Hugo Ekitike made his second senior start for France in their 3-1 win over Azerbaijan on Sunday, with Didier Deschamps subtly doing Arne Slot a significant favour in the process.Fresh from scoring his first goal for Les Bleus in their 4-0 thrashing of Ukraine three days previously – a result which secured their place at next summer’s World Cup – the Liverpool striker was rewarded with a place in the starting XI as his national team coach indulged in some experimentation.The 23-year-old has played solely through the middle for the Reds since his move from Eintracht Frankfurt, but yesterday in Baku he was deployed as a left winger, with Jean-Philippe Mateta being given the nod at centre-forward.(Photo by Franco Arland/Getty Images)How did the French media rate Ekitike on Sunday?Ekitike played the full 90 minutes against Azerbaijan but wasn’t on the scoresheet this time around, and even with France having comfortably secured qualification (and despite praise from Deschamps), the media in his homeland weren’t feeling charitable with their post-match verdicts:GOAL (5/10): ‘The Liverpool forward has been excellent so far for his new team but he seemed all at sea at times. Seems to be better when leading the line.’Le Quotidien du Sport (5/10): ‘The Liverpool player moved around a lot and did some good things, but wasn’t successful, either in front of goal or with his final pass.’Le Parisien (4/10): ‘On the left wing, he struggled to get into shooting positions and didn’t connect well with his strike partner Mateta, but his tireless work rate will be remembered.’Eurosport France (4/10): ‘He lacked precision and sometimes quickness. Significantly less effective, he squandered several opportunities…against such a weak opponent, the former Parisian needs to do better. In short, dormant.’Le Figaro: ‘An off night’.(Photo by Aziz Karimov/Getty Images)Deschamps did Slot a favour with Ekitike experimentThe French media certainly weren’t too charmed by Ekitike’s performance on Sunday, and the statistics would suggest that it wasn’t his best outing.As per Sofascore, the 23-year-old lost six of his eight duels, had the lowest pass completion rate of anyone for France (68%), missed one ‘big chance’, had only one shot (which was blocked), didn’t record any defensive contributions and lost the ball 20 times (the most of anyone for his team).There had been some suggestions of Slot potentially utilising the Frenchman as a winger to try and accommodate both him and Alexander Isak into the same Liverpool starting XI without necessitating a change of formation.Deschamps duly provided the Reds boss with a glimpse of how Ekitike fared out wide, without the Dutchman having to run the risk in a game of significance, and the Les Bleus manager’s experiment didn’t have the desired effect.Based on what transpired in Baku yesterday, our number 22 isn’t likely to be starting on the left wing for his club any time soon. Thankfully that hasn’t been to LFC’s cost; if anything, it’s to our benefit as the player will be better for the experience, while Slot will have also learned a few things about how best to use the 23-year-old.You can watch Slot’s full post-Man City press conference via Empire of the Kop on YouTube:The post Didier Deschamps may have done Arne Slot a significant favour on Sunday with Ekitike decision appeared first on The Empire of The Kop.