French Golden Gen- matching their expectations in Club football or slightly overhyped?

[Bebestation]

I feel like I might get questioned for asking this but I still want to.

I recognise that France won the world cup but is this because they have the best players in the world for each position or is it because they have good players for every position unlike the other national teams? They seem to be producing player upon player for every position but how exactly good are they becoming?

Dembele isnt exactly setting the world alight at Barcelona. Pogba was bought at United for a world transfer record with the intention of being the best in the world at his position- is he doing this? Kante was good for a couple of seasons but he seems to be playing under a shadow of his former self. I dont see Umtiti playing anymore. Fekir hasnt made the step up to a bigger league. Is Benjamin Mendy good enough for City long term? Varane is a good player but is he the best defender at Real Madrid and is he living to the hype built on him a couple years ago? Antonine Greizmanns performance at Barcelona isnt the same level or consistency we saw at atletico madrid. Coman, Lemar & Tolisso are able to pull off a good performance but are they consistent enough to be starting for a big succesful team for a whole season to be successful? Players like Digne and Lloris are playing for Spurs and Everton - whilst good are they the best in their position? Upamecano has weaknesses he needs to improve as we saw in our match. Martial is considered by some to not be good enough to start for our team. Mbappe has been great but still hasnt managed to get PSG what they need in the European cups and some value Neymar as their best player.Lenglet and Laporte are good players needed by their teams but are they comparable to some of the defenders they previously had? Ndombele isnt exactly as good as he was expected to be for spurs. Lacazette is one of the weakest ST I have seen at Arsenal.

The list could go on. I'm not saying that exactly every statement i make is right by any means; but have they lived up to their expectations?

I'm just asking about this because the hype for French players are still there - Upamecano, Konate, Camavinga, Aouar, Saliba, Cherki and many more.

Whilst they will no doubt have world class players being produced every so often - there is also this expectation that alot of their players will make a stamp at the top clubs of the world. I'm not so sure anymore.

 

[B20]

The hype is justified in that there are no teams with player material worthy of the same hype.

 

[horsechoker]

No more or less than the 2014 German generation.

The Spanish generation 2008-12 were incredible mostly due to playing together for club and country.

 

[TrustInJanuzaj]

They are fanstatic players but Deshamps doesn’t get the most out of them.

 

[GlasgowCeltic]

Theyve combined to produce a juggernaut international team which if I was French is probably all I’d be interested in

 

[Acole9]

The hype is definitely justified, I think it's more unnoticed compared to Belgium who I've always thought are overrated.

 

[Bebestation]

They are fanstatic players but Deshamps doesn’t get the most out of them.

How many players would you say have done what is required for club football at the biggest of clubs?

 

[Web of Bissaka]

Golden generation...?

Not even close imo.

 

[Robbie Boy]

Nothing beats the hype boom/bust cycle when it comes to England.

 

[Gazza]

Comb through any national team and you are likely to find a smattering of players who are off form/not at peak level, tbf. Agree with you that there is no one on the French team currently in the top 3-5 players in the world, except probably Mbappe.

 

[sammsky1]

I feel like I might get questioned for asking this but I still want to.

I recognise that France won the world cup but is this because they have the best players in the world for each position or is it because they have good players for every position unlike the other national teams? They seem to be producing player upon player for every position but how exactly good are they becoming?

Dembele isnt exactly setting the world alight at Barcelona. Pogba was bought at United for a world transfer record with the intention of being the best in the world at his position- is he doing this? Kante was good for a couple of seasons but he seems to be playing under a shadow of his former self. I dont see Umtiti playing anymore. Fekir hasnt made the step up to a bigger league. Is Benjamin Mendy good enough for City long term? Varane is a good player but is he the best defender at Real Madrid and is he living to the hype built on him a couple years ago? Antonine Greizmanns performance at Barcelona isnt the same level or consistency we saw at atletico madrid. Coman, Lemar & Tolisso are able to pull off a good performance but are they consistent enough to be starting for a big succesful team for a whole season to be successful? Players like Digne and Lloris are playing for Spurs and Everton - whilst good are they the best in their position? Upamecano has weaknesses he needs to improve as we saw in our match. Martial is considered by some to not be good enough to start for our team. Mbappe has been great but still hasnt managed to get PSG what they need in the European cups and some value Neymar as their best player.Lenglet and Laporte are good players needed by their teams but are they comparable to some of the defenders they previously had? Ndombele isnt exactly as good as he was expected to be for spurs. Lacazette is one of the weakest ST I have seen at Arsenal.

