Euro 2021: France

Sideshow Bob

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Goalkeepers: Hugo Lloris (Tottenham), Mike Maignan (Milan), Steve Mandanda (Marseille)

Defenders: Lucas Digne (Everton), Léo Dubois (Lyon), Lucas Hernández (Bayern), Presnel Kimpembe (Paris), Jules Koundé (Sevilla), Clément Lenglet (Barcelona), Benjamin Pavard (Bayern), Raphaël Varane (Real Madrid), Kurt Zouma (Chelsea)

Midfielders: Kingsley Coman (Bayern), N'Golo Kanté (Chelsea), Thomas Lemar (Atlético Madrid), Paul Pogba (Manchester United), Adrien Rabiot (Juventus), Moussa Sissoko (Tottenham), Corentin Tolisso (Bayern)

Forwards: Wissam Ben Yedder (Monaco), Karim Benzema (Real Madrid), Ousmane Dembélé (Barcelona), Olivier Giroud (Chelsea), Antoine Griezmann (Barcelona), Kylian Mbappé (Paris), Marcus Thuram (Mönchengladbach)
 
Guess the big question for France is can they fit Benzema back in without unbalancing the side.
 
Depends on where they play Mbappe will they try and use him from the right wing like they did at the world cup and just put Benzema into the Giroud role or will Mbappe want to be up the middle.
 
they're already bickering internally I think. Giroud saying his team mates aren't passing to him, Mbappe getting uptight about it.
 
Good old France.

This is where I think Pogba can be big for them he needs to bring them all together and settle the ego's.
 
Think they go with Benzema through the middle if fit, yep Giroud moaning about Mbappe never passing to him.

I mean Mbappe is brilliant, but if you watch him enough, you realise he's a greedy sod.
 
I saw a list the other day of the most valuable players, he was about 12th I think. Foden no.1 :eek:
 
Yeah I saw that list. Think they factored in to account he's only got 12 months left on his contract too highly.
 
It's all statistical models so yeah Foden being so young and signed up for the next 5 years makes him incredibly valuable whereas Mbappe being 12 months from his contract expiring makes him less valuable. I imagine using their model if Mbappe signed a new 5 year deal tomorrow he'd rocket up to number 1 and be well clear of Foden.
 
Delicious ball from Pogba for the opening goal.

France look a far better side but I guess you can never discount Germany from doing something. Although they do look a little average.
 
France have been very poor. As have Germany. They've given the rest of the tournament little to be scared of so far.
 
Poor second half, but Mbappe has shown everyone they should be scared of him
 
Feel like France have another 10-20% more to give. They have been quite reserved tonight and have only real burst into life when Mbappe gets going.

Not easy to gage these opening games as no-one has looked particularly special. I think as the tournament goes on teams like France will start to turn it on.
 
If they had an extra 10-20% to give they wouldn't be sitting there pinned back by Germany at 1-0 down. It's just people thinking it's France they must have.

I imagine they'll get better but they've been poor. No excuses.
 
Germany have had a good second half but I wouldn’t say France have been particularly troubled a lot of the time. They’ve looked quite comfortable for the most part.

Not a vintage performance but plenty more to come.
 
It's a tough group, first game, defend your lead. They have scored 2 more albeit slightly offside goals.
I think it's clear they have more to give.
 
I think it's clear they've spent the game troubled and not managed it easily. If this was an England performance we'd be saying how they couldn't get out their own half for 35 minutes in the second half. Mbappe, Greizemann and Benzema failed to turn up.

They had one shot on target in 90 minutes of football. Imagine how much you'd slate United or England for that.

Certainly neither of them I'd say have been the best team I've seen so far. All look far behind Slovakia at the moment haha.
 
I think they have been very content to sit back and know they have the pace of Mbappe on the break. Germany were incredibly toothless and didn’t have that quality in the final third.

Not 100% comfortable but it’s a long tournament and I think they managed the game pretty well. Like McCoist said on commentary, I think they have plenty left in the tank and as the tournament progresses they’ll get better and better.
 
Both teams looked toothless.

It was a game won by an own goal where between them they managed one shot on target.

On that form neither of them win it. I do imagine they both improve.
 
I think it's clear they've spent the game troubled and not managed it easily. If this was an England performance we'd be saying how they couldn't get out their own half for 35 minutes in the second half. Mbappe, Greizemann and Benzema failed to turn up.

They had one shot on target in 90 minutes of football. Imagine how much you'd slate United or England for that.

Certainly neither of them I'd say have been the best team I've seen so far. All look far behind Slovakia at the moment haha.
I agree. I didn’t think France looked all that scary. If they develop their timing and chemistry on the break they’re going to rip somebody apart at some point, but on what I saw today, they don’t scare me. Germany was supposed to be a pushover and gave as good as they got for the most part.
I’d have been interested to see what would’ve happened had Germany scored in the right net first. Would France have had enough to turn it around? Theoretically yes, but on today’s evidence, not too sure tbh.
 
If they had an extra 10-20% to give they wouldn't be sitting there pinned back by Germany at 1-0 down. It's just people thinking it's France they must have.

I imagine they'll get better but they've been poor. No excuses.
Totally disagree. France have managed this. Why put in more effort than required?
 
Totally disagree. France have managed this. Why put in more effort than required?

Perhaps I was just totally underwhelmed and my expectations for France were too high.
Was expecting to see a lot better.

Had this noted down as game of the tournament and instead we saw a game where both sides lack attacking intent.

Hopefully the Portugal Vs France game where both should be through is less of s chess match.
 
I thought Pogba was superb.
As for the match, they didn't look any less good/interesting than England, against tougher opponents. I thought they both showed quality in areas.

It seems for all the first games it's been about not losing, other than the Dutch who were really attacking.

Especially in the French group not losing your first match there is imperative.

I'm hoping round 2 teams start attacking a bit more
 
Pogba awarded Star of the Match award. He did play well, but Kante was better, imo.
Yeah agree with that, Kante like usual was everywhere and really did stifle many Germany attacks. Pogba was very good though and looked a class act. Was very disappointed by Griezmann and Benzema though. They did a shift but lacked that little bit of quality.

Mbappe though - he is already world class and will only keep improving. He is absolutely wasted in the French league.
 
Is it only 1 year left on his contract?

Madrid are going to be lucky to get him. Shame we don't stand a chance.

@ superrash, I was impressed with how willing Greizmann was to defend. At one point Pavard was playing ahead of him in the first half.
 
Didn't think France were great but they managed the game well they got ahead then looked for counter attack goals which tends to be how they play. If Mbappe judged the line better they'd have one or two more on the break it feels like if you concede the first goal to this France side it is curtains.

Don't think this diamond formation really works to well for them makes them to narrow and it's hard for them to keep the ball but I think they coped pretty well with the German threat.
 
Paul Pogba and N'Golo Kanté have started 28 games together for France.

They've never lost.

Can we please just go and get Pogba a world class DM alongside him.
 
They said Griezmann hasn't missed a game since 2016 or something daft.

I agree about our CM, because Pogba looks different class for France.
 
Thing is with Pogba is he's not brilliant every game for France either he has good games and bad games he's put in plenty of games of that quality for Utd over the last 5 years but there's been shockers to.

The difference is France don't rely on him being 9/10 every game because in other games when he's off it others step up and get it done.

Until Bruno turned up at Utd we didn't have players who were stepping up and taking games by the scruff of the neck when Pogba was having an off game.
 

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