Didier Deschamps explains why he did not pick Alexandre Lacazette in the French squad

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Alexandre Lacazette was left out of the French squad that won the World Cup in Russia. At the time, his exclusion was more or less justifiable given the fact that France had an abundance of attacking wealth. Moreover, Lacazette did not have a thoroughly impressive debut season with Arsenal in the Premier League.

However, the Frenchman has regained his goalscoring form and has scored 5 goals already this season. In the last weekend, he scored twice in Arsenal’s 5-1 drubbing of Fulham at Craven Cottage.

Subsequently, the ex-Lyon striker was tipped to make a return to the international side following a string of impressive performances. However, Didier Deschamps had other ideas and has now said that Lacazette needs to continue his good work at Arsenal.

Lacazette had also missed France’s games against Germany and Netherlands in September. The striker could feel hard done by Deschamps’ latest decision to exclude him from the upcoming games as well.

Didier Deschamps has now revealed the reason behind Lacazette’s exclusion to Get French Football News.

“There is competition for each position,”

“When the players who were at the World Cup are performing well… It is not a question of type of player, but of position.”

Lacazette’s exclusion from the squad is a tactical one according to Didier Deschamps.

“I need balance in the squad and he is a central attacker.”

“He must continue.”

The French team has often lined up with Olivier Giroud operating up front as the target man. With pace on either side of him (Kylian Mbappe and Ousmane Dembele) and Griezmann in a no.10 role, Giroud holds the ball up and brings his teammates into play. Giroud is able to accomplish this thanks to his build.

At 175 cms tall, Lacazette does not provide the same skill set that Giroud offers and as a result, he does not fit into the current system which is something that has been working quite well for Les Bleus.

It looks like Lacazette will need to get his head down and keep working hard to earn a place in the international setup.