Adrien Rabiot explains France's nine-forward shift under Deschamps
adrien rabiot says France will look a bit more attacking than usual this summer, but he wants his own job to be the one that keeps the structure intact. Didier Deschamps has taken nine forwards to his final tournament as France manager, and Rabiot sees the assignment as balance, not spotlight.
Rabiot and Deschamps
“Naturally, it seems a bit more attacking than usual,” Rabiot said of the squad shape. “I think it is good because we have the players for it.” France’s attacking group includes Kylian Mbappé, Ousmane Dembélé, Michael Olise and Rayan Cherki, with Désiré Doué, Bradley Barcola, Maghnes Akliouche, Jean-Philippe Mateta and Marcus Thuram also in the mix.
Deschamps wants France to be less predictable and less readable, and the numbers in his squad point in that direction. Nine forwards is a clear shift for a team that has often leaned on control, and it leaves Rabiot in a role that is less about volume than about keeping the right spacing around those attackers.
Rabiot’s Milan role
That job is different from the box-to-box role he has at Milan. Rabiot said balance plays a big part at this level, and he described his task in direct terms: “We all have a role. You have to be humble about that.”
He added, “I try to do my work as well as possible to allow the players in front and behind to perform as well as possible.” That is the friction point in this France squad: the attack is stacked, but the side still needs midfield work that does not show up in the same way as goals or assists.
Kanté and France balance
Rabiot also pointed to N'Golo Kanté as proof that the less visible jobs still matter, saying the midfielder is still a very important player in the team. At 35, Kanté is now rarely a starter, yet Rabiot used him as the example while arguing that modern teams cannot leave the defensive work to a small group.
“Nowadays, it can’t just be nine or 10 players defending. You need everyone,” he said. “I think that we have one of the most well-equipped teams in an attacking sense.” France need a whole team that knows how to attack and knows how to defend, and Rabiot’s place in that setup will be measured less by headline moments than by whether the front line is free to play at full pace.
