France coach Marc Lievremont consoles team manager Jo Maso following their defeat to England at Twickenham © Getty Images

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France head coach Marc Lievremont will go with an unchanged squad for Saturday's RBS 6 Nations match against Italy, despite admitting today that he was let down by some of his players' attitudes during their thrashing by England.

If Lievremont thought all was rosy in the French garden after their superb defeat of Wales on match day three of the Six Nations, he will be going back to the drawing board following yesterday's drubbing at Twickenham. Not only did the embarrassing 34-10 defeat ruin Les Bleus' outside hopes of the title, it puts Lievremont back under pressure.

Somewhat surprisingly, he has made no changes to the squad for the trip to Rome, giving his underperforming players a chance to make amends. And he hopes they take his instructions on board next weekend as the French look to finish the tournament on a good note.

"We want to see certain players and say things to them," said Lievremont at a debriefing in London today, prior to the squad's flight back to Paris. "Some of them got it wrong in terms of the work rate, the demands of them at the highest level and in match preparation.

"There is a worry there, a gap between certain players. And we had hammered it into them all week that we mustn't rest on our laurels (after the Wales match). Looking at the match on video, we had it confirmed that the great team ethic we had against Wales was shattered against England. At no time did we behave like a team."

Lievremont admits a consolation win against an Italy side who are yet to pick up a point in this season's competition would now mean little. "This match against Italy will not be easy," he added. "We are banking on a reaction in terms of pride but it isn't for that that we have gone with the same squad. Now, this match against Italy will not bring us a great deal. We had wanted to be capable of competing with a great team away from home. We haven't been able to do it."

Since beating Scotland at Murrayfield in their first game of the 2008 Six Nations, a match that was also Lievremont's first in charge, France have not won on their travels. A defeat to Italy would leave Lievremont staring down the barrel but he maintains he needs some help from the players he sends out on the pitch.

"Some players are disappointed, others have the potential to succeed," he said. "In a squad playing at a high level, you must take responsibility. On the pitch, you can't be dealing with 15 little boys who are waiting for the advice of their coach."

The only injury doubt for Lievremont appears to be hooker Benjamin Kayser, who is struggling with a neck problem. The Leicester front-row forward underwent tests at France's training base at Marcoussis today and his fitness will be monitored. Lievremont will name on Wednesday his starting XV for the Italy match.

France squad:

Backs: Julien Malzieu (Clermont-Auvergne), Damien Traille (Biarritz), Maxime Medard, Cedric Heymans (both Toulouse), Mathieu Bastareaud (Stade Francais), Florian Fritz, Yannick Jauzion (both Toulouse), Francois Trinh-Duc (Montpellier), Morgan Parra (Bourgoin), Sebastien Tillous-Borde (Castres).

Forwards: Sebastien Chabal (Sale), Julien Bonnaire (Clermont-Auvergne), Thierry Dusautoir (Toulouse), Imanol Harinordoquy (Biarritz), Louis Picamoles (Montpellier), Lionel Nallet (Castres, capt), Jerome Thion (Biarritz), Benjamin Kayser (Leicester), Dimitri Szarzewski, Sylvain Marconnet (both Stade Francais), Thomas Domingo (Clermont-Auvergne), Fabien Barcella (Biarritz), Lionel Faure (Sale).