First of all, despite the good season the playmaker is having at City, he never convinced his national team manager that he could be a starter for his country. In the six games he played under Deschamps since August (Belgium, Georgia, Belarus, Australia, Finland and the first leg against Ukraine), he only started two (Australia and Ukraine), had 10 good minutes in Belarus where he scored, 30 good minutes against Australia and a disastrous performance in Ukraine (0-2) where he did everything wrong during the 79 minutes he spent on the pitch. France played better without him in the last two games, especially the second leg against Ukraine.