Imagine England had got to the final and were 2-1 up at half-time. Not only would the country be descending into anarchy, the players would probably, understandable, be overwhelmed with nerves.
That was not the case in the France dressing room on Sunday night, as they went in at the break 2-1 up against Croatia. The players were calm and collected, and were given sound advice by their manager Didier Deschamps.
Footage of Deschamps' half-time team talk has been released. In the video, he is seen instructing the players not to stoop to Croatia's aggressive tactics, to lay off Mario Mandžukić, and to play as simply as possible.
Antoine Griezmann was also told to drop deeper when Croatia attacked, instead of staying close to the other forwards, to act as an outlet when France recovered the ball.
Griezmann and Raphael Varane both spoke up too, offering calming words to the rest of the team.
Going by how the second half went, it seemed to work.
https://twitter.com/JackCook95/status/1019625823026995200
https://twitter.com/JackCook95/status/1019626084202098695
https://twitter.com/JackCook95/status/1019626398208675842
A mountain to climb. This article contains affiliate links. We may earn a commission on any sales generated from it. It’s a huge Champions League week, with the round of 16 second legs taking place, including Man City v Real Madrid. There are four games on Tuesday and four on Wednesday to feast your eyes […]
Action has been taken. Chelsea have been slapped with a transfer ban as well as a huge fine for multiple breaches. It was confirmed today that the Blues had been punished by the Premier League for violations committed during the Roman Abramovich era, as reported by The Athletic. The club has has also been given […]
This would be incredible! Right now, Nathan Collins’ focus is Ireland and Brentford, with the centre back captaining both sides. And this will be his focus for at least the next decade, as the Leixlip man is still just 24. However, in an interview with the BBC, he spoke about his early roots in the […]