France superstars thriving thanks to Deschamps' bold changes

It is hard to argue against the suggestion that France have the best squad in international football. You might therefore think managing such an elite group of players is an easy task - but this is not necessarily true. For evidence, look at the number of occasions when clubs have crumbled under the wealth of talent signed or the challenge of managing the personalities of superstars. Since taking the France job in 2012, Didier Deschamps has continually reinvented his sides and got the most from France's huge pool of talent. Even more impressively, he has earned a reputation for doing so mid-tournament - tweaking his system game by game to land on formulas that win the World Cup or come very close to doing so. This familiar pattern seems to be emerging in this World Cup too. Deschamps has been especially adept at maximising his top attacking talent and appears to have prioritised getting the most from Kylian Mbappe. Mbappe, now 27, prefers to be involved in the game rather than just being a last-line runner to finish off moves - as he did so brilliantly as a 19-year-old in France's 2018 win. Fitting him in as a number nine while making the rest of the team tick is Deschamps' big challenge at this World Cup. In qualifying, Deschamps had built a logical, if unusual, system. On paper, it was a lopsided 4-2-4 or a 4-2-3-1. Hugo Ekitike played on the left, with Mbappe dropping deep and pulling wide, close to the Liverpool forward. Ekitike, from the wing, or Dembele - from a more standard number 10 position - could both move into centre-forward positions. Michael Olise played on the right wing. In the opening game of this World Cup against Senegal, Deschamps set France up in a similar manner, with Desire Doue coming in for the injured Ekitike. What Deschamps was doing with this rarely seen system was fitting his favoured players in the roles they perform for their clubs. For Real Madrid, Mbappe plays as the striker with license to roam, particularly to the left. For Bayern Munich, Olise hugs the right touchline, cutting in to shoot or play dangerous passes. Dembele plays as a roaming false nine who can drop deep for Paris St-Germain - hence Deschamps fielding him just behind Mbappe - and so on. However as the game against Senegal progressed, there were points of friction in France's game and Deschamps looked to fix things - fast. Off the ball, France defended in a 4-4-2 shape, with Mbappe and Dembele up top. Olise defended on the right of midfield. France, under instruction, pressed high - but the distances between the attackers and midfield two of Adrien Rabiot and Aurelien Tchouameni were too great and Senegal created dangerous chances by exploiting this space. The ball was often played wide to a Senegal full-back from the centre-back before being passed into a deep-lying midfielder in the space between France's front two and in front of their midfield. This had to be fixed. In possession, Tchouameni dropped to form a back three for France, splitting William Saliba and Dayot Upamecano. This gave France a three against two on the first line, which made sense. The midfield however, looked awkward. Left-back Theo Hernandez took a more inverted position, as did Olise from the right wing. Both players flanked Rabiot in the middle of the pitch, with the former Crystal Palace player finding himself in holding midfield positions at times, perhaps with a nod to using his long-passing quality deeper. The width of the pitch was held by right-back Jules Kounde and left-winger Doue. Dembele played in a free role as the number 10 and Mbappe was up top. Deschamps identified that the spacing of France's defensive set-up was off and that offensively the players were in zones that didn't best suit many of them. He changed things at half-time and has continued to do so to great effect. The biggest change has been swapping the roles of Olise and Dembele. The reigning Ballon d'Or winner being moved from a central role to the right of midfield would be a decision coaches might lack the courage to take, but it has had positive effects in and out of possession. With France struggling out of possession, Dembele's work-rate from this wider position has helped France form a more solid defensive unit. Rather than pressing high in a 4-4-2 when Senegal had good possession of the ball, Deschamps moved his France side into a more compact 4-4-1-1, blocking space instead. This protected Rabiot and Tchouameni in midfield and France