Didier Deschamps, a style forged by Denoueix, Lippi and Jacquet | OneFootball

Didier Deschamps’ touchline style has been shaped by a mosaic of mentors and his own playing career, and it reads as more analytical than merely pragmatic. According to L'Équipe, his approach has been honed across Nantes, Italy and the national team.

On four June in Nantes, during the afternoon of France’s 2-1 defeat to Côte d’Ivoire, he slipped out of the team hotel for an hour to visit Raynald Denoueix at home. They had not seen each other for several months and the reunion was heartfelt.

Denoueix, the Nantes tutor who preached collective above all and order through movement, left a lasting mark. Yet Deschamps is not Denoueix, nor Aimé Jacquet or Marcello Lippi. He studies the players at his disposal, seeks the conditions to suit them, then looks to pose the most problems to the opponent.

He is no possession ideologue, and he is not the defensive caricature often painted. Juventus taught him to be decisive in both boxes, the “zones of truth”, and his eve-of-match videos lean heavily on set plays, with dressing-room posters spelling out duties on every corner and free-kick.

From Italy came tactical rigour, non-opposed drills, respect for stars and a habit of real staff dialogue. Guy Stéphan has been his trusted deputy since 2009, differences aired, decisions sharpened, and Kylian Mbappé has joked that one does not go without the other.

Aimé Jacquet’s imprint runs through his philosophy, team balance and man-management, as Bixente Lizarazu has observed. Above all, Deschamps adapts his message to each profile to draw the best from the group. He often notes that club coaching and national-team selection are not the same job.

Source: L'Équipe