Didier Deschamps commended the display of France matchwinner Paul Pogba against Australia, saying his display proves he knows how to use the Manchester United man.
Pogba came into the World Cup after a difficult season which has been mired by consistency problems at United, with Jose Mourinho even opting to drop him on more than one occasion. On top of that, Pogba was booed off the pitch when substituted in France's pre-World Cup friendly win over Italy.
One of the main issues with Pogba for both club and country is that his coaches have been accused of not knowing where his best position is.
In France's unconvincing 2-1 win over Australia in Kazan on Saturday, Pogba played as part of a midfield three and scored the winning goal, to the delight of Deschamps, who was quick to give himself a pat on the back.
"It means that I know how to use him, as he was very good," Deschamps told reporters at the Kazan Arena.
"I won't tell you what happened with Pogba. I was criticised because it was said I don't know how to use him. Pogba has very good potential, lots of ability and he played well. He found his register, had a lot of freedom and also had a defensive role to play. With three [in midfield] he is better off than with two, he feels more at ease."
But one area in which France was particularly ineffective was the final third, as Antoine Griezmann, Kylian Mbappe and Ousmane Dembele failed to convince, despite the Atletico Madrid star winning and scoring the penalty for the first goal.
"It was a bit of everything," Deschamps said of their disappointing collective showing in attack.
"Sometimes the attacking players were not available, sometimes the ball not given to them. Even among themselves it was not flowing enough. In any team if you ask [what went wrong], the forwards will say the midfielders don't give them the ball and midfielders say attackers aren't moving enough.
"It's a whole, sometimes it's the forwards, sometimes the midfielders. They should coordinate themselves better. If they had our match would've been better. It's true they haven’t played much together, the strikers, but we should do better. And you may have explanations where valid last week and changed now.
"We have another opponent next time and I take all this into consideration. Just because it didn’t work this time it doesn't mean it won't next time."
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