Pogba and the Blues did not assume an excessively preferred position for the meeting – Tibor Ellis / AP / SIPA
With Germany playing their favorite football, i.e. wait and control, France was waiting at the round against a more modest Hungarian team. Hugo Lloris like all of us expected to see the blues tread the ball, and that’s what happened. More than 60% possession, more passes than opponents, in short, and without wanting to make our Belgian national team, all indications are that France dominated the match.
The overall impression is quite different, and this is the double disappointment of the afternoon: Didier Deschamps’ men didn’t win and didn’t really enjoy the acquisition stages. Even the goal, which came from a quick exit from Lloris after a poor corner kick from Hungary, as well as a recovery and great work from Mbappe, looks like an admission of failure. Does it just like our blues know how to score? Are we doomed not to shake any more despite the pile of people in the middle and the attack?
Unrealism yes, but not only
When asked about the issue at a post-withdrawal press conference, Didier Deschamps doesn’t entirely agree with that observation. “That we can do better, that’s yes, but there were very good sequences. Maybe the coach hints at this very nice combination between Benzema and Dinni on the left for Mbappe’s header, or Griezmann’s opening for the Paris striker that Karim missed completely. We can pull one or two of Hat and shout for lack of realism, yes we can. And that’s what we do by the way.” In the first period there were good situations, good chances, he missed this last gesture to score this goal, and he regrets Hugo Lloris on the TF1 microphone. By taking advantage of this feature, it was already possible to change the dynamics of the match. “
Another hypothesis is that we didn’t score because we didn’t put ourselves in these situations much because we didn’t have the means. And, of course, the opponent, who ran six and a half kilometers more than France, was on top of every ball as well as being perfectly organized defensively. But isn’t the characteristic of a great team to succeed in moving these blocks? To add, find the intervals, and dig? The observation is clear, we saw very little in the Hungarian 25m. But it is not (only) the fault of the trio of Mbappe, Benzema, Griezmann. Because, as Deschamps explained after the meeting, attackers are not the only ones depositing this offensive animation, especially not in the possession game.
« [Les trois de devant]The quality they have, the integration they can get… but they shouldn’t be separated from full-backs and midfielders who can create space and passes too. “
Defensively too, management was tough
And this is where we step in to say that Rabiot passed the meeting like a ghost (strangely he did much better with Tolisso, who used to play in a cheerful team), that Pogba was dumped after his five-star match against the Germans, that Kante was wandering between the lines less than The usual and that Pavard was still in the head after his shock Tuesday night. The blues lacked this continuity of movement, these relays, this mobility and these short lane ways to spoil the galactic machine. And a bit of success, it’s true. We can say what we want, without luck, Portugal came out with the same draw with Hungary and for the same reasons.
Finally, another interesting point Corentin Tolisso brought up in the mixed zone after the game to persist in the idea that this team is still struggling to control their matches in high position: defense. Viola’s goal starts from there: a group of defenders a little ahead and presto, we take the broth. In the second half, perhaps it was more clear. “We had the ball most of the time and they were the ones who responded, so they were the ones who had the spaces in front, that’s what the Bayern Munich midfielder analyzes. The approach to the match against Germany was different. “The problems that need to be solved before the last game, because the national team Portugal Fernando Santos, despite all the personnel at their disposal, will not play much higher than the Hungarians.
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