France are preparing for life without Antoine Griezmann, while Arsenal are facing heavy criticism for their tactics. Get French Football News sat down with 1998 French World Cup champion Emmanuel Petit to get his thoughts on his former club and the impact Griezmann’s retirement will have on the national team.

What is your reaction to Antoine Griezmann announcing his retirement from international football?

To be honest with you, I’m not really surprised because since the captaincy stories have come out about him and Kylian Mbappé, I think he was very disappointed about Deschamps’ decision, and following that situation, we’ve seen that Griezmann was struggling to show his best on the pitch and during the European tournament. He said he understood the criticism from the press and the fans that it was quite boring to watch the national team and he said it’s quite boring to play as well, so the captaincy and his comments in the press and the relationship between him and the way that he’s been treated by Deschamps, the relationship between him and Deschamps was not the best.

For the last 10 years, when Deschamps has to put the first XI on the paper, the first names would have always been Griezmann and Mbappé, but that was not the case for the last few months, and we could see that the confidence between both guys was not the best and the communication as well, so I’m not surprised at all.

I just want to thank Antoine for everything he’s done for the national team. I think he will be remembered as one of the best players ever in French history with the national team. He has achieved so much for the national team, so thank you very much, Antoine, for what you’ve done, and it was great to see you wearing the national shirt, but I’m not surprised at all, and I think after the European competition he had a lot of time to think about it to make the decision because obviously during the European competition, Deschamps used him in different positions, midfielder, on the right side, behind the strikers, so he was always moving tactically, and he was struggling to show his best, so I’m not surprised at all, this is the end for him so thank you, Antoine.

How much do you think the loss of Griezmann and potentially being without Mbappé will affect France in their upcoming Nations League fixtures?

Well, the fact that Antoine is not on the team anymore will be a big miss for us because we don’t have this kind of player technically; the vision, he (Griezmann) was the link between the midfield and the strikers all the time, he was delivering passes all the time, he was controlling the game, the tempo of the game, we don’t have that kind of player, we have so many talented players but not with the same qualities, and Antoine was a part of the group because he was probably the only one to bring what he could bring on the pitch. It will be difficult for Deschamps to replace him because of all his talents and his personality as well in the team so I wish the best of luck to Deschamps for finding a solution but it will be a big, big miss for the national team.

With Griezmann out and Mbppé possibly out too, do you anticipate Deschamps will continue employing the passive approach we saw at the Euros?

We could take the example of Spain controlling the game, bringing more technical qualities on the pitch instead of playing counterattack all the time and trying to give the ball to the wingers and try to make differences on the side all the time, I think we’ve all seen Deschamps’ approach to the game, it’s always give the ball to the wingers, and they’re going to make the difference. We need to get a plan B especially now that Griezmann is not in the squad anymore. I’m just worried because we need to improve more collectively with the ball instead of trying to gamble on individuals all the time. I think this is the main gap between what we’ve seen so far and what Deschamps wants to bring on the pitch, especially now that Griezmann is not on the team.

Is Didier Deschamps’ tactical approach with Les Bleus similar to former French coach Aimé Jacquet?

Definitely, you know Deschamps has been a defensive midfielder all throughout his career. He played in Italy for such a long time as well at Juventus, and we all know the tactics of Italy back in the days; it was specific, and don’t forget that we won the World Cup together in 1998 and the European tournament in 2000 and Aimé Jacquet the former manager was building for success from behind as well, a strong team, compact, very hard to beat, very hard to beak lines and Deschamps has been inspired by that and he has shown that for years with the national team.

He always said that the most important thing in a football game is not to concede goals before trying to score goals, and we’ve seen that for years now. I think a lot of people are frustrated about that and some players as well, so I don’t know what he’s going to do now that Griezmann is not in the team anymore, maybe he will make the squad even more defensive. I think he has no choice now, Deschamps needs to improve as well as a manager with the qualities he has in this squad, but he has been very influenced by what happened in 1998.

Your former team, Arsenal, have been accused of employing the “Dark Arts”; is that a fair label they’ve been branded with?

[It’s] common. Arsenal have been branded as a soft team with soft players for years and years and years. I’ve seen that back in my days as well. Players or teams try to play dark arts all the time, so I’m not surprised at all, and I’m very happy that they (Arsenal) try to do that because Manchester City have done that, Liverpool have done that, Manchester United have done that. There are so many players that have done that, to be honest with you, if you spoke about what happened against Manchester City, the dark arts,  trying to play with the referee, to try and get the Manchester City players frustrated, listen I’ve seen City doing that for years as well so it’s part of the game, so I’m not sure that Arsenal is trying to play dark arts because everybody is doing that.

Emmanuel Petit was speaking to Get French Football News on behalf of BetBrain.

GFFN | Joel Lefevre