Can a 4-3 loss feel like a pseudo win? Les Diables Rouge almost give it away

Well how is it possible that you give up 4 goals, almost give up a fifth when Lukaku smashed a close shot off the post in the 62nd minute, and not feel completely dejected?? That is what happens when you also score 3 goals, of which two came in the last few minutes of the game...and where Courtois had to make a solid reflex save off a deflected France shot in injury time. Anyways....I have been remiss from posting but here goes the analysis.

The Good:

• Les Diables Rouge - There was very little good from Les Bleus...but their northern neighbors were very good. Okay. Good until they forgot how to defend and made the last few minutes more tense that had to be. The Belgians have a talented and scary starting 11. It all starts with Chelsea star - Hazard. Unlike with his club team (thanks Jose) he has more freedom to roam for his national side. This freedom allows him to showcase his world class touch, shiftiness, creativity and pace. He is world class. But there is more talent than just Eden. With the likes of Bentenke and Lukaku up front, Fellaini, Vertongen and a world class keeper in Courtois there is some serious talent available for the Red Devils. With the pitbull - Nainggolan - patrolling the midfield there is some additional snarl on the field. The Belgians did not have their captain and sweeper - Kompany either. The youth system continues to produce some talent, the Anderlecht youngster - Dendoncker - coming on late to earn his first cap. Currently sitting in the second spot of the FIFA rankings, this side has every right to believe they should head to the Euros next summer as one of the favorites. The question will be - do they have the depth to win the tournament and can they play as favorites. But clearly they are a team to watch. 
• Well that is about it for the good....okay okay...I will say the French substitutes of Payet, Fekir and Ntep were good. Well maybe not 100% good but I need to find something good for Les Bleus. The three Ligue 1 youngsters brought some pace and offensive creativity to a French

  

  Only bright lights of the night?

  side that appeared flat most of the game. I was especially impressed by the pace of Ntep. I am not sure if he will have a legitimate challenge to taking that starting slot, but he seems to offer a nice option as a game changing substitute, someone that can create a lot of problems for a tired defense late in a game. Fekir's work rate and creativity were also noticeable. He was rewarded for his efforts by potting his first international goal. Same goes for Payet. While I have never been the biggest fan of the OM player, he did show well today.

The Bad:

• Ugh, not sure why, but France still struggles with a solid central defensive pairing. Individually and for their club, I like both Varane and Koscienly. But for some reason whey they put on the France shirt they seem to lose some brain cells. Kos gave up a penalty kick that felt like it was due to being lazy and out of position. While Varane seemed to be overwhelmed at times by the Belgian attack. They both have the talent...just not sure whey it does not get translated when they play for France.
• Speaking of defense...once again the French outside backs were lacking in their crosses. My frustration with Sagna's crosses is well documented, but I was a bit shocked that Tremoulinas was just as bad. I did like the former Bordeaux fullback's pace and willingness to jump into the offensive end. But both outside backs kept pumping in crosses...that went nowhere. Ugh. I guess that is why the likes of Evra remain in the conversation.

The Ugly:

• Sloppy play...I should have known from the start that the game was going to be ugly when France took the opening kick off and passed it to no one...no one really looked that engaged. There was very little in terms of linking up play or of any real sustained attack. Valbuena made some good runs and had some decent passes...but no one followed. Giroud looked lost alone and frankly at times uninterested. Cabaye showed some efforts but it appears that his lack of time for PSG is showing. Just ugly. All around. 

Well let's put this game behind us. France were dominated by a team that was not necessarily more talented but have two aspects France seem to be missing: 1)A world class player, Hazard for Belgium who for France? 2)A team that plays as a team. Deschamps still has a year to try and develop the latter, not sure the former is available. Lots of work ahead.

