The biggest concern for Le President is who will be his right back, as Sagna is recovering from an infection. The Gunner cannot go, then the Lyon right back - Reveillere will most like slot in on the right side of the defense. Not a big drop off since the Lyon player has regularly seen action for Les Bleus.
The other news for Les Bleus is that it appears Blanc will opt for "ole faithful" the 4-2-3-1. With the following:
Lloris
Evra - Kaboul, Abidal - Reveillere/Sagna
Diarra - M'Vila
Ribery - Nasri - Malouda
Benzema
Malouda will apparently slot to the right wing, which is a bit of a surprise to me considering Blanc has three natural right wingers on his roster - Menez, Valbuena and Remy. His two left sided players will be on the pitch at the same time - Ribery and Malouda. It would appear that starting both might limit his options or perhaps he assumes he will take out Ribery and slot Malouda on the left and bring in a right wing or just swap Malouda for a right wing. It just appears a bit forced to me that he has moved Malouda to the right side. Now it could be that with Reveillere as the right back, Blanc will hope that he and his former Lyon teammate, Malouda, have some degree of understanding. Couple this with the fact Malouda has greater defensive discipline that the other options at right wing, and Revelliere tends to push high on the pitch, Blanc maybe looking for a more defensively disciplined right side.
I am a bit surprised at the very defensive minded formation - 2 true holding midfielders - that Blanc appears to be favoring. Granted he might be thinking that if he can play this formation and score a goal on Albania, that he then has options to switch to a more defensive formation later on to protect the lead, or just rotate offensive players, knowing he has a strong defensive core. Alternatively, if he is chasing a goal after 60 minutes he could easily bring in a Martin for one of the holding players and switch to a hybrid Spanish: 4-1-4-1. Or even swap out Malouda for a Gameiro and push up higher on the pitch.
Les Bleus should win this match regardless of a 4-2-3-1 or a 4-1-4-1, but I do not think the match will be easy. France have never found away trips to Albania to be picnics. Assume the pitch will be heavy, the supporters boisterous and the competition tough.
France 2 - Albania 0
Goals from Ribery and Benzema
Allez Les Bleus!!!
2 comments:
I don't really understand slotting Malouda to the right, either. I know Blanc has tried this before (with malouda scoring a goal), but is Malouda really the best option at the moment? In my view, both Menez and Remy are playing better than Malouda at the moment.
I completely agree, read my latest post on this "tempest in a tea cup" crisis that is the right wing for Les Bleus.
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