Wednesday, February 29, 2012

France v Germany - dont expect any major changes for Les Bleus

A few hours away from the France v Germany clash in Bremen. The last match before both nations will have to determine which roster to bring to the Euros. Both sides are also ravaged by injury - France without Remy and Benzema while Die Mannschaft will miss Lahm and Goetze to name a few. France will need to be wary of a young and dangerous German team, that surprisingly lost to Ukraine (granted the Germans were experimenting with a previously untested formation in that match) but then went on to spank a highly rated Holland team in their last matches.

France enter this game having not lost a game since they inexplicably dropped one against Belarus in Paris. Yet, Les Bleus have not been overly convincing in their form either...

I think that Blanc will not tinker too much with his line up, other than not being able to play some of his first choice players. How I expect Les Bleus to line up, assuming a 4-2-3-1:

Lloris in goal, he is also going to be wearing the captain's armband for the Euros, well deserved.

Debuchy - Mexes - Rami - Abidal: I would prefer to see the Lille right back start in place of the "safe choice" Reveilliere. I like Debuchy for his offensive punch and being able to bring more options on the right of the formation. Mexes/Rami will be good see after a long absence due to the Milan players injury. Abidal will move to his preferred role back on the left.

M'Vila and Cabaye: again not much change here, I think that Diarra has been pushed down the pecking order (reason why he is not in the conversation for captain), with M'Vila and Cabaye, both under 26, you might have the defensive midfield pairing for the next few years.

Ribery, Nasri, Menez: Ribery is a no brainer on the left and look for Nasri to be given his chances at pulling the strings from the middle, I do expect we will see Martin as well. On the right I waffle between Le Petit Velo - Valbuena and Menez, but I am going with Menez. With a smallish midfield, I think Blanc will go with a player with a bit more height and power.

Giroud - The Montpellier striker leads Ligue 1 and is better form than Gameiro and not sure Blanc wants to give Saha 80+ minutes. Giroud has all the chances to make himself stick with Les Bleus and, unlike Gameiro, offers more of an aerial threat in the penalty box.

I look for a very cautious match between these two sides, however if France are not careful with the ball, they could find themselves down 2 or 3 goals very quickly. I do think there is plenty of motivation to go around to show well in this game. Unfortunately I see Die Mannschaft winning at home: 2-1 on a brace from Klose and a goal from Ribery.

3 comments:

philip said...

Great win by Les Bleus undefeated for a 1 1/2 just like Spain before they won their euro cup in 2008

Anonymous said...

Debuchy deserves to be first-choice RB. He produced more offensively in 1 game than Sagna has produced in 4 years.

Anonymous said...

great win..........




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