Obraniak urges Zaïre-Emery to start at right-back against Turkey

Ludovic Obraniak wants to see Warren Zaïre-Emery in France’s starting XI on Sunday evening in Bordeaux (20:45), during the sixth matchday of the Ligue des Nations against Turkey. The consultant believes the PSG midfielder, repositioned at right-back, is the most credible solution following the Blues’ defeat to Italy (3-1) on Thursday.

Zinédine Zidane had stated in his press conference that he saw Zaïre-Emery exclusively as a midfielder. Obraniak disagrees: “Zidane has no choice,” he said firmly, convinced that the manager will be able to change his mind. He justifies his choice by the Champions League campaign delivered by the Paris player: “Based on the Ligue des Champions campaign he showed us with PSG, Zaïre-Emery is today a credible solution at that position.”

The former Polish international points to a “real shortage” at right-back in the absence of Jules Koundé, whom he considers the natural starter “even if it’s somewhat by default”. Zaïre-Emery, regularly used in that flank by Luis Enrique at PSG, represents according to him the most logical answer.

For the rest of his XI, Obraniak opted for a 4-3-3 with a central defensive pairing of Konaté-Jacquet, Andy Diouf on the left of defence, a midfield of Rabiot-Da Cunha-Doué, and an attacking trio of Barcola-Mbappé-Olise, with Kylian Mbappé playing centrally.