And then there were 8...1/4 finals of World Cup approach

Phew, 48 hours without any World Cup football..how are we expected to survive this? It has actually been a good respite considering how tense some of the knock out games were. Starting tomorrow we are back in for 4 very different and fascinating matches. Since the Frog was 7-1 in the picks for the last round, we are feeling pretty confident in our prognostications! The one missed pick...The Frog had the US beating Belgium 2-1. Right score line...wrong teams. So here we go:

• France v West Germany: I have been surprisingly calm about this match, maybe it is the heat that has descended on the New England area that is warping my mind. I will most likely have a dedicated post to this match but here is my snap shot. France and Germany have a long story of match ups - 1986, 1982, 1940, 1914, 1870...1806 okay okay I completely digress from the football field. When it comes to their national football teams, France has always been in the shadow of Germany. Les Bleus have always seemed to be the little brother to Die Mannschaft. France and Germany have not met on the footy field at a major tournament since 1986. But those match ups - 1982 and 1986 - carry a lot of weight on this rivalry. More on 1982 in another post. But we are now in 2014, most players on both sides were not born in 1986! So what to

  

  We meet again!

  make of this match up? Both sides struggled in their knock out openers. France did not look good against Nigeria until the last 15 minutes while Germany, at times, looked old and slow versus the Algerians. But this is Germany, this is the World Cup - they know how to win when they have to. It might not be pretty, and often it is not, but they do what it takes. While Les Bleus, for all the good will they are starting to harvest, is still an experienced side when it comes to these types of games. For this reason I have a hard time to pick against the RFA. Here is why - Muller is not going to miss sitters like he did against Algeria, Ozil and Gotze are going to cause some real issues for Evra and Debuchy. The midfielders will cancel each other out. Muller is more clinical than the French options up front. I have to make this pick with head...not my heart. West Germany 2 - France 0
• Brazil v Colombia - Has there been a player with more hype than James Rodriguez? He deserves much of the praise, having scored in each of his nation's games at the World Cup, including a master stroke of a volley against Uruguay. Brazil also did not look very convincing against Chile. The Brazilians have the goal frame to thank for their victory. If I see Cesar weeping openly again, I might throw something at my television screen and vomit...so Brazil played terribly and still made it to the 1/4 finals. They are still the home side if anyone forgot. They are facing another South American side who they are very accustomed to playing in Brazil. Colombia has never reached this stage, even the sides with Valderrama and Asprilla. Colombia have been clicking since the group stages, where they have scored 11 goals and only giving up 2 goals since this World Cup has started. Strong numbers to say the least. But they are now facing off against Brazil. I think this game will be closer than the home fans will want to see, but at the end I cannot see Brazil falling to their neighbors from the north. Brazil 2 - Colombia 1
• Argentina v Belgium - France and West Germany are not the only nations that have footballing history from 1982 and 1986. Belgium defeated Argentina 1-0 in the 1982 group stage opener, at Camp Nou. The two sides met again 4 years later this time in the 1/2 finals where Maradona scored a brace to send Scifo and Pfaff to the third place match (where they lost 4-2 to France). So these two nations face off again on the world's biggest footballing stage. Argentina struggled against the Swiss last round.

  

  Messi to expect the same treatment?

  Once again it needed a run by Messi to get through on a 1-0 score line. Argentina's offense was better than it had been - especially Di Maria who seemed to step up his game. Becoming more active in carrying the game for the Argentines. The one troubling area, continues to be their back line. This is something of a concern for Les Albicelestes. Belgium showed against the United States that they have some lethal attacking options - Hazard, De Bruyen, Lukaku, Origi and even fullbacks like Vertonghen. Can the Argentine defense hold up against these attacking options? Or will Belgium be more cautious facing Messi and co as opposed to when they faced the powerful midfield of Bradley and Zusi...Argentina, similar to Brazil, have won unconvincing, even ugly. I think this continues, but it will be close. Argentina 1 - Belgium 1, Argentina wins 5-4 on kicks.
• Holland v Costa Rica - Of all the CONCACAF teams, who would have wagered it would be the Ticos that got to the 1/4 finals? Oranje could be considered fortunate having beaten another CONCACAF side - Mexico. But this is a new day. I cannot see how Costa Rica can continue their magical run. They also had to play an extra 30 minutes and a man down. That is a lot of extra wear on those players' legs. I also do not think that Costa Rica has handled a player like Robben nor Van Persie in the past. Look for Robben to carve up the Ticos with either his pace or his diving. Either way he is world class. Look for Los Ticos' run to end. Holland 2 - Costa Rica 0 

