With autumn come the first clouds of the Zidane era. Accompanied by a fine, uninterrupted rain from Clairefontaine to Milan, the Blues are in gray, literally and figuratively, at the start of November.
Because after having had to compose a list without several offensive, injured elements (Ousmane Dembélé, Estéban Lepaul, Maghnes Akliouche...), Zinédine Zidane saw 4 of his players leave the gathering since Monday, before, the icing on this already very bitter cake, the withdrawal of Kylian Mbappé to face Italy, Thursday, at San Siro.
If the captain of the Blues - who had already missed three of Zizou's first four matches in October - should be put back on Sunday for the reception of Turkey, it leaves Zinédine Zidane facing an unprecedented project: rebuilding a French attack around Michael Olise, the only usual starter. Unless the Bavarian "has a cold", as Roberto Mancini jokingly wished at a press conference. Teasingly, the Italian coach had just encouraged the French staff “not to take any risks with Mbappé”, without knowing that Zinédine Zidane was going to formalize his package a few minutes later. “But France has 5-6 very high-level attackers,” stressed Mancini, regaining his seriousness.
Who to accompany Olise and Doué?
Still, this avalanche of injuries conditions the French rally, even though Zizou had made offensive efficiency a priority when announcing his list. "In the offensive sector, we need to do better. I'm not worried, these are automatisms to find. We have to put things in place. We have points to improve, that's obvious. We had 68% of ball possession and 92% of successful passes. But in relation to the number of chances created, we can do much better", warned the coach, after a first meeting concluded with 7 goals scored in 4 matches.
The coach was banking heavily on his captain to rectify these statistics, but Kylian Mbappé, hampered by his hamstrings, will remain in the stands in Milan. He stays with us, he wants to play on Sunday. He's not happy. He would have liked to play against Italy", explained the coach, before setting an offensive course without his Mbappé compass: "We will always look for a balance, so that the team is as efficient as possible. We have players who are in good shape to try to have a good match nonetheless. That's a lot of injuries, but we have no choice."
Brightening in this gray sky: Michael Olise will be there, 100%, despite a small alert before the break. The Bayern Munich right winger will undoubtedly be associated with another very prominent man during Zinédine Zidane's first rally: Désiré Doué, praised by his coach on Friday: "Désiré, what he has been doing for a while, it's magnificent. He is a young player with a lot of talent, who listens. He wants to progress, to win things. I really like what he does on the pitch. I recognize myself in him as a player, I wanted to progress, to listen to the elders." It remains to be seen in what position the latter will play.
“Doué can play everywhere but honestly, where he is best is when he is on his left side to go inside. He can strike, overflow with his left foot, it's not a problem for him."
Zinedine Zidane
at a press conference
Olise on the right, Doué on the left: but who will occupy the forefront of the French attack against Italy? Sometimes used in a register of false number 9 by Luis Enrique at PSG, Désiré Doué could stick to it. This would free up the left lane for Bradley Barcola who, too, could find the axis of attack, a position he knew in his training at Lyon or, more anecdotally, during his years at PSG. Having also become versatile under the orders of Luis Enrique, Senny Mayulu, the last one called up, could also don this costume of false number 9, in which he has a series of convincing outings with PSG.
Pagis, Kroupi, Mayulu: a chance to shine from the start
“Mayulu can play in this position, he is doing great things with Paris,” confirmed Zinédine Zidane on the eve of the match. First surprise guest on the list, Pablo Pagis, rather installed on the left at club level at Paris FC, has never really occupied a central position, or when rotating around a pivot, in a two-pronged attack. As for Eli Junior Kroupi, he is a specialist in the position. But the 20-year-old striker is only just returning to competition after three months of convalescence following a fracture of the fifth metatarsal last summer. “He is operational, but we will manage him,” warned Zinédine Zidane, about the player called to replace Marcus Thuram, but who has only played 57 minutes since his return 18 days ago.
If these solutions do not excite the French staff, Zinédine Zidane can always turn to Dayot Upamecano, very prominent offensively in recent weeks. "It's the context of the matches that allow me to become Harry Kane at times", smiled the French defender who shares the locker room with the English Ballon d'Or on Wednesday, "When I was younger, I played in midfield, notably in Salzburg in the Europa League. I have leftovers. My game is to project myself forward, when I see that I am free I go there, I am not afraid".
No matter the name checked on the match sheet, the Italians are wary. “It's always difficult to play against opponents of the quality of France, we have to think about ourselves,” said coach Roberto Mancini, regarding Mbappé's withdrawal. "We must not underestimate our opponent. We know their strength. It will be a very complicated match, whatever happens. France has a lot of high quality players, it will be very complicated," said Riccardo Calafiori, Arsenal defender.
