Are France a better team without Kylian Mbappé? | OneFootball

He’s carried France on his shoulders on many occasions throughout his international career, however, Kylian Mbappé (25) has been absent from the last two international breaks.

In his absence Les Bleus have won three of their previous four matches, going undefeated over that stretch and topping their Nations League group above Italy.

French manager Didier Deschamps has said leaving Mbappé off the team over those past two windows is what’s best for the team right now, without offering any further explanation.

His omission comes amid a difficult start to life at his new club Real Madrid, whilst the former AS Monaco forward is also reportedly the subject of an ongoing rape investigation taking place in Sweden. Mbappé has not been named in this investigation, however, his entourage have indicated to the AFP that they believe that his name figures in the ongoing case.

France’s record without Mbappé

There’s no denying the 2022 World Cup Golden Boot winner boasts more quality than any striker currently at Deschamps’ disposal, netting the third-most goals in the national team’s history.

Aside from a dismal 0-0 draw with Israel, however, the French have looked relatively comfortable in most of their Nations League group fixtures minus their Parisian superstar, netting multiple times in their four victories without him.

Those 11 goals without him are one more than they managed in their previous eight matches where Mbappé was on the field for Les Bleus.

Since receiving his first call-up to the senior squad in March 2017, France have won 11 of their 19 matches played in which Mbappé didn’t feature for a single minute.

Over that span, they suffered two defeats, in a 2020 friendly versus Finland (2-0) and another friendly with Germany last year (2-1).

The French have won 61% of their games without their primary talisman while losing only 11% of the time.

France’s record with Mbappé

In games where Mbappé has featured, Les Bleus have come out on top 66% of the time, with 57 triumphs, while losing 16% of the time, though two of those 14 defeats were on penalties.

When Mbappé scores

Mbappé’s netted only three fewer goals for the French than Thierry Henry (51) did in his entire career with the national team, while he’s just nine shy of Olivier Giroud’s all-time record (57).

Sooner rather than later, one has to think he’ll surpass them both, but how good are Les Bleus’ chances of winning when he finds the back of the net?

Kylian Mbappé has scored in 34 separate matches for France, with Les Bleus winning 85% of those encounters (29 of 34).

Their only defeat when Mbappé scored came in one the most epic individual performances in World Cup history, as he bagged a hat-trick versus Argentina in the 2022 final.

What does France do well without Mbappé?

Take away Mbappé from the French team, and you miss an elite finisher who is by far the most skilful player in this squad.

However, without him, there appears to be more unity within the group, with all 11 players showing more cohesion than we’re used to when the former six-time Ligue 1 top goalscorer is on the field.

Against Italy last Sunday in particular, the chemistry and work ethic for Les Bleus were incredibly high, and that carried them to a comfortable victory.

What do France lack without Mbappé?

While there seems to be more cohesion when Mbappé’s not on the pitch, there are clearly some drawbacks when he’s absent.

Team dynamics are important, but this team struggles with its ball progression, chance creation and link-up play when he’s out.

Heading into Euro 2024, Mbappé had 75 goal involvements for the national team, 23 more than one of the greatest chance creators in the history of this program at that time, Antoine Griezmann.

Griezmann isn’t there to help in that department anymore and Mbappé is easily the most potent attacker on the squad and probably the best at creating opportunities.

For as good as France looked against Gli Azzurri, there wasn’t anything spectacular they produced going forward, with all three goals coming from set pieces.

The French must play differently without Mbappé, and though it’s produced some positive results of late, it’s difficult to imagine it’ll be enough to achieve the ultimate goal and lift another international trophy.

Only two of their victories, minus the ex-Paris Saint-Germain striker, were against teams currently holding a top-10 ranking according to FIFA (Italy and Portugal).

Furthermore, Croatia are the only other team they defeated without Mbappé’s services, who are seeded in the top 20 at the moment.

GFFN | Joel Lefevre