Some exciting 1/4 finals game coming up. I think we are still on course for a Brazil v Argentina finals...wow. And Holland v Germany 3rd place game which might be one of the better 3rd place games ever!

United States exits World Cup - head high, but Jurgen has some questions to answer

In the last game to determine the last spot in the 1/4 finals, the United States, dominated for almost the full 120 minutes of the game, almost pulled off the upset. The USMNT depart Brazil with heads held high, but there are some questions Jurgen needs to answer.

First the United States fought a valiant game against dark horse team for the World Cup - Belgium. Hazard, De Bruyne, Origi, Fellaini and the rest of Les Diables Rouge could not break the stone wall that was Howard has been throughout this entire tournament. Other than time of possession, which I am surprised that the United States owned - 54% to 46% - the other statistics were ridiculously one sided:

• Shots
• 39 for Belgium...WHAT??? 
• 17 for the United States
• Shots on frame
• 17 for Belgium. Ridiculous number, ESPN puts the number at 27...not sure about how they arrive at that figure.
• 5 for the United States
• Corners
• 19 for Belgium...again...WHAT???
• 4 for the United States

Completely one sided numbers which highlighted the domination by Belgium and the absolute huge game that Tim Howard played in goal. By far the man of the match, no d'uh. The Everton keeper was always well positioned, made the key saves he had to and I am sure crawled into the heads of the opposing players. Howard, like Ochoa for Mexico, demonstrated how far a nation can go if they have a world class keeper. However, like Ochoa, this game demonstrated you cannot win with only a world class keeper.

Other than Howard, I was impressed by Yedlin. The pacey right back did not look out of place at all. He used his speed well to slow down Hazard and was not afraid to push up the pitch and leverage that same pace to create real problems for the Belgian defense. Not that you would build around your right fullback, but he has real potential for the United States

Standing on his head...

and will bring an element you must have in today's game - offense from your fullbacks.

However, when it comes to Jurgen I think there remain some questions:

• Why did he insist on playing Bradley out of position? To me Bradley had a disaster of a tournament. Yes he had a sumptuous pass to Green that cut the deficit to 1 goal late in extra time. But other than that...what did he do? This game and all tournament? I felt as if he was constantly out muscled against Belgium. He had trouble making the right pass. And was not strong defensively. I think the consensus, rightfully so, was that he was one if not the best outfield player the US had heading into the tournament. ESPN kept saying that Klinsmann was playing him higher because they had no options for that spot. Hmmm. Maybe Jurgen should have selected a player(s) to play that role and allow Bradley to slot back in his preferred spot. Maybe Bradley would still have failed to impress, but at least he would have been playing where he is accustom to slotting and put in a position to succeed.
• Speaking of selecting players...I realize this story has long been forgotten, sort of, but I need to bring it up - wouldn't Donovan have been a viable option? Once Altidore went down with his hamstring...that ESPN kept telling us was "getting better" ... it became clear that the roster did not have someone to fill that void. So Klinsmann was forced to shake up his line up and force Dempsey to the center of the formation. Much like with Bradley, putting a player in a suboptimal role. To me this was due in large part because Klinsmann did not make the right choices for his roster. By no means do I think Landycakes would have been the panacea. But having a player of Donovan's experience and skill could very well have a difference maker. I can think of 2 occasions where Landycakes makes a difference. Late on against Portugal, insert him up front and he might have the savvy-ness to hold up the ball in the Portuguese end late on and maybe Ronaldo never sees the ball again. The second situation - today against Belgium. He puts away the ball late in the game that Wondolowski somehow...somehow missed. And he missed BADLY.  One thing I will give Donovan credit - he doesn't wiff when he has the opportunity to score big goals. Donovan could also have given Klinsmann an option to slot up front with Altidore out...allowing Dempsey to play a deeper and wider role. Food for thought.

