More than a month after the euphoria and curiosity of the beginning, Zinédine Zidane launches the second chapter of his new life as coach, Friday November 6. At 6 p.m., "Zizou" will announce from the FFF headquarters the list of players selected for the next international break, where they will challenge Italy at San Siro on Thursday November 12, before hosting Turkey in Bordeaux on Sunday November 15.
Once again, this list should stop at 23 names, the minimum requested by UEFA. In September, Zinédine Zidane had in fact explained his desire to avoid sending players into the stands during matches, before actually giving playing time to all the players called up (except Jean Butez, third goalkeeper). But can we expect as many surprises as in our first list?
Dembélé, Koundé, Koné: a cascade of packages
If he had repeated his wish to follow in the footsteps of Didier Deschamps, Zinédine Zidane had called up five new players in September, a total which rose to seven due to injuries: Andy Diouf (Inter Milan), Estéban Lepaul (Rennes), Jean Butez (Como), Guillaume Restes (Toulouse), Jérémy Jacquet (Liverpool), Leny Yoro (Manchester United) and Lucas Da Cunha (Como). These last three are expected again on the list, just like Guillaume Restes.
Injured in the left ankle, Estéban Lepaul will miss his turn this time. As for Jean Butez, called up in September after the withdrawal of Robin Risser (RC Lens), he could return his place to the Lensois goalkeeper, back at his best level, despite the historic slap received on Wednesday in the Champions League against Côme de... Jean Butez (1-9). As the fall progresses, other physical glitches will however modify Zinédine Zidane's list compared to September.
Injured, Manu Koné (AS Roma), Maxence Lacroix (Chelsea), and Ousmane Dembélé (PSG) will be absent, while Jules Koundé (FC Barcelona) and William Saliba, barely back with Arsenal after his injury in the World Cup semi-final, are more than uncertain. Despite an alert against Borussia Dortmund on Saturday October 31, Michael Olise (Bayern Munich) should be there.
Mbappé back... in what position?
In turn, this cascade of injury opens the way to several returns. In midfield, Aurélien Tchouaméni (Real Madrid) and Warren Zaire-Emery (PSG) are expected, while Marcus Thuram, successful with Inter Milan, could take Estéban Lepaul's place in attack, unless the youth of Mathys Tel (Tottenham) is favored. In defense, the versatile Castello Lukeba (Leipzig) could take advantage of the various packages to make his return to the Blues, three years after his only selection. If Adrien Truffert has convinced his position as left-back, a doubt persists about the name of his understudy, the same question arises, on the right, behind Pierre Kalulu (Juventus).
In view with RC Lens, Florian Thauvin naturally invites himself into the debates, despite the strong competition in the right lane of the French attack and the desire of the staff to prepare for the future with younger players. But the coach will be able to count above all on the return of Kylian Mbappé, who left Zizou's first chapter early, injured during France-Turkey after opening the scoring. It remains to be seen whether, in the absence of Ousmane Dembélé, Zinédine Zidane will place Kylian Mbappé back in the axis of the French attack, or on the left as in September.
Apart from the positioning of his captain and the various injured people, Zinédine Zidane's choices should be part of continuity, for this one-week truce, twice as short as that of September. Because the coach and his staff will not have time to innovate: summoned Monday afternoon at Clairefontaine, with a new crowd bath planned, the Blues will train there twice before taking off on Wednesday for Milan, with training on site at the San Siro stadium, before challenging Italy there on Thursday (8:45 p.m.).
Immediately, the Blues will fly to Bordeaux, where they will train on Friday and Saturday at the Atlantique stadium, before facing Turkey on Sunday (8:45 p.m.). With a simple objective: validate their ticket for the quarter-finals of the Nations League in March. Which is close to being the case after the first four matches of September (3 wins, 1 draw), which allowed the Blues to occupy first place in their group.
