France boss Didier Deschamps was candid about his injury-hit side’s deficiencies in the 2-0 defeat to the Netherlands; Oranje boss Ronald Koeman hailed his players’ ‘perfect’ performance.
UEFA Nations League Group 1
Stadion Feijenoord, Rotterdam
Netherlands 2 – 0 France 
Ronald Koeman (Netherlands coach): “I wasn’t expecting a perfect performance from my side that’s exactly what it was. We were very, very good. Our players chose well when to attack and when to defend. Our forwards won all the challenges. I was surprised by France’s line-up choices and the way they chose to play. But our match was perfect. We played very well in every sector. Tonight we dominated the match for 90 minutes. [Memphis] Depay has a very important role in the team. He is full of confidence; you could see that when he scored his penalty.”
Didier Deschamps (France coach): “This loss was the right result against a Netherlands side who mixed intensity and aggression with the talent its players possess to create spaces and overlaps and put us under a lot of pressure. We had some absentees, so the contrast in quality was considerable. We had become used to getting good results. Our objective was to confirm our leadership of the group, and we blew it. We no longer have our fate in our own hands. Everyone has to decompress in their own way after the World Cup, and there is no doubt that this Nations League is difficult. Spain had six points fro their first two matches and then took none from the next two. We had taken seven points, but after tonight, we no longer hold all the cards. It’s a tough moment – we have quite a few injuries, but with the players we do have available, we should be doing better. Our deficiencies were blatant tonight and we didn’t show enough of he qualities that have been our strength and brought us good results of late.”
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