Tactically, I’m not going to talk about the 4-1 against Belgium. I’m going to talk about the pennant. According to RMC Sport, before one of the Bleus’ games the pennant had been forgotten and someone had to run to the dressing room to get it, so the captain could do the exchange before kick-off. When I read that, I put my mug of coffee down on the clubhouse bar and said out loud: at last.
At last, because I’ve been explaining for years that the club delegate is the most underrated position in football. At our place, the delegate’s folder holds the cards, the team sheet, two biros of which one works, and a roll of tape. We don’t have a pennant. We shake hands and talk about the slope. But the principle is the same: if the folder isn’t there, there’s no match.
Then there are the studs. Again according to RMC Sport, some players were annoyed because their screw-in studs weren’t tightened properly. And for the game in Brussels, won 0-1 by France, TF1 said kick-off had been put back a few minutes because of a problem with socks. Socks. I run that on Tuesday. When we’ve got eleven, that is, and everyone’s brought both.
And the best bit: for his first game, in Turkey at Izmit, won 1-0, Zinédine Zidane missed the start of the Marseillaise because his staff hadn’t told him how the protocol would run. He said it himself: “The protocol was quicker than planned. I was a bit slow off the mark.” And also: “I’d have preferred to arrive at the start.” What I see is a gaffer who trusts his staff. That’s a quality. I know one, in Hainaut, who does the same with a delegate who has forgotten the cards three Sundays running.
They beat us twice, and they were looking for their socks. I’m weighing my words.
According to RMC Sport, the subject came up on Tuesday at the staff debrief. They have a little over a month before November, Italy and Turkey. I’ve already added a line to my folder: “pennant”, underlined twice.
It’s true, we checked: RMC Sport.
