France coach Didier Deschamps will stick to his plans to make numerous changes and rotate the lineup for the Nations League match against Belgium in Lyon on Monday, he said on Sunday.

France got off to a poor start in the Nations League with a 3-1 defeat to Italy in Paris on Friday, but Deschamps stressed that this would not stop him from sticking to his set plans.

“The six Nations League games must be used to introduce new players and distribute playing time,” he said at the press conference before the game.

“If we had a different schedule and were playing World Cup qualifiers, I certainly wouldn’t have chosen this path. But I chose it because I believe we have to go through it. I’m not going to change course.”

After their first two Nations League matches, France will play against Israel and Belgium next month and conclude their Group A2 matches against Israel and Italy in November.

Deschamps said he had hoped for a positive reaction to the defeat to Italy, in which France took the lead within 20 seconds but were ultimately clearly beaten.

“I cannot be happy with the match against Italy and neither can the players. Tomorrow is a different match, a different context, a different team with the same commitment,” he added.

“My policy is to give as much playing time as possible to as many players as possible. No matter how many players are playing, there is always pressure to play as well as you can.”

Belgium, on the other hand, is still suffering from its elimination against France at the 2024 European Championship. Coach Dominic Tedesco believes that the team showed too much respect towards France in their defeat in the round of 16 in Düsseldorf this summer.

“It was close against France at the European Championships. We could have won,” said Tedesco at a press conference on Sunday. “France was a little better, they deserved to win, but we also had our chances. It would be a lie if I said the game was forgotten, it still hurts. I often think about the European Championships, but you also have to look ahead.”

Belgium began their campaign on Friday with a 3-1 win over Israel behind closed doors in Debrecen, Hungary, where the match was postponed for security reasons.

This story uses information from Reuters.