French players bring medals to Chelsea despite Didier Deschamps

France has won the World Cup with Olivier Giroud and N’Golo Kante being key to their tournament. They return to Chelsea as champions.

France rarely looked like a complete package during the 2018 World Cup. Before the tournament, it felt like 11 individuals that had yet to gel. Generally, that means the team will have a short World Cup. Yet France grew into the tournament and pushed over the line to win it all.

Key to that run were two Chelsea players: N’Golo Kante and Olivier Giroud. Both were used in nearly every match of the tournament to great effect. Though the stats sheets will not remember them, they contributed in other, more subtle ways.

Kante was often used in a more tactical role. His main job match after match was to find the opponent most capable of creating danger and stifle them. He did this with Lionel Messi, Luka Modric and even Luis Suarez. By staying deeper to cover for his teammates, he often provided a shield for the center backs while allowing Paul Pogba the freedom to roam and create.

Giroud’s role was less tactical and much harder to explain. He ended the tournament without goals, but his contribution was immense. He was a vacuum for defenders, sucking them towards him as Kylian Mbappe and Antoine Griezmann were able to slip into pockets of space. Giroud would also hold up play to flick on to the other strikers which often led to French overloads and goals.

The issues France did have were often due to Didier Deschamps. He was often criticized for his defensive stance in games. It felt as though France had the parking brake on during the entire tournament.

Deschamps lack of tactical ability showed up most in the final and it could have cost France everything. Modric was kept quiet with Kante keeping track of the Croatian. But in the 55th minute, with only a one goal lead, Kante was shockingly subbed off.

It was thanks to gifts from Croatia that France was able to increase their lead. But at the same time, Steven Nzonzi struggled with Modric. He pulled up higher than Kante and stopped following Modric around. Croatia’s second goal came because the space in the center was vacated allowing the press on Hugo Lloris to happen. Modric started to find pockets because Kane was not hounding him at every touch of the ball.

Giroud coming off also caused France to lose their hold up play. Without it, they were choked back into their own half. Croatia was unable to capitalize and France won their second World Cup.

Now, Giroud and Kante are returning to Chelsea as World Cup champions. The Blues would do well to keep them around for as long as possible. Winning a World Cup is a valuable experience that a player only truly understands having won it. That experience can be vital in a long season in helping down players and youth in their growth.

Next: Chelsea: Jorginho will be the metronome pacing the Blues' Sarri-ball

Chelsea is lucky to have such key players for France in their squad coming back for the next season. The Best thing the Blues can do is to spread the wealth of France as far as possible.

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