France and Italy draw (1-1) at the Stade de France for Zidane's first at home

The Italians spoiled the party a bit. The crowd at the Stade de France wanted to celebrate Zidane's first as coach at home with a victory, but they had to settle for a draw, 1-1, on Friday October 2. The Squadra Azzurra, in difficulty in recent months, played with its weapons, especially defensively, to thwart the plans of the Blues still in training.

After a sluggish victory in Türkiye (1-0), then another more promising one in Belgium (1-0), the Blues experienced their first hitch. However, Zinédine Zidane is convinced, his team “deserved better” against Italy. “We can be disappointed not to have the three points, but the content is good. In the pressing, on the one-on-one, they were exemplary,” he declared about his players on TF1.

A collective dry cleaning that makes a strong impression

High pressing, although difficult to implement in such a short time, is indeed the greatest satisfaction at the start of the Zidane era. The Blues adopted the precept very quickly, and succeeded collectively, while the starting eleven was different in each match. “The eleven players, we know what we have to do and we do it well,” comments Jérémy Jacquet, who is also one of the great satisfactions in central defense. Maxence Lacroix notes an “evolution” since the first match: “We are able to understand a little more how he wants to play, how he wants his team to play”.

Against Italy, it was especially offensively that the Blues experienced difficulties, facing a very well grouped team. If the ball circulates well, it happened on Friday evening that the players of the France team lacked spontaneity and kept it a little too much at their feet, without succeeding in destabilizing Italy. “To hurt the opponent, you have to take the spaces. On the content, we put things in place, they played their Italian defensive game,” analyzed Zinédine Zidane on TF1.

“If some people expected us to have the same opportunities and the same spaces as against Belgium, we knew that that wasn't going to be the case,” says Pierre Kalulu, fairly neutral in his right-back position on Friday. They were with four defenders, but on a line of five. That is to say, even when we passed them on the sides, there was still a big block still in the area. thwart them. I think we were a little lacking in success.”

If Michael Olise tried to bring his touch of magic to this team, and was once again decisive, the Blues did not have so many clear chances in the first period, then came up against a lot of Gianluigi Donnarumma on the big nights. “We are not going to throw everything in the trash, I think we are on the right track, as the coach told us in the locker room, underlines Désiré Doué. We are capable of creating a lot of danger, but opposite, there is a solid team. We have found the fault, but we must be more efficient”.

Zinédine Zidane defends Ousmane Dembélé

Starting with Ousmane Dembélé. Aligned at the forefront, his position at PSG, since the start of the rally, the evening captain has lacked influence. He still makes too little difference with the Blues, while his defensive activity is exemplary. "Ousmane does Ousmane, I'm happy with him, he's everywhere on the pitch. I don't have much to reproach him for, he created himself through a lot of chances," Zinédine Zidane defended him.

He could still have converted the one created after returning from the locker room by a strike from Désiré Doué, repelled by Gianluigi Donnarumma (48th). The Ballon d'Or followed well to try his luck while the goalkeeper was still on the ground, but placed the ball within his reach. Michael Olise, 28 caps on the clock, is now as decisive in Blue (9 goals and 10 assists) as the Parisian who has 70 (13 goals and 6 assists).