Opponents fear France, claims Deschamps

Didier Deschamps stressed France will have to learn to deal with opponents who shut up shop in the wake of their hard-fought 2-1 World Cup qualification win over Sweden.

The Euro 2016 runners-up struggled to create chances against a defensive Sweden side and a shock appeared to be on the cards when Emil Forsberg gave the visitors a lead early in the second half.

France showed character, though, with goals from Paul Pogba and Dimitri Payet eventually seeing them emerge victorious, much to the delight of Deschamps.

The France head coach told TF1: “There are a lot of teams that will defend against us – we already saw that against Netherlands. It shows that our opponents fear us and we have to find solutions for that.

“I did not expect an easy game, so it is great to have three more points.

“It was a difficult match for us because Sweden are a good team. They are very strong physically and well organised. They played a classic 4-4-2 and were comfortable on the ball.

“When the opponent shuts up shop, you have to move the ball around more quickly and keep on moving. That is never easy.”

France top Group A with 10 points from four games following Friday’s win, three clear of Sweden.