In the Nations League, the French national team played at Kocaeli Stadium this Friday against Turkey, securing a hard-fought 1-0 victory. Three Paris Saint-Germain players—all French—featured in the match: Désiré Doué, Maghnes Akliouche, and Ousmane Dembélé. Here are the press ratings for Les Bleus.
Le Parisien:
Mbappé (5.5) – Dembélé (5) – Olise (5)
Rabiot (5.5) – Koné (6) – Cherki (5.5)
Truffert (5.5) – Lacroix (5) – Upamecano (7) – Koundé (4.5)
Maignan (7)
L’Equipe:
Mbappé (5) – Dembélé (4) – Olise (6)
Rabiot (6) – Koné (5) – Cherki (6)
Truffert (5) – Lacroix (6) – Upamecano (6) – Koundé (5)
Maignan (7)
Les Bleus showed promise at times but also, understandably, encountered some difficulties. It is great to have Maignan in top form, but France’s goal should be to have someone other than their goalkeeper named Man of the Match. There is still work to be done—which is only natural for the early days of Zinedine Zidane’s tenure as head coach. It takes time to get everything in place, but at least they secured the win. And the overall performance was encouraging rather than worrying.
