Les Bleus get ready for test versus Germany

France v Germany, evokes many emotions...not all that good coming from a Frenchman! Then again at least on the football pitch, Les Bleus have had some good success. Most recently a 2-1 victory away to Germany. For this weeks match, Deschamps called upon many of the usual names...with a few surprises:

Les joueurs retenus :
Landreau, Lloris, Mandanda
Clichy, Debuchy, Evra, Koscielny, Rami, Sagna, Sakho, Varane
Cabaye, Capoue, Gonalons, Matuidi, Sissoko, Valbuena
Alessandrini, Benzema, Giroud, Gomis, Ménez, Ribéry.

The big surprise - the Rennes striker: Alessandrini. The left footed player has made his first appearance on the French national team list. Most recently, Varane had to withdraw and will be replaced by the Newcastle man - Yanga-Mbiwa.  It will be interesting to see who Deschamps leans on - does he stick with his tried and true formation or does he tinker? I say he goes with the former.

Back to running Les Bleus midfield

On defense I think you will see many of the same - Lloris in goal, Evra as your left back and Debuchy on the right. The question is, who does Deschamps look to as he center back pairing? Sakho will most likely get the nod, but does Yanga-Mbiwa get a start, even thought he was not in the original list? Or will we see Koscielny as we did in Spain? I think we will see the Arsenal man shoulder the PSG defender.

In the midfield - if Deschamps runs a 4-3-3 we should see a very "muscular" midfield of Capoue, Matuidi as well as the return of Cabaye. The Newcastle man should be seen as the player who will run the midfield with Capoue and Matuidi doing much of the dirty clean up work.

The front three should be Menez on the right, Ribery on the left and Benzema in the center. Look for Giroud to make a late game entry as well.

Should be a great test for Deschamps and Les Bleus.

Allez les bleus!!