France Regroup Quickly After Euro 2016 Final Disappointment
Given his extensive links with Italian football, the auspiciousness of the venue for France’s first match since falling at the last hurdle in Euro 2016 - Bari - is unlikely to have been lost on Didier Deschamps. As his side try to get themselves back on the road towards eventual greatness a stadium replete with history, and one that looks as if it has been barely touched since its part in hosting the 1990 World Cup, was a pretty good place to start.
It wasn’t just the venue itself that was a throwback. Paul Pogba was whistled by the home crowd throughout, cast in a quite old-fashioned pantomime villain role for leaving Juventus and Serie A. It seemed to inspire the Manchester United midfielder, who looked more like his true self for the national team than he has done in a while. The 23-year-old laid on the first goal for Anthony Martial and the clincher for Layvin Kurzawa, just before the end, as he roamed with intent, secured a WhoScored rating or 8.29 and playing three key passes.
There’s no real mystery behind this renewal in the international fortunes of the world’s most expensive player, though there are plenty of questions over whether he will remain in situ following this friendly - as he would no doubt prefer to - even ahead of Tuesday’s opening World Cup qualifier against Belarus.
Pogba’s Euro 2016, the tournament he was meant to own, began to implode the moment Deschamps dragged off N’Golo Kanté at half-time o the last 16 match against Republic of Ireland, and switched from 4-3-3 to 4-4-2. The success of this switch meant that Antoine Griezmann, rather than Pogba, was the team’s focus, and the Atlético Madrid forward made the most of it, scoring five and offering two assists in the next two-and-a-half games that swept Les Bleus into the final.
Being in a system closer to the one that he almost always played in at club level made Griezmann fly. It bolted Pogba’s feet to the ground, though. He looked a frustrated figure in the final, largely mopping up in front of his back four as Moussa Sissoko powered up and down the pitch.
The move back to 4-3-3 in Bari was down to circumstance rather than design, with Deschamps admitting that he left the newly-signed Tottenham midfielder on the bench only due to a lack of match fitness. It worked fantastically well for Pogba though, with the recall of Kanté, who completed 87.5% of his passes and made three tackles and two interceptions, giving him the chance to occupy positions high up the pitch. As a look at the player average position map shows us, Kanté was almost tucked between Raphaël Varane and Laurent Koscielny as a third centre-back, while Pogba was tucked just behind Griezmann, and further forward on average than Olivier Giroud.
That Griezmann was not pushed too far wide showed that - even in the context of a friendly - rejigging the team’s shape to get the best out of Pogba need not necessarily be at the expense of the Atleti star. On a night where Giroud again did himself the world of good, scoring with his only effort for his 10th goal in his last 12 France games, it was again clear that the most important relationship for Griezmann is his one with the Arsenal centre-forward. In the 14 matches that the pair have played together for France, Griezmann has scored sevem times, and Giroud has bagged nine himself. If Giroud’s recent goalscoring record in blue is not enough to deter his international critics, then his function as the best foil for Griezmann should be.
Giroud, then, will remain an anachronism in Deschamps’ side, especially given that he turns 30 at the end of the month, and that this is a team that is getting younger. In the context of playing in Italy, the absence of Patrice Evra was especially notable but with the performance of his replacement, Layvin Kurzawa, there could be few arguments.
The Paris Saint-Germain left-back has started the season in good form - crucially, as first choice - and his contributing with an expertly-finished goal and an assist helped to make him star man, rating 8.49. There was relative youth in the other full-back position, too, where Djibril Sidibé made his debut at the age of 24, offering a younger alternative to Bacary Sagna or Christophe Jallet.
With 25-year-old Sébastien Corchia also in the squad, and Kurzawa by no means guaranteed of his place ahead of Barcelona’s 23-year-old left-back Lucas Digne, there is depth for Deschamps in these roles for the foreseeable future. That Kurzawa’s assist was for Giroud is of note as well. The full-backs will continue to be crucial in supplying him and, indirectly through the same route, helping to feed Griezmann.
Much as with Germany, the talent in the French ranks is not in question. The doubt is over leaders. Pogba, Varane, national poster boy Griezmann and even Samuel Umtiti will now have to step up. That will go a long way to deciding whether France are just pretty, or genuinely effective. When the real business starts in Belarus, we’ll start to get closer to an answer.
Can France continue to overcome their Euro 2016 heartbreak when they meet Belarus tonight? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below
