Surprisingly, no. There is no Giroud vs Benzema.
France - Euro 2021 Discussion
- Thread starter BusbyMalone
- Start date
I hated Domenech since the under 21”s meetings with Portugal, but I have to say we never helped each other against France. Abel Xavier until this day saying it wasn’t a penalty, the under 21’s destroying a locker room in France after a victory, 2006 semifinal half of the Portuguese players diving into the ground actually gave reason to Domenech provocative comments.
Domenech was worse than all those players mate, but I agree it was difficult to replace those players.
Didn't Benzema say something like, you don't compare a Ferrari to a Fiat or something?
He did but it surprisingly didn't create anything. According to Benzema they have talked about it a few years ago and they have a good relationship.
That's why it's surprising that there is no issue between them in 2021.
Deschamps is wasted at international level, he should be managing a big club in Italy.
I don't get why France turn like this sometimes. The single most talented international side on the planet, but so many games they just dont have the passion and drive to make it count. Incredibly frustrating to watch on days like this.
It's going to be the same France it seems! Clearly not the strongest German team we've seen but it looks like France were always relatively content not to control this game with the ball. They seem to place more priority in a positional game, dropping off, giving the forwards space to play into. In the defensive third the athleticism of the central players and good discipline from the fullbacks really shines through. They seem to nullify a decent side pretty easily. There will be better forwards to play against but you would still have your money on this defence when it matters. Then plenty up top to provide decisive moments.
Credits to Deschamps for making good use of Pavard and Hernandez. They're basically two CB's playing at FB but doing well. France were very solid in 2018 with those two as FB's.
So many top class players but such a boring team that somehow manages to win on a great defence despite having Mbappé, Griezmann, Benzema, Pogba, Coman and Dembele.
I can’t see how any team will beat them this tournament, but they will rarely excite anyone I suspect. 4 centre halves in defence plus two water carriers in midfield.
I can’t see how any team will beat them this tournament, but they will rarely excite anyone I suspect. 4 centre halves in defence plus two water carriers in midfield.
Yep. Such a waste of good entertainment.
Seem to play within themselves half the time but even if you did manage to a score a goal you get the feeling that they would just be able to step it up.
Think someone is going to have to catch them on a very poor day to stop them from winning this.
Think someone is going to have to catch them on a very poor day to stop them from winning this.
The Pogba and Kante partnership is interesting to think about. They both seem to be pretty complete players who can operate both ways, but they also complement each other superbly.
Thinking of it in terms of numbers, if an average midfielder is rated 1/1 going forward and 1/1 defensively, Pogba would be a 1.75/1.00 offensively and a 0.75/1.00 defensively, while Kante would be a 0.75/1.00 offensively and 1.75/1.00 defensively. So Pogba paired with any other average midfielder would give a 2.75/2.00 offensive and 1.75/2.00 defensive rating (aka powerful in offence, but slightly lacking in defence) and Kante would be the opposite.
But Pogba and Kante together give a 2.5/2.0 offensive and 2.5/2.0 defensive rating, aka perfect partners for each other. Not really lacking anything individually, but the partnership works so well because of the world class quality they can add in addition to their completeness. Add in an another solid midfielder in Tolisso/Rabiot and their midfield area looks very robust, with that extra sprinkle of class.
Thinking of it in terms of numbers, if an average midfielder is rated 1/1 going forward and 1/1 defensively, Pogba would be a 1.75/1.00 offensively and a 0.75/1.00 defensively, while Kante would be a 0.75/1.00 offensively and 1.75/1.00 defensively. So Pogba paired with any other average midfielder would give a 2.75/2.00 offensive and 1.75/2.00 defensive rating (aka powerful in offence, but slightly lacking in defence) and Kante would be the opposite.
But Pogba and Kante together give a 2.5/2.0 offensive and 2.5/2.0 defensive rating, aka perfect partners for each other. Not really lacking anything individually, but the partnership works so well because of the world class quality they can add in addition to their completeness. Add in an another solid midfielder in Tolisso/Rabiot and their midfield area looks very robust, with that extra sprinkle of class.
Blame Deschamps
Blame Deschamps
Let me cry over my world cup.
I don’t see why they don’t go 4-2-3-1. Take out Rabiot and play Coman or another attacker on the wings. I know they have had great results with the current formation but doesn’t always seem as smooth as it could be.