I realize that Klinsmann is safe for another 4 years. Unlike European coaches he does not have to deal with the European Championship, so Jurgen has 4 years to work. However he should receive some criticism. He will surely receive heaps of praise, which he has earned, but there also needs some reflection on what could have been.

Congratulations to the USMNT, they went further than most pundits thought they could (except for this one!), but might have fallen a little short because of their coaches' arrogance. 

France - Belgium a goalless blah game

After a decent day of friendlies, where every game say some goals...except for Wales v Ireland and France v Belgium. Yuck. Granted the France game had plenty of opportunities for some goals. Watching the game just got me more frustrated with Les Bleus and scratching my head with regards to any solutions...but let me try to extract something from the friendly:

The Good:

• Difficult to extract much good. Not losing their 4th straight game is one silver lining. France was on a terrible run of 3 straight lost matches losing to Spain, Uruguay and Brazil. Getting a draw is not the worst thing, especially on the road to the 10th best nation in the world (yes Belgium is 15 spots ahead of France!) Of course this is the 4th straight game France has failed to score a goal, more on this later.
• Belgium...looked solid. I do like the fact Les Diables Rouge are relevant again in world football. They have some talent on this side. A midfield with Fallaini and Hazard, an up and coming world striker in Lukaku and a solid defensive back 4 anchored by giants

  

  Reason for Belgium's optimism

  Kompany and Van Buyten. Their remains a question in goal, although Courtois did the necessary to maintain his clean sheet. However it is far from certain this is the next JM Pfaff. There is some rumblings out of Bruxelles that this side could actually challenge in a year for a World Cup title...not entirely out of the realm of possibility. Based on how they are currently built I might see them as a dark horse and could seriously make a run to the semi finals of the World Cup (assuming they qualify and get a decent draw).
• I have to said Abidal looked decent at center back. I am not ready to put him in the conversation for French center back, but he did not seem to miss a step. Good first step, but I rather see him on the flanks.

The Bad:

• France might as well start all center or left sided players...because the right side is useless. I realize this is nothing new. But even I was shocked at seeing how much the French game leaned left. It was so ridiculous that there were a few times when Ribery found himself standing right next to either Benzema or Valbuena. At one point it felt like Payet, who had also drifted in that direction, realized that he was suppose to be the right winger and scampered back to the right side. It is as if there is some invisible force that pulls the ball and then all the offensive players for France to the left. There were a number of times where I saw Sagna, all alone, on the right flank, flapping his arms like a wild turkey...yet getting zero service. It got so bad that Belgium just overloaded that side, forcing the likes of Ribery to dribble at 2-3 defenders. Or at times he would run into his player...who was also on that left side. Bad bad bad.
• Once again France gave up too many opportunities to Belgium, that fortunately they could not capitalize on. Kos makes a huge gaff in the middle of the penalty area where De Bruyne completely missed the frame, otherwise he seemed to have a goal sitting on his boot. Lukaku missed a couple of close range goals as well. France also gave up a 5 v 2 on the 25th minute...all terrible terrible gaffs. Belgium should have capitalized on at least one of these opportunities. These were correctable defensive problems for France...but they seem to have been the same issues Les Bleus have suffered for seasons. Unless France can somehow recover from these issues they will a)not go to Brazil b)if they do get there...wouldn't do much.

