Monday, August 13, 2012

France v Uruguay...back to a two striker system?

The news from Clairefontaine is that Deschamps is leaning towards rolling out Giroud-Benzema up front. Hallelujah! If there is was one thing that was apparent during the Euros was the fact Benzema cannot help himself from dropping too deep on the pitch. This left too much space at the top of the formation, allowing the defense to pack in the space and snuff out any oxygen for the offense. With Giroud on the pitch, France will have a striker who will sit on the last defender's shoulder. This will allow for crosses to be more potent as well as opening up space for the midfield and finally give Les Bleus a "fox in the box" someone that can pounce on rebounds.

Hope to see some lethal crosses on Wednesday
So will Deschamps run a 4-4-2? Seems that way. But it may look more like a 4-2-3-1...stay with me on this. First let's look at what could be the following team Deschamps rolls out:

Lloris
Debuchy, Sakho, Mbiwa, Evra
Payet, Matuidi, Gonalons, Ribery
Benzema, Giroud

This would be a "traditional" 4-4-2...but stay with me...look for Benzema to have the freedom to do what he did at the Euros - drift deeper. Look for Payet and Ribery to push higher on the pitch, playing the wide offensive roles. This would allow for Benzema to drift and fill the hole behind the striker. Matuidi and Gonalons will act as the holding midfielders (Mavuba might also be an option to start in that role).

Deschamps could look to slot Martin on the right, but I think his tendency would be to drift back to the center of the park - potentially infringing on Benzema's space.

This formation would also allow Benzema to slot higher up the pitch, allow Ribery the freedom to drift to the middle in support of the two strikers.

If Deschamps does opt for the two strikers, it will be even more imperative for the right and left backs to push up and bring width to the attack as well as provide the adequate services of crosses to take advantage of the presence of Giroud. I will be interested to see how things work out during the training sessions.

Allez Les Bleus.

11 comments:

Maurice said...

Love the formation you came up with! It will be interesting to see who he selects to start. Do you think Deschamps will incorporate Nasri and Menez into the team after their suspensions? He said that his 3 main principles as coach are "Humility, Respect, and Pleasure", I don't think there is an ounce of humility in either of those two players.

Anonymous said...

I think you're right that this will end up looking like a 4-2-3-1, with Benzema dropping back as a false 9. On the other hand, I could see Martin getting the nod in something like a 4-1-3-2 in which Benz would have a bit less freedom to drift toward midfield.

Anonymous said...

Menez deserves another chance.and for nasri,i think(hope) gourcuff will find his form this season.so nasri won't be included in the team.correct me if i'm wrong,gourcuff had an encouraging start to this season.

Anonymous said...

4-1-3-2:

Debuchy-Kos-Sakho-Clichy

Mavuba

Valbuena-Martin-Ribery

Benz-Giroud

GFC said...

Unfortunately it looks like Kos is a forfeit, otherwise I would have penciled him as a starter.

Menez and Nasri will get their chances. One player I am not sure will is Ben Arfa, not for what he did at the Euros but more for the history between him and Deschamps. Gourcuff had a decent start to the Ligue 1 season. If Gourcuff comes back into the fold I think the system that best fits him would be hard to incorporate other players such as Ribery. I think Gourcuff would fit in a 4-3-1-2 with him sitting behind the two strikers. But you would need three more defensive/holding players to back him up. Not sure where Ribery would fit in...



GFC said...

@Maurice, I am not sure there is much humility with many of these players. But that is what you expect when you reach this level! I do think that Blanc got put in a tough situation by the FFF. They did not extend his contract so players had no "fear" of what would happen post Euro. Blanc was a lame duck so could not impose more of his will on the likes of Nasri and Menez. I think Deschamps will have his hands full, just like Blanc.

Time will tell.

Anonymous said...

4-2-3-1 with clichy,kos,rami,debuchy,m'villa,cabaye,ribery,gourcuff,menez,benzema.but ribery and gourcuff need to sort out their problems.i think gourcuff was the piece we had missed against spain.he is a playmaker who are able to run past defenders and someone who doesn't afraid to try his luck in long range and he also a free kick specialist.but problem is he needs motivator instead of a coacher.and someone must tell benzema to not to drop deep.and our defence need to stay at back rather than defending high line.and cabaye must do something like viera.he can bring offensive punch to the midfield.

GFC said...

Interesting, but the issue with that line up is making sure Benzema stays on the last defender's shoulder. Not something he seems to have the discipline to do with France!

Gourcuff is an interesting piece, if, and that is a big IF, he gets back to his form of Bordeaux. Otherwise I think he is a hindrance to the offense. He seems to play too long on the ball, not allow the speed of the wingers to be taken advantage of. I do agree that he is willing to thump from distance, looks to spring threatening passes and can dribble people. But that form has to come back for Les Bleus.

Anonymous said...

I haven't been able to see much of real madrid matches.does benzema always drops deep for blancos' matches?i think it was a blanc's idea to use him as a false nine.we know blanc obsessive with la roja game.but i think it was a tactical mistake.and i think we could try 4-1-1-3-1 with m'villa as DM,cabaye as CM(ACM),ribery LWM,gourcuff CAM,menez RWM,benzema ST.or 4-1-1-2-2 with m'villa or cabaye as DM,gourcuff as CM(not CAM),ribery LWM,menez RWM,benzema ST,girould ST.

Anonymous said...

*correction- 4-1-1-3-1 cabaye as CM(not CAM)

GFC said...

For Real Madrid I tend to see Benzema stay high on the pitch. Much of that has to do with the fact that he has the likes of Ozil, Ronaldo, Di Maria etc carrying the offensive flow of the game.

I think that Cabaye and M'Vila will be back in the fold as the two holding players moving forward.