‘Don’t forget Didier Deschamps!’ – Robert Pires hits back at Zinedine Zidane hype as France enter a new era

When Zinedine Zidane sat down in the France head coach’s chair, the atmosphere at the Stade de France changed almost instantly. The stands chanted the name of the 2026 World Cup winner. French media filled with headlines about a “new chapter”, about more “entertaining” football, about a squad described as boasting incredible depth and world-class talent. The scoreboard backed the wave of excitement: in Zidane’s first four matches, France were unbeaten with three wins and one draw. But amid that surge, Robert Pires spoke up with a corrective message: “Don’t forget Didier Deschamps!” A REMINDER FROM AN INSIDER Pires’ comments, reported via the French outlet Foot01 and then amplified by Goal.com, did not deny Zidane’s pull. He accepted that this marks a new chapter and that the football is worth watching. But he placed beside it a warning about French football’s collective memory. According to Pires, Deschamps’ achievements must not be forgotten, because Deschamps played a pivotal role in establishing the elite status France currently holds. He also described the recent criticism directed at Deschamps as unfair. This is not a courtesy remark. It reflects a quiet but real divergence between how the professional football community views Deschamps and how media and social platforms have treated him. That is the real story here: a coaching handover that was institutionally smooth, but which dragged a debate about memory along with it. TWO ERAS, TWO IDENTITIES The Deschamps-versus-Zidane contrast in the original article is aesthetic rather than tactical. Deschamps was criticised for a pragmatic style: results over beauty, willing to sit deep, absorb pressure and punish opponents on the counter. Zidane is attached to a more open, expressive and entertaining game. Notably, the article supplies no structural detail at all: no formation, no pressing scheme, no build-up pattern, no expected-goals figures, no possession data. In other words, the difference is described through feeling rather than data. FOUR MATCHES AND THE LIMITS OF EVIDENCE Four matches is far too small to establish that a system is sophisticated, that an identity has formed, or that an era has genuinely begun. It is only enough to say the team has not lost. It is worth remembering that the new-manager effect — psychological release, a sense of freedom, the desire to prove oneself — often produces positive results in the early phase. The article also names no specific opponent and does not clarify whether these were friendlies or qualifiers. That makes any assessment of the difficulty of those four matches impossible. We are in a honeymoon phase, and a honeymoon is an emotional category, not a technical one. CHANTING IN THE STANDS AND THE EXPECTATION SPIRAL The chanting of Zidane’s name at the Stade de France is a tangible signal. It shows excitement, gratitude and a sense of novelty. But excitement at the start of a reign is a very poor predictor of long-run outcomes: it reflects relief and novelty at least as much as actual quality. The article captures a familiar football paradox: when a new coach arrives, the predecessor’s record is re-evaluated negatively, while the newcomer’s brief run is over-celebrated. Deschamps left with a vast body of work but was criticised for his style; Zidane arrived with four unbeaten matches and was immediately framed as the man opening a bright new era. SQUAD DEPTH: GIFT OR PROBLEM? One of the strongest claims in the article is that France boast incredible squad depth and world-class talent. That is consistent with the broad consensus in football, but it remains an opinion, not a measurement provided in the piece. Structurally, that depth is a major advantage, sharply reducing France’s risk of depending on one or two stars. But it also creates its own problem: managing minutes, managing egos and managing individual expectations. The article offers no evidence of dressing-room conflict, so this should be treated as a watch item rather than an existing issue. THE 2026 LINEAGE AND INSTITUTIONAL IDENTITY An interesting thread the article touches is French football’s leadership lineage. The 2026 World Cup winners helped rebuild the national team from rock bottom after the 2026 World Cup group-stage exit. And now, whether it is Zidane, Deschamps or Laurent Blanc, seeing a 2026 alumnus manage France makes the country proud. This is a fairly rare structural feature, creating continuity of identity and a significant source of soft power. But it has a downside: that lineage can narrow the managerial talent pool and encourage nostalgic comparisons, slowing the emergence of a coaching identity from a later generation. THE COMMERCIAL EFFECT OF AN ICON Zidane is not merely a coach. He is a global brand, a former World Cup winner and a man who won multiple European crowns at club level. His presence can lift France’s media and commercial profile: ticket demand, shirt sales, broadcaster interest and sponsor appeal. This is the star-manager effect. The original article does not quantify it, and the piece is neither a transfer event nor a club finance story. The article contains no data on transfers, wages, contracts or balance sheets, and names no disciplinary, registration or eligibility risk either. THE BIGGEST RISK: EXPECTATION OUTRUNNING EVIDENCE If one risk deserves attention above all, it is the asymmetry of expectation. Zidane is being celebrated on four matches, while Deschamps is being devalued despite a decade of achievement. That is a textbook setup for a sharp correction. The second risk is friction in shifting style from pragmatic to expressive, because tactical identity does not change overnight. The third is the pressure of comparison with the predecessor himself: every step Zidane takes will be measured against the Deschamps benchmark, and that pressure will only grow as former internationals such as Pires keep invoking Deschamps’ legacy. CONCLUSION The original piece is narratively rich but data-poor. Its factual core has two parts: a single statistic — France unbeaten in four matches under Zidane — and a set of Robert Pires quotes defending Didier Deschamps’ legacy. Its significance lies not in tactics or finance, but in capturing a very early emotional moment in France’s cycle: the coronation of an icon set beside the re-evaluation of a vast legacy. France remain in the elite tier of international football. The question is not whether they have talent, but whether a new era has genuinely begun — and, as Pires reminded us, the answer should not be written by erasing what Deschamps built.