Welcome to the "Frog," my little piece of cyberspace to talk about my passion - le foot (or soccer for my North American friends) especially anything around French football. Of course I will have some guest contributors that might want to discuss other aspects of footy! I support Les Bleus, Arsenal and PSG but really just love watching, analyzing and following the beautiful game. "You have to trust your teammates, always. If not we are lost."
Thursday, June 09, 2011
Les Bleus and Blanc going witha 4-4-2
No surprise, Blanc will align a 4-4-2, after announcing that Hourau would be a starter I could not really see him lining up as the lone striker. After his match against Ukraine, Gameiro was given another chance to start this time with a strike partner - Hourau.
The midfield is no surprise with Diarra (I am a bit surprised to see the Bordeaux man back in the starting XI but he did not play against Ukraine so makes sense), Martin, Valbuena and N'Zogbia. Look for N'Zogbia to hold the wide flank on the left with Valbuena doing the same on the right. Martin, after his 15 minutes of insanity, will be given an expected start and will be expected to pull the strings in the midfield. This will place some pressure on Diarra since he is the single "guard" in front of the back 4. Speaking of the back 4, no surprises, except for Sakho sitting and Abidal in central defense. How ironic when that is the exact role he did not want to play under Domenech. Granted Abidal has slotted there for Barcelona when Pujol was injured. With Rami suspended against Albania when the qualifiers start up again, and Mexes coming off injury, Blanc is clearly getting ready for having to leverage Abidal and his experience in central defense.
I see this game being another trial run for Blanc in preparation for the Albania match in September.
Prediction: France 3 – Poland 1, goals from Hourau, Valbuena and Gameiro
Allez les Bleus
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5 comments:
France played a 4-2-3-1 or 4-1-4-1 with A. Diarra and Cabaye as the holding midfielders, Valbuena on the left, N'Zogbia on the right (Blanc apparently likes "wrong-sided" wide midfielders), Martin in the middle and Hoarau up front by himself. As expected, Hoarau was ineffective as a lone striker. Valbuena played pretty well, and The defense was very good, and Sagna was probably France's best player. N'Zogbia scored a lucky goal off a deflection (really more of an own goal). Martin was good again--nearly got another assist and just missed another goal after dribbling past a couple of defenders--and controlled the game in middle of the pitch. In my view, he's been better than either Nasri or Gourcuff as of late. It's only been 2 games, but he deserves to keep his hat in the ring for the playmaker position.
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Anon- I saw it as 4-1-4-1, as you suggested, and I also noticed the wrong-sided wide midfielders. These are two new experiments. The left-sided midfielders playing on the right (Malouda and N'Zogbia) have created a couple goals, so it's working. I also like the 4-1-4-1, especially if it's M'Vila holding, because I think he can do the job himself when he's up for a match.
I agree that Hoarau was ineffective.
Sagna's always good.
Martin was in and out, but he definitely has skill.
From what little I was able to watch I think Hourau was miscast. I will need to sit down and watch the game in its entirety.
As for the "wrong sided" midfielder, that is similar to what Bayern does with Ribery on the left and Robben on the right. That allows the wide men to cut in on the diagonal and shift to their favored foot.
Martin has earned himself ever chance to being the #10 for Les Bleus.
Did you see that Gameiro has signed with PSG? Maybe next they can target Martin...
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