Didier Deschamps Rues Slow Start as He Concedes France Need to 'Do Better' After Late Australia Win

Didier Deschamps was left to rue France's slow and stagnated start to their World Cup campaign despite coming out as 2-1 victors over Australia.

Les Bleus came up against a spirited and well organised Australian outfit in Kazan, where they looked second best for most of the opening period after struggling to click into gear.

The second half opened with the historic intervention of VAR, in France's favour, as Antoine Griezmann converted a penalty after being deemed to have been taken out by the opposition defence, before Paul Pogba converted late on to cancel out Mile Jedinak's equaliser.

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Whilst Deschamps was wary of a performance which was below the level expected of his side, the French boss was equally pleased with securing their first three points of the campaign. 

"The point is there is the first game, it is very important to have managed to win. This puts us in the best position," Deschamps told reporters following the victory over the Socceroos, via L’Equipe. 

"The match was difficult, complicated. We missed a lot of speed in the transmissions, going forward on the ball catch, which favoured the Australian team.

"For different reasons. We did not make a great start to the match, of course. Blocking them higher would have been better but it was not very well coordinated, even if they had a sterile possession since they end the match with one chance, on a set kick.

"The penalty is us giving them. I will not give an explanation because it will be like an apology. But the fact that this is the first game [played], certainly. 

"Australia is not a European leader, but that's not what you think. It's complicated, it's the World Cup. But we have to do better and we can do it."

Whilst Australian boss Bert van Marwijk questioned the confidence of referee Andres Cunha following his decision to use VAR to award a penalty to France, Deschamps simply insisted that everyone needs to 'get used to it'.

He added: "I will not complain about the use of the video today, since it is in our favour. This helped correct an error.

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"The referee did not see that there was fault and he rectified because there was fault. It's like that, we're warned, we have to get used to it."