A family member and stars like Kylian Mbappé who are in the language: the French team, and who are also the great favorite of Euro 2024, have never been to the first tour, confirming a negative negative spiral due to the beginning of the year.
Warning signs
The vice world champions did not wait to arrive in Germany to present such a boring spectacle. The friendly matches that took place in March (a painful 2-0 defeat by Germany in Lyon and a sluggish 3-2 win over Chile in Marseille) served as a warning before the actual preparation phase for the Euro, which began on May 29 in Clairefontaine. The two tasteless matches against Luxembourg (3-0) and Canada (0-0) only confirm the difficulties that the Blues face in creating and leading the attack.
Some of the executives (Mbappé, Tchouamini, Rabiot, Hernandez) also started the training period with a significant athletic deficit. Didier Deschamps' tactical fumbles, between his usual 4-3-3 and the return to the 4-4-2 that led France to their second world title in 2018, show how difficult it will be to find the right formula to revive his team.
Desperate search for a goalscorer
The inadequacy of the French attack remains the major black point in the first round. The only two goals scored by the Blues were the work of Austrian defender Maximilian Woeber against his own team (1-0) and Kylian Mbappé from the penalty spot against a very weak Poland (1-1), which had already been eliminated.
Behind the captain, who initially diminished before suffering a broken nose at the end of the first encounter, no one was able to come out.
Ousmane Dembélé struggles to make much difference with the ball on the right side and remains painful at the final signal.
Marcus Thuram revealed technical flaws that hinder the international level, while Olivier Giroud, the best scorer in the history of the French national team (57 goals), sits on the bench and has to make do with crumbs in the final minutes. .
The surprise start against the Polish youngster Bradley Barkula (21 years old), somewhat comfortable, constitutes the only ray of sunshine on the offensive level.
However, the situation does not seem to worry Didier Deschamps too much. “We didn't lack accuracy because there were saves from the goalkeeper, but by scoring more goals, you have more chances to win games. I would have been more worried if we didn't have the chances. We have them, we own them.” “Do what we have to do,” he said Tuesday.
Mbappe is not at the top
The Blues leader arrived at the Euros far from optimal form. After a chaotic second part of the season at Paris Saint-Germain where he saw his playing time plummet following the internal announcement of his departure, the future Real Madrid striker faced several errors that seriously hampered his preparation (back, knee) before injuring his nose.
Bondino is therefore not at his full physical potential, and without Mbappé at the top, France are logically coughing.
Even if he clearly lacked legs and wasn't as sharp as usual, his comeback against Poland was still somewhat reassuring and he was Habs' most dangerous.
“He showed a lot of desire,” Deschamps said. “This match will serve him well in the future.”
Griezmann, The Missing Frame
Antoine Griezmann, unrecognizable in Germany, seems to drag his spleen onto the pitch with constant positional changes that seem to bother him.
So much so that the man considered “idolable” by Deschamps was put on the bench at the start of the match against the Poles.
A reduction that calls for the rest of the tournament concerns a great player (132 international matches), a great architect of the 2018 world title, even if the coach denies that there is a “problem” with the Atletico Madrid player. “It's a choice compared to the one I made from the beginning: don't go for translation,” he said on Tuesday.
