Didier Deschamps after France – Ireland (2-0): “We could have framed it a little more”

Football is not just about numbers. please no. But when your balance sheet is 15 points in five games, you’ve scored 11 goals and conceded none, it’s hard not to set it as a benchmark for excellence. Just as it’s complicated to be selective. On Thursday evening, in the Grandstand of the Parc des Princes, Didier Deschamps had little to complain about. The national coach wanted to confirm to his fans how successful the qualifying campaign for the European Nations Cup 2024 is at the present time. In content and form.

Winners of Ireland for the second time in 2023, 2-0 After Dublin’s 1-0 win, the Blues head straight to Germany and the European Championship. The coach will have a very quiet year in 2023. That wasn’t necessarily won when he was reappointed to a four-year stint at the helm of the Blues. All of this is linked to the conditions for qualifying for the Euro as much as it is linked to his team’s performance since the World Cup final.

“We can always be selective but we did what we had to do by creating a lot of chances, about ten chances. In the first half, we could have increased the speed on the serve.Deschamps admitted. But we scored two goals, and this is our fifth match without conceding a goal.” Collectively, the lights are green.

Individually? It’s not far from being the same. Especially since this time it was not Kylian Mbappe and Olivier Giroud who played the role of Zorro. “On the way out, there was already Pavard,” However, remember DD showed only slight remorse. “The small regret is that we only scored two goals on many occasions. We could have scored more too, but overall I’m satisfied with what the players are doing.”

In particular, one of the scorers, Marcus Thuram, who replaced Olivier Giroud, was injured in the 27th minute of play, and the latter had not yet found his way to the goals after 10 selections. It’s done now. He could also have scored another goal or two. But nothing bothers the coach, playfully: “Good for him, you’ll give me some winning training too.”