The list could go on. I'm not saying that exactly every statement i make is right by any means; but have they lived up to their expectations?

I'm just asking about this because the hype for French players are still there - Upamecano, Konate, Camavinga, Aouar, Saliba, Cherki and many more.

Whilst they will no doubt have world class players being produced every so often - there is also this expectation that alot of their players will make a stamp at the top clubs of the world. I'm not so sure anymore.

It wasn't a great historical team, just the best team during a mediocre phase of world football.

 

[Hansinity]

What makes this a golden generation is the huge amount of quality players. Also dont forget that most of them are still super young.

In my view the hype is absoltuely justified.

But agree, not all of them absolutely top tier. But which country has multiple of them ? French is still unmatched in terms of depth and quality. Whats missing is top striker.

 

[Bebestation]

It wasn't a great historical team, just the best team during a mediocre phase of world football.

Out of the numerous players they seem to produce up to a good standard for nearly every position - I can barely pick 6 players that have made a complete consistent impact on Club football.

Sure that many our young and have the chance to improve but season after season and I'm still waiting for it to kind of happen.

 

[giorno]

They have the best age 18 to 21 player since at least Messi and a bunch of the best players in the world at most roles and positions and a number of youngsters who look even more talented than those...

As for what they did at club level, Kante was a key player on back to back PL champions, Pogba is a 4x serie A champion and CL finalist, Griezmann was one penalty and/or one gignac shot off the post from winning the ballon d'or(and CL/Euros), Varane has been a staple of a real madrid side that won 4 CL, starting in 3 of those finals, Pavard and Lucas now play for Bayern, though they're oft injured...

The youngsters, aside from Mbappé, are still youngsters, too early to call. Several look like generational talents though

 

[paraguayo]

Most WC champs kinda get overrated for the entirety of the proceeding cycle. Last time there was a repeat was 58-62 for a reason

 

[BalanceUnAutreJoint]

The WC winning squad is overrated, Griezmann was never deserving of top 3 BO finishes, Varane isn't Ramos, Pogba is still too inconsistent and has yet to deliver a full top class season from start to finish, Pavard/Matuidi/Giroud are all mediocre players in the grand scheme of things and looking at the XI we've played, this is far from the most impressive WC winning team in history

The current&upcoming generation of youngsters isn't overhyped however, in partiular when it comes to QUANTITY of quality players, some nations may produce extraordinary players capable of rivaling with our bes too, but when you look at the next best thing, there's usually a massive drop, that's not the case for us as of right now.

There's a reason why Deschamps' choices regarding his squad are so criticized in France whenever an international break happens, It's because he has so many quality players at his disposal that we always have something to talk about.

You also have to consider we won a WC without the 2 best French players of the past decade : Benzema and Ribery

 

[Needham]

It was a wide open world cup, that's all. France aren't winning the Euros.

 

[BalanceUnAutreJoint]

It was a wide open world cup, that's all. France aren't winning the Euros.

I'm really curious to see how it plays out.
Other than the Netherlands in late 2018, no team has succeeded in breaking Deschamps' bus parking in big games.

 

[The holy trinity 68]

Comb through any national team and you are likely to find a smattering of players who are off form/not at peak level, tbf. Agree with you that there is no one on the French team currently in the top 3-5 players in the world, except probably Mbappe.

I am not too sure Mbappe is in the best 3-5 players in the world at the moment. He has all the ability in the world but I don't think he is being challenged enough in Ligue 1 and seems to have stagnated in the last year or so.