Tuesday, October 14, 2014

Expect to see many new faces for Les Bleus walk out on the pitch in Armenia

No one will be surprised to see a completely new starting line up roll out later today when France face off against Armenia. We already know of the injuries to Benzema and Mangala, so already two spots for new faces. And we expect to see DD run through his other players on the roster and see what he has. So from the press here is the line up we might expect to see:

Mandanda - Jallet, Varane, Mathieu, Digne - Matuidi, Schneiderlin - Sissoko, Payet, Rémy - Gignac

This line up shifts France back to a 4-2-3-1, not a formation I really want to see Les Bleus in, and
Dynamic duo for Les Bleus?
really it could be a 4-3-3 with Sissoko dropping deeper on the pitch and allowing Payet and Remy to play the wide winger roles. The things to watch other than the obvious - see how the new faces play - is to see the role Payet takes on. A player that normally is a winger has been slotted more to the center for his club this year and has shown some success. He will also be sitting behind his OM teammate - Gignac. Does this familiarity on the offensive end bring something to the table for Les Bleus? Does Payet give DD a real option as a center of the park playmaker? Or is he more suited to the wing? It will be also be interesting to watch the right side of the formation. With both Remy and Sissoko who can play that channel, and both are more apt to stay in a wide position.

Let's face it, France is not playing a giant of football. The Armenian coach has also said he thinks this game is "sh**" so I don't expect a lot of creativity from the team from the Caucasus. So I expect France to be attacking and carrying the play for the bulk of the game. It will be interesting to see if with Gignac, a more traditional #9 and his playmaker from OM, if Les Bleus can break down the Armenians.

Prediction - France 2: Armenia 0 goals from Gignac and Schneiderlin.

Allez Les Bleus.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

again bad news for u21...Olympic dream is over...But french team is the best u23 team in the world now..last time lost to Norway and this time Sweden...big drawback

lekarlokin

GFC said...

I agree...terrible showing by Les Espoir. After being up 2-0 on the home leg, they lose 4-1 away after giving up a late goal! Awful