The Ugly:

• Goals...or a lack thereof for Les Bleus. We are pushing 1200 minutes since the last time our #1 striker has put a ball in the goal. That is UGLY...not how a team wins anything. And it is not just him. France have not scored since they put 3 past Georgia, let's not get too excited. It isn't even that they are not scoring, but they do not seem to even get any real opportunities to scoring a goal! Listening to the game yesterday on ESPN 3, you would have thought that France had made themselves a handful of chances. Not sure. The one real "chance" I saw was late in the game when Giroud tried to one time a left footed volley from inside the penalty spot...only to kick it into row Z. Otherwise the few other "opportunities" came when Ribery, Valbuena or Benzema took on the entire Belgium defense to take a difficult shot on goal. But France never really threatened Belgium's goal...ugly.
• Speaking of lack of goals...the offensive flow for France was ugly. Like what I mentioned earlier about the left side of the French offense this was just a small part of a greater lack of offensive flow. France seems to be looking for some consistency to their offense. Ribery is France's only real world class attacking player. But he is a left winger. There has to be a balance - someone to either bring more offense on the right side and or a true central midfielder. Someone who can pull the strings, hold the ball up or play faster...not sure Valbuena is that player. I think he would be better served on the right wing with a more classical central midfielder pulling the strings in the middle

  

  Probably missed this 1v1 as well...

  of the park. Not sure France have that player...Nasri? Martin? Gourcuff? None give me a huge amount of confidence. Grenier could be the next in line...to be determined. France gave us a slight glimpse of a decent balance of attack when they had Ribery on the left, Nasri in the center and Valbuena on the right. But that only seemed to work for a game or two...not really a wonderful sample size. 
• Okay this is an easy one, and is a continuation of the above but Benzema and his lack of goals is getting to be beyond ugly.  It has become so painful to watch and I think more than just for the player. Why? His teammates clearly know he is on a major scoring drought. There were situations where the ball should have been switched to the opposite field but instead it was forced to Benzema, to try and get him a goal. Of course it did not work. I feel as if the Benzema era is sliding into failure territory. No team can hope for success if their #1 striker cannot score goals! It might be time to sit him and give Giroud or a youngster their chance. 
• Sagna and his crosses...once again left much to be desired. He had the space in his channel, but as usual his crosses were awful. Granted he didn't always have great options. But if there is no one there, don't cross it!!! Hold it and wait for options. Ugh.

So Les Bleus leave Bruxelles with a drab 0-0 draw and once again could not score a goal. Ugh. One take away from the match is France cannot function in a 4-2-3-1. Why? They do not have the discipline to stay in the channels - too often with the game leaning left you saw Valbuena drifting too far left, or even Payet finding himself there. This took out the entire right side as well as drawing the defenders to that channel. Benzema drifts back too much as well, adding more congestion. Because of this clustering, when the ball gets lost it tends to go back the other way in space. When your central midfielder, left winger and striker are all within 5 feet of one another there is space behind them that gets exploited. Not good. Add to this the strength France has in the holding/defensive midfield position and I believe Les Bleus should think about the 4-3-3 as the formation of choice.

The formation can also evolve into a 4-3-2-1. With the likes of Pogba, Cabaye, Matuidi, Capoue to name a few, you have a wealth of options of midfielders who can offer a strong defensive line in the midfield, but one that can also carry the ball up the pitch. It would also allow the three high line players more space. A line of Ribery on the left, Benzema in the middle (even thought I am calling him a failure he might do better in this formation) and Valbuena on the right would have the space to do their thing - meaning float around the pitch. Players like Cabaye, Matuidi and Pogba, to name a few, have the ability to jump up into the offensive end and contribute goals and opportunities. Now if France goes with this formation, it will also force the left and right fullbacks to be more offensively savvy - not sure Sagna gives you that on the right not does Clichy on the left.

Let's go Deschamps, muscle up your midfield, play counter attack football. That is the talent you have available, play to your strengths and stop trying to find different results from the same formation that is not working.
 

Les Bleus to line up with familiar faces...except for two key positions.

