France football coach Deschamps defends approach towards penalty shoot-outs

France boss Didier Deschamps lashed at on Thursday at one of the country’s top football analysts over practice routines for penalty shoot-outs during major International tournaments.

France coach Didier Deschamps aired his views on preparing for penalty shoot-outs when he unveiled his squad for the friendly matches against Germany and Chile. © AP/Christophe Ena

Hubert Fournier, who heads the French football federation’s, national technical department last month called for more structure in the preparations for the sessions.

During an interview with the French broadcaster RMC Sport, Fournier suggested that Deschamps and other France national team coaches should organise scenarios which helped the players prepare for the intensity of the shoot-outs.

"He ought to offer them a range of exercises that will allow the players taking the kicks to gain more confidence," Fournier said.

But announcing his 23-man squad for the friendlies against Germany and Chile on 23 and 26 March respectively, Deschamps launched a six-minute tirade about Fournier's proposals.

"I find the comments inappropriate and I would even say disrespectful," said Deschamps. "It’s not just about me but about all coaches."

Fournier's suggestions come as Deschamps fine-tunes his team preparations for the European championships in June and July in Germany.

For the matches in Lyon and Marseille, Deschamps has drafted in Aston Villa's Moussa Diaby to vie for a place among a forward line including skipper Kylian Mbappé and the veteran strikers Olivier Giroud and Antoine Griezmann who were part of the team that won the 2018 World Cup.

Defenders Benjamin Pavard and Aurélien Tchouaméni have been recalled. The duo missed the qualifying matches last November against Gibraltar and Greece due to injury.

The French – who lost the 2022 World Cup final in a penalty shoot-out – go into the European championships as one of the favourites.

Status

They lie second in the Fifa rankings behind Argentina and ahead of England and Belgium.

"The shoot-out is a confrontation between the goalkeeper and the person taking the penalty," added Deschamps who skippered France to the World Cup title in 1998 as well as the the European championships crown in 2000. 

Deschamps, who is only one of three men to have won the World Cup as a player and as a coach, added: "It's not that I don't think that these things can be worked on but I am convinced – and my time as a player informs me on this point – that it is impossible to recreate the psychological conditions of a shoot-out while you are in a training session."

For the matches in Chateauroux and Sochaux, Deschamps has drafted in Aston Villa's Moussa Diaby to vie for a place among the forwards while defenders Benjamin Pavard and Aurélien Tchouaméni have been recalled. The duo  missed the qualifying matches last November against Gibraltar and Greece due to injury.