EXCLUSIVE | Franck Leboeuf: "What irritates me is Kylian Mbappé's inability to change his game."

 On the occasion of France's debut in the World Cup, Get French Football News conducted an interview with world champion Franck Leboeuf. He touched on Kylian Mbappé's form and how other players must adapt to him. You talked about some players not scoring goals in friendlies before the 2002 World Cup. Mbappé wasted numerous chances against Northern Ireland and the end of last season was difficult for him at Real Madrid - although more off the pitch than on it. Are you worried about him or do you think criticism will motivate him? I'm worried about France, not Mbappé! [laughter] But it's true that he was unfortunate or careless and should have scored at least one goal given all the opportunities. But in any case, when it comes to Mbappé, we have to trust him. He is the captain of the French national team. He will play in every match. There's no way Didier Deschamps told him, "Listen, you don't score goals, I'll put you on the bench," because he showed he could score three goals in the final 15 minutes of the World Cup final. I don't think it ever happened. So he built trust with his teammates because we all know he's a goalscorer - if he hadn't been at Real last year, their season would have been even worse - lucky he was there for half the season and scored goals. So he's a great player, that's for sure. That's why I don't worry about it. I think he will start scoring goals soon. There are also games, perhaps against Iraq, for example, where he will have more opportunities to score goals to rebuild his confidence and make himself known again. But what worries me is his inability to change his style of play, to get back into position after losing the ball and to try to help his teammates. This irritates me. OK, when he has the ball he does what he wants, he's a bit selfish - but he's a striker, that's normal. I know a lot of strikers from my era - that means there are strikers who are happy when their team loses 4-2 because they scored two goals, but they don't care when they win 4-0 because they didn't score. Thousands of attackers are like that - they need to be selfish. That's why I hope he finds a solution. He will also get help because, honestly, I think Désiré Doué, Ousmane Dembélé, even Adrien Rabiot, Aurelien Tchouameni, N'Golo Kanté or Manu Koné will play for him. They will create opportunities for him. So he needs to start scoring goals too. It's impossible for him not to score goals soon. You said that Dembélé has an inferiority complex - and that we can't bench Mbappé either. I'm starting to wonder - and I saw this discussed in L'Équipe after the match against Northern Ireland - is it not a situation like in England, when Lampard and Gerrard played, where it was not possible to fully use the potential of both players in the national team, or is it now with Dembélé and Mbappé? No, this is not the case. You might think so, but this is not the case. Mbappé is so unpredictable that he cannot be expected to play in a given position. For example, if you tell him to play as a striker, he will still go on the wing. What if you tell him to playon the wing, he will move into the striker position. What position he should take on the pitch should be his intelligence, his skills, his talent, it should be determined by other people. For example, if Dembélé plays, it should obviously be the other way, because Dembélé plays on the right wing, then Mbappé should then go to the left side and then occupy that side. And if, for example, Olise plays, he should move to the middle, to the ten position. This is a task for other players. Of course, they must have enough talent to be able to adapt to Mbappé's incredible versatility. And if they can't, for example Dembélé can't, then he should move more to the center, to the striker's position. And Mbappé should then stay on the left side. It all depends on Dembélé. Dembélé should think more about team play, he should be more altruistic. And I think that in the match against Northern Ireland, Dembélé was not altruistic enough. So their cooperation still needs to be refined. But this is cooperation that must exist, because these are the two most talented players in the national team. Dembélé is the best player in France at the moment, and Mbappé, of course, is one of the best players in the world. So they have to play together, it's the coach's responsibility to make them play together. It can't be that we have to choose, we have to remove someone from the first team so that there are no conflicts. No, it shouldn't be like that in the French national team. Didier Deschamps must find a way for both of these players to use their 100% potential when playing together. --- ## Related Articles 1. 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