FEATURE | ‘Boring’ Didier Deschamps has earned his stay of execution

Didier Deschamps has established a dynasty. The France manager is irreproachable, infallible, and unquestionable. “You perhaps didn’t need to ask the question,” responded Deschamps when questioned about his future as France manager, following elimination from Euro 2024 at the hands of Spain.

He is right. The question need not be asked. The FFF, via its president, Philippe Diallo, confirmed what everyone already knew less than 24 hours after that painful elimination. “I see no need to call his contract into question. His past results speak for themselves and the objectives have been reached. Didier will continue his mission,” Diallo told L’Équipe. The matter was settled; Deschamps will remain as France’s manager until 2026, at least. No alarms and no surprises.

Deschamps’ record speaks for itself

Deschamps deserves reassurance in many ways. After all, he did win the World Cup in 2018, led France to the final in three of his last five major tournaments, and to semi-finals in four of the last five, and there is no shame in losing to Spain, the most impressive side at this summer’s tournament in Germany.

The clamour to see Deschamps dismissed was, however, predictable, even if it says more about the public’s choice of successor, Zinédine Zidane, than it does about Deschamps himself. After three years out of the game, there is a certain clamour to see Zidane back on the touchline and the France job has seemed the most likely option. The former Real Madrid manager has shown himself to be very picky in choosing his next project ever since he left Los Blancos back in 2021.

That desire to see Zidane return to management clouds the debate surrounding Deschamps, who over the course of his 12-year tenure, has accrued more than enough credit to lead Les Bleus in the 2026 World Cup. But that doesn’t mean that he is beyond reproach, even if he seems to be absolved of any blame for France’s poor performances at Euro 2024 by the FFF.

No Mbappé, no party?

Diallo’s comments on the campaign were misaligned with reality. “The report is globally positive. Reaching the final stages demonstrates the high-performance levels that the Équipe de France showed,” analysed Diallo. There can be no denying that France’s performances were below expectations throughout Euro 2024. It is logical to comfort Deschamps in his role as manager of Les Bleus, but at the same time, he mustn’t be above criticism during this post-mortem. Only a thorough self-reflection will prevent France from repeating the errors in two years’ time.

Deschamps will likely lean on the mitigating circumstances, and there is a glaring one – Kylian Mbappé. The captain looked a shadow of himself. Granted, fracturing his nose during the opener against Austria didn’t help but his under-performance at the tournament can be traced back much further. His bras-de-fer with now-former club Paris Saint-Germain last summer meant that, by the end of the season, he had run out of steam; it showed during the latter stages of the club season and continued to show, even more glaringly in Germany.

Mbappé himself admitted that he wasn’t at 100% on two separate occasions during the tournament, and yet France’s entire attack was built around him. To put Mbappé at the heart of the game plan is logical, to do so when the forward is at only 50% of his capabilities is illogical and represented a major error of judgement on Deschamps’ part. The manager saw Mbappé in training day-in-day-out for a month; he should have seen Mbappé’s lack of fitness and reacted.

Deschamps defends himself against ‘boring’ criticism

Deschamps rigidly stood by his defensive principles throughout, batting away accusations of being “boring” by suggesting that those who don’t like watching France simply change the channel. There is no reason to think that, 12 years into his tenure, he will dramatically alter his ideology but a reflection on the attacking freedom that he affords his forwards wouldn’t go amiss.

Inversely, it is the defence that proved the hallmark of France’s success in recent years and was so again at Euro 2024. Prior to the semi-final defeat against Spain, they hadn’t conceded once from open play, even taking the sting out of Portugal’s attacking juggernaut. Deschamps is naturally fearful of compromising that solidity but recent performances show that a new balance must be struck.

Regardless, Deschamps deserves the chance to find that new balance. He has himself set the template for success in major international tournaments and his record speaks for itself. Another two years of Deschamps may seem “boring” but it perhaps offers Les Bleus the best chance of success and those assurances stump the romanticism but more importantly, the uncertainty of Zidane’s prospective appointment.

GFFN | Luke Entwistle