Zinedine Zidane used the build-up to France's meeting with Italy on Friday to push a simple idea, players should stay in their positions. Speaking to Foot Mercato, he said he does not like the word versatility very much, and he pointed straight at Désiré Doué as an example of someone who should work from defined roles rather than drift everywhere.

Zidane's position-first message

"Versatility? I do not like that word very much. The player must express himself in his position and especially in the national team," Zidane said, in comments translated from French. He added that at club level it is less serious, then repeated the point by saying Doué has "one, two or three positions where he can play very well".

That fits what France have already done with him. Doué has been effective in the Nations League, with a 6.97 average rating across 2 appearances and 121 minutes in total, while also being named Foot Mercato's man of the match against Belgium.

The line from Zidane is direct, and it is probably the right way to read France's use of a young player who does not need to be everywhere at once.

Italy, 2006 and the mood around the game

The Italy fixture also dragged Zidane back to 2006. Speaking to football-italia.net, he said of the headbutt on M. Materazzi: "I'm not proud of what I did, I've always said that, but at the same time I have no regrets. It is part of my career."

He had already used similar language in comments to So Foot, saying he is not proud of what happened but that it is part of a journey. That part of the press conference belonged to memory rather than tactics, but it was always going to come up before France vs Italy.

France go into the match after winning their first two Nations League games 1-0, away to Türkiye and Belgium. They also sit first in the group after two matches, with the Stade de France game due on Friday at 19.45 UK time.

For Zidane, though, the sharper point was the same one he made at the start. International football, at least in his view, works better when players know their role and stay in it.

Written by Sam Whitfield with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 5 outlets. How we work →