‘A joy to watch’: World Cup fans embrace Les Bleus as Deschamps finally takes the brake off

The French juggernaut took off just past the hour mark in their World Cup opener – and there has been no grounding them since.

For the best part of 60 minutes, France's fearsome attacking squad looked clueless and disjointed in their first match against Senegal, a montage of world-class forwards unable to connect.

As the Lions of Teranga sliced through the French lines with ease, and Les Bleus' attackers played out of role, some fans might have been wishing the Deschamps era had ended sooner.

Then, after a half-time word from the manager, Ousmane Dembélé swapped sides with Michael Olise, the engine finally clicked into gear, and Kylian Mbappé blew away the (one-time) African champions in the space of a few minutes.

Another three wins later, the 2022 runners-up have amassed a staggering 13 goals from just four games, one short of their total in Qatar, cementing their status as this tournament's hot favourites.

But it is the manner of those victories that has enthralled French and other fans alike, after more than a decade of Les Bleus' star-studded squads being constrained by their manager's instinct to defend.

Blemish on the record

Over the years, Deschamps has established a winning pedigree that speaks for itself, guiding Les Bleus to back-to-back World Cup finals and clinching the famous golden trophy both as player (1998) and as coach (2018).

But in the eyes of many fans of the beautiful game, his conservative approach has left a blemish on his extraordinary record.

Why, the sceptics asked, be so timid with the likes of Mbappé and Dembélé in your squads – not to mention Paul Pogba, Antoine Griezmann, Olivier Giroud and (on the few occasions he was called up) Karim Benzema. Didier Deschamps' successive France squads have been blessed with an abundance of attacking talent.

At half-time in the 2018 World Cup final, one stat summed up the frustration: somehow France had taken a 2-1 lead from just one attempt at goal, when the Croats had showered Hugo Lloris with shots.

Days earlier, as Belgians raged at their narrow semi-final defeat against Les Bleus, Eden Hazard had snapped that he would “rather lose than win playing like this”.

France very nearly pulled off a much bigger “steal” four years later in the dramatic World Cup final in Qatar, when they came agonisingly close to a comeback win over Argentina after barely getting a foot on the ball for 75 minutes.

Despite an abundance of attacking talent, les Bleus then underwhelmed at the Euro two years later, scoring a miserable four goals – two of them own goals and one a penalty – en route to a semi-final defeat against Spain.

Outscoring the opponents

As Mbappé & Co finally go in with all guns blazing in this tournament, the last of Deschamps's tenure, it is tempting to see their new philosophy as the manager's attempt to set the record straight and forever silence his critics.

More likely, it is based on a careful calculus, an assessment that this squad's awesome strengths and comparatively minor weaknesses are better served with a forward-minded approach.

Speaking ahead of the last-32 clash against Sweden, Deschamps vowed to stick to an attacking strategy even as he acknowledged that his team had “conceded a few chances too many” in the group stage.

“We have to score one more goal, ‌not give up what we're capable of doing,” the French manager told reporters. “We have the ability to create danger and hurt the opposition. That's our strength and I want us to keep that strength.”

While they conceded just two goals in four matches, France at times looked wobbly at the back. The left flank in particular has looked less settled than in the past, with Lucas Digne replacing the unconvincing Theo Hernandez for the Sweden game.

But as England legend Gary Lineker observed after their group match against Norway, France's opponents face an unavoidable conundrum: however many goals they score, Les Bleus always look capable of scoring several more.

“Of course, with four genuine forwards, Les Bleus ⁠could be vulnerable on the counter, as we saw against Norway's second string,” said the former BBC presenter. “But they will score more goals than the other teams.”

'On another planet'

Foreign observers have lavished praise on France, with The Athletic one of several publications describing Les Bleus as “a joy to watch”. The Guardian has compared their engrossing football to that of Michel Platini's famous 1980s squads – with the difference that this team is lethal as well as magnifique.

“They're on another planet – and they haven't even gone into second gear,” said Gary Neville, another former England international, speaking on the football podcast The Overlap.

For all France's wealth of homegrown talent, it is London-raised Olise who brought back magic and unpredictability to Les Bleus, his shift to the centre midway through the Senegal match effectively kickstarting the team's campaign. Michael Olise in action for Les Bleus against Senegal.

With five assists, the Bayern Munich star is just one short of Pelé's World Cup record of six in 1970, enough for French daily Le Parisien to label him the “official distributor of happiness”. Meanwhile, Mbappé and Dembélé have combined for six World Cup goals, more than any attacking duo in tournament history.

Bradley Barcola has added two goals already, one as super sub and the other as starter, while the likes of Désiré Doué, Rayan Cherki and Marcus Thuram – still nursing an injury – give Deschamps a depth of attacking options that no other team can match.

Perhaps most strikingly, the French manager has persuaded his star forwards to work restlessly without the ball, doing their part in Les Bleus' display of selflessness and solidarity. Mbappé has even been spotted helping his teammates in defence – much to the dismay of fans of Real Madrid and his previous club PSG.

Several players spoke of their desire to do the coach proud after Deschamps abruptly flew back to France midway through the group stage following the death of his mother.

Winning over soccer fans

The squad's work ethic suggests Les Bleus are unlikely to fall victim to the complacency that fatally undermined their 2002 campaign, when the defending world and European champions famously limped out of the tournament without scoring a single goal. France also boasted a star-studded attack that year, which included the top scorers from the English, Italian and French leagues.

Mindful of the perils of overconfidence, Deschamps has urged caution as his players take on Paraguay on Saturday for a place in the quarter-finals. He has highlighted the “tenacity” that helped the South Americans knock out Germany in the round of 32.

It will be a throwback to 1998 for the France manager, who captained Les Bleus against Paraguay at the same stage of the tournament as they eked out a narrow 1-0 win in extra time, on their way to a maiden World Cup triumph on home soil. Laurent Blanc is chased by captain Didier Deschamps after scoring the golden-goal winner against Paraguay at the 1998 World Cup.

Holding France to another low score will be a huge challenge for the Albirroja as they meet on July 4 in Philadelphia, the city where the Declaration of Independence was signed 250 years ago.

With their prolific attack, America's “oldest allies” have already won over home fans sceptical of uneventful, low-scoring “soccer”.

“You'll experience no low-score-induced boredom in this World Cup if you are French,” wrote one such sceptic in the Atlantic. “And so, for this week I am French.”