Deschamps will most likely roll out his usual 4-2-3-1 today in Belgium. And to no real surprise the faces that will occupy those spots are for the most part the ones we are used to seeing. The expected starting line up:

Lloris - Sagna, Koscielny, Abidal, Clichy - Guilavogui, Kondogbia - Payet, Valbuena, Ribéry - Benzema

No surprise in goal nor across the back 4. As it was rumored, the Monaco defender Abidal will be slotted at central defense. Clearly Deschamps is still trying to figure out who will provide cover or even potentially be the starter next to Kos. I have to assume that Varane will get the nod, or at least be the club house leader for the role once he is fully operational. Clichy and Sagna are back on the flanks over Debuchy and Evra. I have no issue at left back, but at right back I still have my doubts of Sagna's offensive contributions.

Will we ever see this again?

Up front it looks much the same as it has for a while: Ribery out on the left, Valbuena now in the center pulling the strings and Payet the latest right winger to be given another chance to take ownership of that spot. It will be interesting to see if Nasri is given time in that channel and what happens when Menez is back to full form. Up front is wonder kid Benzema. Yes that was tongue in cheek. I need not remind readers of how many minutes, games, months it has been since France's #1 striker has netted a goal. But trust me it has been a LONG time (1082 minutes...might as well be another life time ago). We keep saying it each time France rolls out their Real Madrid striker - "will this be the game he breaks back into form?" I am tired of asking this question and frankly tired of waiting for it to happen. I know strikers can be temperamental but this has gotten to a level of absurdity. I might even start calling Benzema a bust.

Of course in the holding midfield role we will see two newbies - Guilavogui (who did get his first cap away to Brazil) and Kondogbia. These two new members of the national team are getting a run out in large part due to the suspensions of Pogba, Matuidi and Cabaye for the next qualifier. Having said that, I think this is a good chance to see some of the depth France has at this position. Let us not forget that Capoue, Sissoko and Mavuba are also available, not bad options. I will be interested to see how the first of the U20 World Cup champions, yes Pogba has played for the senior squad already but he wasn't a WC Champ at the time, assimilates into the senior squad. One thing France have plenty of depth is in the holding midfield role, with Guilavogui and Kondogbia starting we are just seeing more of these riches on display. Now if we could only trade a few of these assets for a world class striker.

The Belgium Pele

So will this line up succeed against an up and coming Diables Rouge side? Belgium is starting to develop a serious roster of talent, reminds me of the teams I used to watch in the late 80s that were built around Scifo and went all the way to a 4th place finish at the Mexico World Cup in 1986. This version has Hazard and Fellaini in their midfield but also a solid
defense built around Kompany and some young talent at striker in Mirallas and Lukaku. This is a side that France could very well have to play in the qualifier play in round. Something I would not look forward to. Unfortunately for Les Bleus, I just do not see a way out of their recent malaise.  I do not see a solution up front when it comes to scoring goals. I am not worried about Ribery or Valbuena, but the right wing remains a problem and we might as well play with Nasri as the fake #9 like Spain does because he has a much better chance of scoring than does Benzema. I am concerned with our center backs - not sure I want to see Abidal there, just do not feel that his is best position. The two newbies in the holding spots will be something to watch. I doubt either will be overwhelmed by the situation but this is their first international match together and having to face the likes of Hazard is no easy task.

Prediction - the poor run of late continues. Les Blues fall to Les Diables Rouge

Belgium 2 - France 1...alas

Allez les Bleus

Deschamps out with the old and in with the old - list for upcoming Belgium friendly

It is that time of the year again...back to school you say? No! The kick off for club footy as well as the international calendar. Whoohoooo!!! Granted most think this first friendly is useless, players are barely back in game form, some leagues will not have even started yet. But I am not one of those naysayers. I think internationals are great, and these vital with the remainder of the World Cup qualifiers taking place later this Fall.

