“I did not see the time pass”, assures Guy Stéphan, after ten years as assistant to Didier Deschamps in the France team

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Before approaching the four matches of the French team in the League of Nations, starting with Denmark on Friday June 3, Guy Stéphan savors. Didier Deschamps’ assistant knows it: the World Cup (November 21-December 18) is getting closer and the Blues have never had the opportunity, outside of a period of great competition, to meet for such a long period since the start of the season. arrival of the coach at the head of the Blues.

Ten years that Guy Stéphan takes on his role “shadow man“, as he describes it himself. Already an assistant with the Blues of Roger Lemerre and Jacques Santini between 1998 and 2002, Stéphan had never known the complicity he has with Didier Deschamps, the sole decision-maker of this “couple” who experienced victories in the World Cup and the League of Nations, but also the failure of Euro 2020.

Friday evening, the man in the shadows will play the leading role. In the absence of Didier Deschamps, bereaved by the death of his father, it is Guy Stéphan who will hold the barracks against Denmark. At the beginning of the week, it was with a smile that he welcomed us to Clairefontaine, to talk about his career in the French team but also the rest. After a decade, Deschamps’ lifelong assistant seems to want more.

Franceinfo: sport: In July, it will be ten years since you were assistant to Didier Deschamps with the Blues. What inspires you?

Guy Stephan: I did not see the time pass. It dates back to July 2012. (He thinks…) With Didier, we already had this complicity in Marseille (he was his assistant between 2009 and 2013 at OM). Selection is different. As much, in club, it is a life for football almost 24 hours a day. As much, in selection, it is different with gatherings from time to time. Sometimes I think ten years is a long time. But I did not see the time pass. So many things happened, pleasant moments and then, it must be said, the failure of the Euro.

How do you do, after ten years, to keep the motivation? Is there a magic recipe?

You have to be fulfilled in your role, and I am. Being assistant to the coach is a role of a man in the shadows. You have to be aware of this, to appreciate what you do at each gathering. You have to be able to discuss with Didier, to give him his opinion, knowing that he is the one who makes the final decision. And when the decision is made, it must be respected. From the moment this framework is fixed, everyone lives well.

After so many years together, don’t you still agree with Didier Deschamps?

No, not necessarily and our possible disagreement, at some point, will not transpire thereafter. We discuss, we give our arguments, and in the end, a decision is made. The exchange that we may have had before, we don’t talk about it anymore. But it’s true that today, a look is enough, we understand each other quickly. That pretty much sums things up between us.

Besides your relationship with Deschamps, how do you maintain the flame among the players? Do you try to surprise them with new methods?

It’s less difficult in the national team because we don’t have the players every day. Sometimes, it misses not being able to chat longer with them when we have a short gathering, because they have to quickly go back to the club. But otherwise, there is a turnover among the players which makes it quite easy to renew the discourse. Some have been there for a long time, like Lloris, Griezmann, Varane or Pogba… And some have few selections, like Theo Hernandez, Tchouaméni, Nkunku, Diaby, Saliba…

And then, a player, when he arrives at the castle, he is immediately involved. Anthony (Griezmann), for example, he is not in the best period of his life. But every time he arrives with us, he always has a smile and he will give everything.

You describe yourself as a “shadow man”. What does a shadow man do on a daily basis?

I discuss with the staff, with Didier. We are preparing for upcoming training and matches. We show videos to the players, to talk about the offensive and defensive phases. But it is above all upstream of that that the most important work is found: the observation of the matches. We have a list of 50-60 players that we observe in each of their matches. It takes a lot of time. And our job is to detect, in relation to what we are going to see, in relation to the data we have, if a player can have the international level.

“Everyone is able to say if a player is good or not good. But it’s another thing to be able to say if this player, at international level, is going to pass or not.”

Guy Stéphane, assistant to Didier Deschamps in the France team

at franceinfo: sport

How do you feel about this stuff?

In relation to what we observe, in relation to the body language of the player, to the data. Going on the field, it takes time and it only allows you to see one match. But it also allows you to see the warm-up of the players, which interests me a lot.

Do you continue to observe, after so many years, players of indisputable status like Mbappé, Pogba or Griezmann?

Sure. There is always something to shoot. It allows to have a maximum of elements and the high level is sometimes played with details. It counts.

You mentioned earlier the failure of the Euro, perhaps the most important of your ten years in Blue. What was the speech held after the elimination against Switzerland?

Kylian (Mbappe) first spoke to apologize after his missed shot on goal. Four-five players told him it happened to everyone. Then Didier spoke and had a mobilizing speech explaining that we had lost but that there were other objectives. It was not a worn-out coaching speech, which does not find the solution.

Tell us about this second international success, after the World Cup in 2018, with the Nations League won in October.

We celebrated that on the pitch and a little in the evening. But it went very quickly, the players had to go back to the club very quickly. We would have liked to linger a bit because these are great victories, against Belgium (2-3) and Spain (2-1). Sometimes we wish we had more time.

There will be time on this gathering, in particular to observe the Danes, who will be the future opponents of the Blues at the World Cup. Is it a good thing to face them twice before the World Cup?

You will have to ask them the same question. Personally, I think it’s a bit of a shame, but it’s the draw that is like that. What seems more important to me is that this team is, in my opinion, underrated. It looks like Denmark are an average team but that’s not the case at all. They are semi-finalists of the last Euro, they have valuable players. This is what needs to be highlighted.

What do you think of the fact of not being able to play any preparation match before the World Cup?

It’s unfortunate, but it’s the dates that are like that with having a competition in the winter. It’s unprecedented and Didier often says that you have to adapt. He often uses this sentence and there, it is of circumstance. You’re really going to have to adapt.


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