The first thing you notice about this France team is how free they look. Kylian Mbappe is pressing twice as much as he did at Real Madrid last season. Michael Olise is threading passes that crack open entire defenses. Ousmane Dembele is playing like someone finally took the leash off.
That’s basically what happened. According to people close to the team, Didier Deschamps gave his attackers one instruction before this World Cup: express yourselves. Do what comes naturally. No rigid structures. No grinding through a low block for 70 minutes before trying something. Just play.
It sounds romantic for a coach known as a pragmatist, a guy who made his name as a midfield water carrier. But Deschamps has always had ideas about attack that never got to breathe. He brought Monaco to the 2004 Champions League final with Jose Mourinho’s Porto, and he shared some of those same instincts about offensive freedom. The difference now is he finally trusts it.
Thirteen Goals in Four Games
France have scored 13 goals so far. One opposing coach at the tournament called them one of the best attacking teams ever. That sounds like tournament hyperbole until you watch them. They’re not just winning. They’re playing like Brazil 1970 or the Netherlands 1974, teams that elevated the whole event. They’re also winning, which those romantic teams didn’t always do.
This team has a ruthless edge because Deschamps and captain Mbappe have won a World Cup before, in 2018. That was a solid win but a grindy one. This is different. This feels like Deschamps realized he might be managing his last tournament and decided to let the guys cook.
The Anti-Deschamps Team
The old 4-2-3-1 with clearly defined roles is gone. Now it’s fluid movement and unpredictable patterns. Coaches call it relationism. The idea is simple: when attackers enjoy enough freedom, they develop chemistry that becomes almost telepathic. They start speaking the same football, as Deschamps put it.
Olise does what Luka Modric used to do for Real Madrid’s midfield, just from a different spot. Mbappe looks refreshed after a season in Paris where the club season was relatively light. Even the pressing stats are up. He’s all in.
But There Are Cracks
France’s midfield is thin. Adrien Rabiot and Aurelien Tchouameni provide engine but not much control. Opposing coaches think the defense is more vulnerable than the scorelines suggest, especially on set pieces. Spain’s three-man midfield could cause real problems if they meet. And then there’s Argentina waiting in the final, which people around the team describe as psychologically huge after everything that happened in 2022.
Deschamps himself told journalists not to get carried away. Feel free to find the issues, he said. Not everything should be rose-tinted.
For now though, France looks like a team that could blow through everyone. They have the attackers. They have the freedom. And they have a manager who finally decided to let them run.
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