PARIS, France -- Manager Didier Deschamps was absolutely livid after his France side let a two-goal lead slip to fall to a 3-2 defeat against Colombia on Friday evening at the Stade de France.
Sources told ESPN FC that he laid into his players in the dressing room, labelling their second half performance "unacceptable" and slammed their attitude, lack of effort and lack of concentration. He made sure to add that if they play like this at the World Cup in the summer they won't go far!
Deschamps rarely loses it. It is only the third time since he took over in 2012 that he has a real go at his players. The first time was away in Albania in June 2015 (a 1-0 defeat) and the second was at half-time against Ireland in the round of 16 at Euro 2016 when his team were 1-0 down at half-time before Antoine Griezmann scored twice to give them a 2-1 win.
The former Juventus manager has not lost much in the last six years with France (just 15 times in 72 matches) but Friday's loss is surely the worst.
Going 2-0 up inside 26 minutes, the first half was everything good you can expect from this France team, even though Luis Muriel quickly got a goal back to make it 2-1. Paul Pogba, left on the bench by Didier Deschamps, was not missed and instead the front four of Kylian Mbappe, Griezmann, Olivier Giroud and Thomas Lemar played well together. Lemar and Mbappe, especially, were dazzling; Blaise Matuidi and N'Golo Kante bossed the midfield. It all looked great.
The second half, however, was the total opposite. France lost all control and stopped playing as a team. They could not put three passes together and neglected their defensive duties; they took their eyes off the ball; they never managed to respond to Colombia's tactical change at half-time to a 4-2-3-1 formation and were overrun in midfield as the South Americans found spaces between the lines.
With the Stade de France sounding like the Estadio Metropolitano Roberto Melendez in Barranquilla, the French started making mistakes under pressure: Kante lost the ball leading straight to Colombia's second goal; Muriel almost scored again after nicking the ball off Raphael Varane before Samuel Umtiti gave a way a silly penalty for what led to the winner.
The players are to blame for the arrogance, complacency, a lack of effort and team spirit that contributed to the defeat, but what about Deschamps? His apathy also cost France the game.
He didn't change anything tactically despite his team's struggles and should have reacted to Colombia's switch of tactics. Instead, he stood watching like he had no answers or plan B. His 4-4-2 formation worked for 35 minutes, but then it showed its limits. There is a reason why no other major nation plays a 4-4-2. However, Deschamps insists that it is his best option.
Some of his substitutions, all planned before the game, didn't make much sense (Florian Thauvin, Wissam Ben Yedder, Pogba) in that context because the problem was as much the tactics as the personnel.
The defeat also showed a major lack of leadership in his team. There was no one capable of rallying his teammates to turn things around and come out fighting. There was no one aggressive enough to cope with the Colombians' hunger and determination.
Corentin Tolisso may have done so but the Bayern Munich midfielder was out injured; Laurent Koscielny as well but he was left on the bench while Varane and Umtiti were bullied in the second half.
Suddenly, Tuesday's game in St Petersburg against Russia becomes massively important. France have to bounce back and Deschamps has to get things right. The coach cannot afford a second defeat in a row, especially against a very average team.
He had planned to rotate his team but now the pressure is on. Does he give the players who failed against Colombia another chance or does he send a strong message to the squad by sending out a brand new team? It is a tough choice and when asked on Friday after the game, he had no answers, saying he would watch the Colombia match again on Saturday and then make a decision.
The XI that started against Colombia may well have been the one starting against Australia in the first game of the World Cup on June 16. That's what Deschamps usually does: not counting injuries, the players that started the first game in March 2014 and March 2016 were picked for the first game of the World Cup and the Euros.
In his mind, Friday's starting XI was the one for the summer. But after that performance, he can't be so sure it is the right one anymore.