi-final against Germany in 1982 in Seville. The former player who became coach analyzes the elimination of the French by the Swiss.
RFI: What analysis do you make of the elimination of the World Champions at this Euro from the round of 16?
Alain Giresse : This is the whole problem of a team which is at the top. To stay there is not easy at all, because we are considered differently! The French team which is attacking the World Cup in 2018 is simply one of the favorites, while at this Euro it is expected as World Champion. This label is not easy to wear!
Because it is not easy to renew yourself, to re-motivate yourself, to relaunch yourself and small signs that seem insignificant are gaining importance. Competition is never easy. Against the Swiss, in addition, the French players seemed a little tired, worn out and there was no longer the same dynamism. Obviously, that weakened the strength of this group, its solidity.
What are these telltale “little signs”?
First of all, the status of the player is different. And there, I will speak as a coach: when in 2018, you had a team that is in the making, discussions between the players and the coach did not exist. Didier Deschamps gave his playing instructions, and he was followed. Now a player who has been a world champion gets a little more involved, and he shares his thoughts on the composition of the team with the coach. What happened at this Euro.
Then, the efforts that everyone had made, the collective commitment that they had shown, they did not renew. But we do not realize all the efforts made to reach the top. In 2018, if they had led 3 to 1, they would never have lost their match. This is what they missed in Bucharest to qualify.
To hear you, one wonders if it would be necessary to remake a squad for each new competition? !
When you are a coach or a coach, and it is paradoxical, but when you are in a good period where everything is successful, you are always afraid, because you know that it will stop, and you therefore always fear that it will happen. when performance deteriorates. Because it is difficult to admit it and to question ourselves.
The real problem of a competitor is humility and questioning. Because a match won, a title obtained gives you neither more nor less than the possibility of starting over! And this is the most difficult to get back on track.
Under the influence of emotion, many critics today target, in particular, Kylian Mbappé, unhappy shooter of the last shot on goal, and Didier Deschamps. Can they ignore them, will they forget them?
Regarding Kylian, no! Of course he will not forget this missed penalty, but Kylian is a young player with a future, a promising, exceptional future, and there he is faced with a career situation that comes and has happened to others. players. That he had not yet experienced so hard. He will have to move forward.
But that’s it, it’s behind him … Yesterday, it’s already behind him, he has to look ahead and leave. Kylian Mbappé has everything to set off again, all the means. Now he will understand even better the high level, his requirement.
Didier Deschamps obviously has his share of responsibility. We realize that since the preparation period, nothing has been clear or linear in this implementation: the injured, its difficulty in finding the best system, to place the three players in the offensive sector in the best conditions, and there was surely the possibility of doing better. Afterwards, the coach is always wrong, it’s obvious!
Didier Deschamps, voluntarily or not, let go of his grip on the players?
Surely unintentionally, but the title of world champion has changed the status of players, their positioning in the big clubs where they play, giving them a form of responsibility that they did not have in 2018.
But it is not easy to assume when you are a player, you have to be aware that you are taking things in hand. I can say it, in the 1980s, we had a generation with someone exceptional, our coach Michel Hidalgo, who let us go a little bit, and whom we had fully assumed, with respect for what he was waiting. This is all the balance that must be found, this relationship-professional that must exist between players and coach. And maybe at this Euro, Didier Deschamps did not take things in hand as in 2018, relying on his players. Like these tactical discussions around a system.
You who played this crazy 1982 match against Germany, do you see a link between these 2 matches?
In Seville we had been victims of injustices, which added to the scenario. In Bucharest, this was not the case for the France team. The match starts badly, the first half does not correspond to what is expected of it, of its possibilities, there is a jump in the second half, but this jump, if it creates emotion and hope. , in absolute terms, does not change the poorly completed service. This is not what this team is capable of showing. We, in 1982, had better control of the game, but the penalty shoot-out remains an exercise that provokes similar emotions. And a similar ending!
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