Magic Kylian Mbappe moves closer to World Cup record, how Didier Deschamps changed the game and the cause for concern for Les Bleus despite win over Senegal, writes RIATH AL-SAMARRAI

Despite all the fake petitions and haters from Paris to Madrid, there’s just one minor problem: Even on their bad days, no one can turn the tide of a World Cup match like Kylian Mbappe.

That’s why France is standing up. Unlike Spain, Brazil, Belgium and the Netherlands, there was no slippage here. No points were dropped.

From where? Anyway, we can talk about a few details about this. But we have to start and end with Mbappe because he was terrible for 65 minutes. Nothing was going for him. And nothing was going well for France. They were actually pretty miserable and Didier Deschamps was starting to look like a fool for a few choices he had made.

But then Mbappe happened. He scored to make it 1-0, a good finish, then scored again in stoppage time to make it 3-1 and it was brilliant; A 30-meter player passed over Edouard Mendy and broke the record.

Before noon on Tuesday, Olivier Giroud was France’s top scorer with 57 goals. Towards the evening, Mbappe scored 58 goals. But more importantly, he also has 14 goals in World Cups, more than Pele and Lionel Messi. If he scores two more goals, he will move Miroslav Klose to the top of the list.

A continuing relief for France is that this generation of talent is their own. There is validity to some reasonable questions about his defensive contributions, but no attacking player can put his stamp of authority on this grand occasion like Mbappe. For the past eight years, this tournament has been his playground.

But Deschamps needs to learn from this win and part of that will include Mbappe because he is an integral part of the forward team that initially struggled here.

SQUARE PEEL, ROUND HOLES

According to Deschamps, one of the biggest challenges of the World Cup will come from the elimination of nine players in attack for four spots. He appeared alongside Mbappe, Ousmane Dembele, Michael Olise and Desire Doue for this opener and who can blame him for picking his four biggest names?

However, dynamics win tournaments. Matches. Synergies. It was clear from the beginning that some components were misplaced; Doue was placed in his least preferred spot on the left, behind Dembele Mbappe, who spent most of his Ballon d’Or season up front or on the right.

The machine was down for most of the match. Firstly, Mbappe appeared isolated and a large part of this is down to his relationship with Dembele; As a matchup in this 4-2-3-1 configuration, they often appeared to lack mutual understanding, and this was once again the case. Dembele often failed to pick the right pass for Mbappe’s runs and when he did he was frustrated by Mbappe’s touch. Both were weak in the first half.

DESCHAMPS WISDOM

A good coach knows how to adapt and Deschamps is a very good coach. His changes here helped change the game. Initially this meant moving Olise into a central role at the start of the second half and shifting Dembele to the right. This was probably the most impactful decision of the match; Olise continued to dominate.

Mbappe’s opening kick was superb, passing three Senegalese defenders and following up on the heels of an equally spectacular through ball that Mbappe could not control.

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Mbappe’s second goal was a stunning strike from distance that gave France a winning start.

BARCOLA QUESTION

A second Deschamps change has also been effective and will have repercussions in the days between now and the matches against Iraq and Norway. This was the introduction of Bradley Barcola for Dembele. Barcola scored a fine goal, but what was more insightful about his starting claim was that, unlike Doue, the left wing was his best position. He was much more natural on the pitch and thus brought more stability to the whole side.

Doue’s case is therefore quite interesting. Despite posing a threat on the ball, he was repeatedly dragged inside with the idea of ​​Theo Hernandez stepping towards cover from the left back. There’s a problem: Who was protecting Hernandez? Ismaila Sarr has attacked these areas with regular success, which should be considered as a potential plan by Norway, among others.

DEFENSE WOUNDS

For Deschamps, attacking would only be the best form of defense against opposition unable to exploit it. Senegal is obviously a good team, but they had four players aged 34 and over and five over 30. The golden generations have grown old.

But they still did damage. Crucially, Nicolas Jackson hit the post to make it 0-0 and Ismaila also had an excellent chance in first-half stoppage time. The presence of William Saliba after his back injury was undoubtedly a boost and arguably necessary as a world-class defender to balance out all those attackers, but he did not look fully fit.

Bradley Barcola was also impressive as he claimed to have offered Didier Deschamps a starting spot.

Of greater concern is the need for a solid midfield line; Adrien Rabiot continues to look out of place in this star-studded galaxy and fails to control the middle of the field.

Deschamps has the right to identify areas that need improvement, but the advantage of exceptional attackers is their play-changing habits. He is the biggest player who changed the rules of the game in Mbappe.

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