Dembélé invisible against Northern Ireland, his starting place with France questioned

Ousmane Dembélé delivered a ghostly performance during France’s victory over Northern Ireland (3-1) on Tuesday evening, touching only around thirty balls in just over an hour of play. His quiet display reignites debate over his place in Didier Deschamps’ starting eleven, eight days before France’s opening match.

While Michael Olise, who scored a hat-trick, and Désiré Doué shone, Kylian Mbappé and Dembélé fell short. The Real Madrid player failed to test the goalkeeper with any of his six attempts, while the Paris Saint-Germain player, who arrived late to the squad gathering, remained in the shadows.

Deschamps defended his winger after the match. “Ousmane needs to recover physically and psychologically after what he did with PSG. It was a training run today,” the manager explained, citing the management of physical load as the competition approaches.

But this leniency is not shared by everyone. Former defender Éric Di Meco was far more critical, notably dismissing the idea of repositioning Mbappé on the left wing to give Dembélé the false number nine role. “France’s centre-forward is Mbappé, who has done ten times more than Dembélé for France, that’s indisputable. Deschamps will never put Mbappé on the left,” he stated.

Di Meco also justified Mbappé’s central positioning for tactical reasons: placing the captain in a wide area would, according to him, create a defensive imbalance that the manager cannot afford.

On Dembélé himself, the tone is unforgiving. “For now, Michael Olise has proven more than Dembélé for France. Dembélé hasn’t done enough in a France shirt to claim anything,” he concluded, casting doubt on the Paris Saint-Germain player’s status as an undisputed starter as the tournament approaches.