Friday, October 05, 2012

France...sh*t just got real. Head to Spain for qualifiers

Deschamps rolled out his list for the upcoming France v Spain World Cup qualifier. There are some very interesting names on the list and those that have been left off -

Landreau, Lloris, Mandanda
Clichy, Debuchy, Evra, Jallet, Koscielny, Rami, Sakho, Yanga-Mbiwa
Cabaye, Capoue, L. Diarra, Gonalons, Matuidi, Sissoko, Valbuena
Benzema, Giroud, Gomis, Ménez, Ribéry.

It is interesting to see Landreau again on the list, is he back to being the #3 keeper for Les Bleus? What happened to Carrasso? I have always felt the #3 keeper spot for a national team should be for a keeper you are grooming for the future. A keeper that can step in if there is a major emergency (how many times has the third string keeper been called on?) but gains experience during training sessions etc. That was what Landreau was doing when he first broke into the side...is Deschamps wasting that spot now?

No major surprises on the defensive call ups. The question will be who starts on the right and left sides? The central pairing should be Rami and Sakho (Mbiwa is suspended). However on the right Debuchy is back, but Jallet has shown some thing last two games. And on the left can Evra hold off his local rival Clichy?

In the midfield there are some surprises when it comes to who remains off the list. No Diaby, no Nasri, no M'Vila ... and the return of Sissoko and Lass! Very interesting in deed. What next, Toulalan? Diaby is not a surprise, he is supposedly not 100%...shocking. No Nasri is interesting, makes one wonder where the creativity in the midfield will come from. M'Vila is playing with the Espoir Selection - amazing that he is that young he can still qualify. Deschamps has selected a very defensive oriented midfield group, with really only Valbuena listed as an offensive midfielder. Smells like he might look to roll out a 3 man defensive minded midfield.

Up front there is no surprise, I think we will see Ribery on the left and Menez on the right or even Benzema on the right supporting Giroud.

The names that have been rolled out might indicate that we will see a 4-3-3 with the midfield 3 being very defensive oriented. Try to slow down the Spanish attack. With the three offensive players tasked to counter. It will be interesting to see how France approach the friendly against Japan before heading to Spain.

Allez les Bleus.

2 comments:

philip said...

Hopefully all the spanish players will be tired from el classico. Allez les bleus

GFC said...

I don't think Puyol will play, after a horrific elbow dislocation. But I would not count on the Spanish team being tired! I have been waiting for that to happen for the past few years, to no avail. Les Bleus will have to beat them on the pitch, plain and simple.