William Saliba feels France struggled to a 1-0 defeat against Tunisia due to the number of changes Didier Deschamps made to the starting XI and players playing out of position.
With top spot in Group D pretty much guaranteed, Deschamps made nine changes to the side which beat Denmark in their last game.
The likes of Kylian Mbappe, Antoine Griezmann and Olivier Giroud dropped out, while there were some eye-catching selections, including midfielder Eduardo Camavinga playing at left-back.
Arsenal’s Saliba thought it was pretty clear that all the changes were the cause of the shock loss, laying the blame at his manager’s feet.
‘It definitely wasn’t an easy game today,’ Saliba told beIN SPORTS. ‘The team was changed, there were a lot of players who had never played together, so it was a bit difficult.
‘It was a bit better in the second half at the start, but then we conceded that goal. We were pushing at the end to try and score but unfortunately it wasn’t enough.
‘I wouldn’t say there was a sense of fear, but we were shaken up a bit at the start of the match. But there were players who weren’t in their usual position, so they weren’t used to it.’
Deschamps himself admitted that his changes did not help, although he is not concerned, saying it will be beneficial when the knockout stages begin in the coming days.
‘We had some difficulties through the choices that I made,’ admitted the France boss. ‘It should help us in four days.
‘Some players were at risk [of injury] and we had just played two high-intensity matches. It allowed the substitutes to see the difference [in quality] in a World Cup match. We’ve reached the objective, we’re going to recover, now begins a second competition.’
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