What is interesting is that Deschamps has put out a list of players, that looks very similar to a list that Blanc or gasp...Domenech might have used when they were managers. Abidal, Evra, Ribery, Landreau, Nasri, Benzema??? Okay I realize that some of these players are in their prime...but just something I wanted to point out. So the list:

La liste des Bleus :
Gardiens : Landreau, Lloris, Mandanda
Défenseurs : Abidal, Clichy, Debuchy, Evra, Koscielny, Mangala, Rami, Sagna
Milieux : Capoue, Grenier, Guilavogui, Kondogbia, Mavuba, Sissokho
Attaquants : Benzema, Giroud, Nasri, Payet, Ribéry, Valbuena

Some observations:

• Abidal has to be a bit of a surprise. The player has returned to Ligue 1 and Monaco after a very successful run with Barcelona. But after making an amazing recovery from a liver transplant just over a year ago.  He is really only now returning to top flight action, nothing short of amazing. But does that mean he is back in the plans for then national team? It feels a bit premature. And where is he to play? On the flank or as a central defender? Clearly with Clichy and Evra on the list, it would appear that he is most likely to see action as a central defender. Is that really who DD is going to lean

  

  Back in Ligue 1

  on? An interesting selection.
• Where are the PSG players? Okay okay, I realize that players like Matuidi and Menez were not going to be called due to suspensions and injury. But what is a little surprising is that both Jallet and Sakho were not called up. The right back spot, in my mind, is not guaranteed for Sagna and Debuchy. I do think the Newcastle man has an edge to hold the starting spot, but I do not see a clear gap between 1 and 3. What is a real surprise, coupled with the call up of Abidal, is the absence of Sakho. Early in his tenure, it appeared that DD was going to lean on Sakho as one of his pillars in the central defender role.  Now it appears that there remains a bit of chaos at that spot. Is Kos one of those pillars? Seems that way. So who to shoulder him? Mangala? Abidal? One is very green and the other will be in his mid 30s once the World Cup rolls around. I guess we have to wait to see when Real Madrid wonder kid Varane gets back to form if he figures to be the second central defender.
• Notice that Deschamps is rotating some serious muscle in his midfield? I guess as a defensive midfielder himself he knows the value of having a strong and defensive minded midfield. Mind you, Pogba is suspended for the next qualifier otherwise the new U20 World Cup champion would most likely figure in this mix. With Capoue, Grenier, Guilavogui, Kondogbia, Mavuba, Sissokho the only non-holding midfielder is Grenier! Granted, players like Ribery, Valbuena, Payet and Nasri I would consider as attacking midfielders more than strikers. It will be interesting to see what happens with Cabaye, Pogba and maybe even M'Vila come back into the equation (I realize the last mentioned is on a FFF suspension).
• Speaking of the strikers....stop me if you have heard this, but Benzema has to start scoring again because Les Bleus seem to have a shortage of goal scoring options. With the retirement of the Petit Louis today, Louis Saha, it is another reminder of how

  

  The good old days for French strikers

  good we had it a while back! Remember when Saha was a third option behind Henry and Trezeguet...there was a time France could lean on the leading scorers of Ligue 1 - Cisse, the EPL - Henry or Serie A - Trezeguet. Okay enough nostalgia! But France had better hope that some of the freshly minted U20 World Cup champions such as new Arsenal man Sanogo or Thauvin can build on their success and start helping the senior club find some goals. Of course Benzema could rediscover his Lyon form and we would be all set...but how long have we been waiting for that?

Overall a relatively "stable" line up from Deschamps. No real surprises. We will see how he lines up against a very tough Belgium side, one that France might face if they go to a home and away playoff for qualifiers. Will DD give Nasri a start? And if so where? Ribery on the left, Nasri in the middle and Valbuena on the right? Or flip Le Petit Velo and Nasri? Right side seems to be a revolving door again for Les Bleus. What central defensive pairing will be used this time? Does Evra get the nod again on the left and what about the right?

Many questions ahead. I will be interested to see what DD does during training, will give us a glimpse of what is ahead.

Allez Les Bleus!