Tuesday, July 01, 2014

Deschamps' dilemna - bold moves that might be made

So we have had 24 hours to digest the French 2-0 victory over Nigeria, and two big questions linger for Deschamps.
  • Benzema - Giroud: as I stated in the last blog post, this partnership needs some work. And this is not the time to test and work out the kinks. It is tough on the Arsenal man that once he came out of the game yesterday the French all of sudden found their rhythm and took control of the game on the offensive side. Of course there would not be this problem had Ribery been healthy. But he is not. Does Deschamps look to Griezmann to shore up that left side? I think he does. The next few training sessions will give us a glimpse into what line up DD will roll out.
  • Speaking of the left side...does Deschamps have a problem with Evra? Were it not for Giroud's debacle of a game, Evra would have received the worse grade for the French yesterday. I read one match report that gave Evra a 3 and Giroud a 2! (scale is 1-10, 10 being perfect). Evra looked a shell of himself for most of the game. Only make a few late runs offensively which amounted to very little. Was this due to Evra being on a yellow and not wanting to pick up a second and missing the 1/4 finals? Or was it because as the Gooner stated - "he has lost it." I believe that it might be a combination of the two. I do not see Deschamps sitting his veteran, but I am hoping that the yellow card threat was what had Evra pump the brakes a bit on his game.
There is also another story coming out of Brazil - that Varane had to be hospitalized for dehydration.  This story is concerning. Something else to watch for. The next few days should be very interesting to say the least.

Allez les Bleus.

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