Think about who won the last world cups and how national teams did it in the last 30 years. None of them have been attacking, attractive teams not even Germany in 2014. Playing pretty football at a high level is near impossible at International level, it's difficult enough for countries that relies on a couple of clubs and it's pretty much impossible for a country like France that has a backbone of players scattered around European. Maybe if Bayern get a couple more french midfielders we can start using their tactics though.
Yet sometimes France look like a very beautiful attacking side. When they can be arsed.
But every team you can say that about. There's going to be moments where the quality is going to click, but rarely over 90 minutes in an international match.
Not consistently. Of course players can improvise from time to time, any talented team can. The attacking style that you are thinking about relies on a high level of consistency which is only possible when players train with each other every day. In recent history, none of the winning national teams do it with beautiful football, they do it with pragmatic and consistent football.
You have a quite staggering amount of talent in that team. You're the best international side in the world. Its not like some random team having an occasional good day. There's really no excuse for France to not be routinely looking like a serious attacking force.
What the feck are you on about?
History has shown that International tournaments are usually won by countries with the most clinical approach. One that can quickly organise the backbone of their team and an attacking combo consisting of just two or three players. Attractive football will not get you far. The priority has always efficiency and effectiveness.
Not really. It works exactly because its a midfield three.
As a standalone midfield two, it would be a complete disaster IMO.
Good win, tough first game for them. Be interesting to see if they play similarly against Portugal. Hoping they go at them more and it’s end to end 
.
.So did Brazil in 2006, they had no discipline at the back and got dismantled. For whatever reason, pragmatic teams like France find success at the international level, not the free-flowing attacking ones.
Feel like everyone else watched a different game to me. I thought France were magnificent and always in control, without getting out of third gear. Pretty much flawless defensively and they work really hard off the ball; don't need to have possession the whole time to be in control. Pogba on particular was majestic I thought.
Could have been one of the GOAT World Cups teams though
Agreed
France had very entertaining team in the 80's, never lived up to their potential, we did get one euro thanks to Platini finally being healthy for it, but we lost against the more pragmatic sides that they've become under Deschamps. I also think this is the first game and France never looked out of third gear. If you give me the choice between being the team everybody loves to watch that crashes out in the 1/4 or semi or winning the world cup with tight games like this, I'll always take the latter personally, and I think it'd be silly to think otherwise. And unfortunately, for whatever reason on the international stage, it is one or the other.
It’s possible to win and play swashbuckling football, it’s been done before.
At international level it's rare, it's basically the great Brazil teams and that's pretty much it. Italy and Germany have historically been cynical successful teams.
While I liked more the concept of football played by Italy I just think this French team is even better than the one at Russia and way better than the 2016 side (they deserved to win the final by the way).
They can change to multiple tatical systems during the game without making a change from the bench, the players are physically and technically excellent and I just think with Benzema on the starting 11 they will go into another level.
Winning on the knockout stage is another matter, but I laugh when I had the chance to read a few posts criticising Benzema for the lack of pace.
It’s no secret Benzema played a big role on Ronaldo best seasons even if he never said that in public, and he received a lot of hatred from Madrid fans for the lack of goals, but he actually is one of the most intelligent strikers in the world.
Mbappe will benefit a lot.
They can change to multiple tatical systems during the game without making a change from the bench, the players are physically and technically excellent and I just think with Benzema on the starting 11 they will go into another level.
Winning on the knockout stage is another matter, but I laugh when I had the chance to read a few posts criticising Benzema for the lack of pace.
It’s no secret Benzema played a big role on Ronaldo best seasons even if he never said that in public, and he received a lot of hatred from Madrid fans for the lack of goals, but he actually is one of the most intelligent strikers in the world.
Mbappe will benefit a lot.
The Spanish have entertained too, depending on your interpretation of entertainment, but I suppose they don’t really count as they were largely formed from one club side tbh.
Same. Not sure what the talk of playing more attractive football is about, the model for a good while now to win champions leagues and international tournaments is to be defensively strong, have energy in midfield and then hit with pace up front. There's no point sending the whole team forward when you're 1-0 up and getting hit on the counter.
Liverpool, Chelsea recently, even Real Madrid with their 3 CLs played a similar model. Man City don't play like that and they dominate domestic leagues, but in a knockout tournament you leave yourself too vulnerable too getting hit by the occasional counter-attack and going out to 1 goal as they've found out many times in the CL.
Spain were risk-averse and didn't entertain at all. You may like their brand of football but lets not pretend that they were entertaining or even trying to entertain anyone. Entertaining would be some of the exciting dutch teams of the past who played total football and won nothing.