As usual: Injuries to deal with for Blanc

Well so far no one that Blanc selected has officially withdrawn from the upcoming friendlies against Team USA and Les Diables Rouge. Yet it is clear that Blanc will have to deal with some walking wounded that will hamper his ability to field the starting 11 he might have otherwise wanted to see. Granted this might be good - allow some of the fringe players to get some playing time and thankfully France is not playing the "home and away playoff" otherwise this might take on a larger problem.

The likes of Nasri, Cabaye, Remy and Malouda are all in question, you already have Mexes and Sagna on the side line. Abidal has been asked to stay with Barcelona for a Kings Cup match, due to the South American contingent having to leave early for their matches, Barca is a bit short of first team players - the reason for Abidal being ask to stay in Barcelona (there is a La Liga rule about how many reserve players you may play, which again limits Guardiola's options). Blanc has also been asked by M'Vila's manager to take it easy on the Rennes midfielder.

So what does this mean for Blanc? Clearly he has already indicated to look to give some new faces some time on the pitch, starting with the game on Friday against the US. I think Blanc will tinker with both a 4-4-2 and a 4-3-3 (or a hybrid 4-2-3-1), I am leaning towards a 4-3-3 since he has been hit hard injury wise in the midfield.

For the US match look for the following.

Lloris in goal and wearing the captain's arm band.

Defense, I think Debuchy will be on the right again after a good showing against Albania with Mathieu getting his first cap on the left. Sakho and Rami will be paired in the middle.

Midfield, we will see Cabaye (if fully fit), Diarra and M'Vila

Up front, Remy on the right, Ribery on the left and Benzema up front.

Look for Koscielny make his France debut in the second half to pair with Sakho. Martin will come in for M'Vila. Menez for Remy and drop to a 4-2-3-1 with Giroud making his France debut up top of the formation.

Late on look for Ribery to give way to Malouda.

Blanc will want to give his team some run, maybe look to the game against Belgium as one to manage closer to a real match than a friendly.


FRANCE ROSTER
GOALKEEPERS (3): Cédric Carrasso (Bordeaux), Hugo Lloris (Lyon), Steve Mandanda (Marseille)

DEFENDERS (7): Eric Abidal (Barcelona), Matthieu Debuchy (Lille), Jérémy Mathieu (Valencia), Laurent Koscielny (Arsenal), Adil Rami (Valencia), Anthony Réveillère (Lyon), Mamadou Sakho (PSG)

MIDFIELDERS (6): Yohan Cabaye (Newcastle), Alou Diarra (Marseille), Florent Malouda (Chelsea) Yann M'Vila (Rennes), Marvin Martin, (Sochaux), Samir Nasri (Manchester City)

FORWARDS (6): Karim Benzema (Real Madrid), Kevin Gameiro (PSG), Jérémy Ménez (PSG), Loïc Rémy (Marseille), Franck Ribéry (Bayern Munich), Olivier Giroud (Montpellier)