Speaking to the press about France’s upcoming international fixtures, national team head coach Didier Deschamps had the chance to respond to Jürgen Klopp’s previous pointed message towards him, where he had criticised his squad rotation methods, specifically regarding the management of Ibrahima Konaté (24).
As a reminder, the German manager had said: “Monsieur Deschamps, this is how you rest players. Not three minutes“, referencing the fact that DD had used Ibou for 87 minutes of France’s game against Scotland, even though the centre-back had some underlying injury problems.
“It has already happened, and it will happen again because the situation and interests diverge between national team and club coaches. I try to manage them like every other manager does. When they [club managers] have them for three weeks, it’s easier to manage them. We have them for one break, two games.” as transcribed by RMC Sport.
The Liverpool centre-back picked up a small hamstring injury while warming for the Europa League match against Toulouse FC, the French staff deciding against calling him in order to “avoid problems for the end of the calendar year” for the Reds, who will have a very busy schedule up until boxing day in January.
Konaté was replaced by Chelsea defender Axel Disasi (25) for France’s final Euro qualifier games against Gibraltar and Greece.
