France coach Didier Deschamps spoke before Friday’s match against Italy of using the Nations League as an opportunity to test new players and that plan has not changed following the 3-1 defeat in Paris.
Deschamps was heavily criticised after Euro 2024 as his team failed to make a convincing impression despite reaching the semi-finals. He gave striker Michael Olise his debut against Italy and also brought midfielder Manu Kone onto the bench for his first game.
“It’s a question of balance/imbalance. The team is young and some made their debut today,” said Deschamps.
“I know I took a certain risk by not fielding my starting eleven and that this hurt the overall performance.”
At the European Championship, France conceded three goals in six matches, but at home against Italy they conceded three, where Deschamps left Jules Kounde and Dayot Upamecano on the bench and started with Ibrahima Konate and Jonathan Clauss instead.
“The defence has changed, I have said that before. It is time to give as many players as possible playing time and tonight we paid a heavy price for that in front of high-quality opponents,” said the manager.
“This view of things will not change in the next game. It is time to change something.”
France got off to a perfect start and put the team ahead after 12 seconds through Bradley Barcola. However, the team let Italy come back into the game and could not break through the opponent’s tactics.
“We had a great start after the goal, immediately putting the opponent under a lot of pressure, but then things got a bit more complicated,” said Deschamps.
“There are also mistakes when it comes to goals, but tonight we were lacking in sporting performance in the second half of the first half.”
“In the second half we started again with good intentions, but then they scored 1-2 and with this deep blockade Italy managed to play on the counterattack.”
Deschamps has little time to put things right and the team will have to get over this defeat quickly as France host Belgium on Monday.
“This defeat tonight hurts everyone. I always look at the facts, regardless of the circumstances,” said Deschamps.
“Congratulations to Italy, they did what they had to do to win. We had a few slip-ups and now we have to prepare for Belgium.”
