France draw with Georgia...5th straight game without a goal...wtf

So France get a drab draw against...Georgia....not the SEC school but the former Soviet nation. I think the UGA men's soccer team could have given the Nation of Georgia a better game. France leave with a wonderful point after a 0-0 draw. Yet another game where France did not score and did not win...BLAH.

I have a hard time coming up with any good, bad and ugly for this match...so this post will mostly be my rants about what is going on with this France team. Seriously. What good can be said about this game? Or this team as it is constituted...They have not scored a goal in 5 games. FIVE games. They have not won a game since...when Kopa and Fontaine were playing for France. Okay maybe not that long ago. But it feels that way.

Not sure what I can say about this game that I have not said for the past few games -

• Can't score - Benzema et al go one more game without a goal. Giroud did have a golden chance at the end of the game but could not find the lower corner of the goal and instead headed it straight at the keeper. I realize they could have been granted a penalty kick...but guess what, a team like France should be able to score from the run of play against Georgia and not need a referee to get them a goal.
• Defense is good...but shaky - Georgia had good scoring chances...hitting the post. The back line allowed too many leaks at times, fortunately they were facing Georgia and not Brazil or Spain or Germany or even an Altidore...
• No creativity - midfield was shaky when it came to sustained offensive pressure. Yes Ribery was dangerous on the left, Valbuena looked good but it was all solo efforts from these players. France still struggle with finding and sustaining creativity and offensive pressure.
• No real options - Gignac and Nari were introduced into the game...but they did not offer anything new to the game. And the reality where are the other options for France? Is there a Henry in the wings? Or a Papin? Or a Zidane? I realize some of these names are once in a life time but a nation like France should be able to have a pipeline. Looking at the past France was able to go from Platini to Cantona to Zidane all world class players...who is this generation world class player? Ribery...maybe. But it does not feel like we have that available.
• UGH....what else can I say...just more blah.

So what does this mean? France will have to go through a play-off to get to Brazil next summer. Looking over the groups, and a first pass here are the second place teams that should go into the play-offs. Of course this could and will change before the end of the group stages. France might even drop down to third place!!!

France, Croatia, Sweden, Romania, Norway, Russia, Greece and Montenegro they will be broken down into two groups

Assume that pool A will be Russia, Greece, Croatia and France drawn against pool B: Montenegro, Sweden, Romania and Norway.

There are no guarantees that France can defeat any of these nations in a home/away series. France do not fare very well heading to the Nordic countries and their showing last time against Sweden in the Euros was pathetic. Montenegro also not an easy draw and heading to Eastern Europe to play Romania...not thanks.

The way France is playing right now I would put their chances of heading to Brazil at a 65% chance, better than 50/50 but not by much.

Change in formation by Deschamps...but not to the one I suggested

Latest from the French camp, Deschamps will line up 2 strikers this Friday to face Georgia. Look for Benzema, he of a 1200 minute goalless streak, and Giroud who has been in form for his club. This will create a 4-4-2 formation:

Composition probable de l’équipe de France :
Lloris (cap.) - Sagna, Koscielny, Abidal, Evra - Valbuena, Guilavogui, Sissoko, Ribéry - Benzema, Giroud

Against a Georgia team that will most likely keep 10 if not all 11 players behind the ball, pack the box and look to counter attack France, Deschamps looks to put two strikers on the pitch to try and get a goal if not more. The reality is that with Benzema's propensity to drop deep on the field to go get the ball, is this really a 4-4-2? Or will it really be a 4-2-3-1 with Benzema drifting back in the formation? It will be imperative for the Real Madrid forward to avoid his usual habit of floating deep on the pitch...getting in the way of the likes of Ribery and Valbuena. Granted with Giroud on the pitch, hopefully the Georgia defense will not be

Together again!

able to push higher up as Giroud will most likely sit on the last defender's shoulder creating some space for Benzema, Ribery and Valbuena.

The other question mark for me is what about the right side of the formation? Valbuena has been successful by playing a more central role in the midfield. Does he have the discipline to stay wide? Not sure. If he does start drifting back to the center can Sagna offer consistent service from his right fullback position? Not sure. I have not liked the Arsenal man's crossing, I feel it leaves much to be desired. Once again I am sure the French attack will lean heavily on the left with Ribery and Evra in that channel.

This match will be no cake walk. I expect the pitch in Tbilissi to be heavy and choppy, not in great shape to slow down the French passing and speed (similar to baseball teams that let their infield grass grow a tad longer to slow down ground balls). Georgia will sit deep and look to attack France on the counter....which they are very susceptible to. Look for France to try and attack over the top, try to get the ball deep to Giroud where he can either lay it off to an on rushing player aka Benzema or one of the midfielders, or where the Arsenal man can take his chances on goal. This will call upon the likes of Evra, Sagna, Valbuena and Ribery to provide good service to the strikers.

I also want to see how Guilavogui and Sissoko handle their responsibilities. In games such as this France tend to get caught up with trying to score and as more time goes on get frustrated. Players like Ribery and Valbuena are not necessarily the most disciplined to keep their defensive responsibilities in mind. This will require the two holding midfielders to be incredible conscious of when they pinch into the offensive end, when do they jump into the attack and when do they hold back providing cover to the back line. This will be especially important when the wide fullbacks make deep runs into the attacking 1/3.

End of the day, Les Bleus should win this game. It will be more difficult than it should be, but that is par for the course with France these days. I look for a meek 1-0 win. Giroud scores the only goal, Benzema continues his scoreless streak!

Allez les bleus.

France have a very successful day - now all eyes are on Tuesday's game versus Spain

Les Bleus emerge from today's match up again Georgia with the full compliment of points and a pleasant surprise - a Spain draw at home against Finland. This places France alone atop the group heading into the match up with the defending World Cup champions. France will enter Tuesday's match up 2 points up on Spain. This will give Deschamps some options when it comes to what strategy he looks to leverage against the Spanish. More on that later, but first some thoughts on the game against Georgia:

The Good:

First cap - will they earn #2 on Tuesday?

• 3 points from the victory..okay I realize that is stating the obvious. But heading into the match I was nervous that a)Georgia would just park the bus in front of their goal b)could threaten on the counter c)France might be looking ahead to the Spain rematch. Les Bleus started very fast and I thought looked like they would open up the scoring early - Ribery had a wonderful offensive display end on the wood work. And probably should have had an opening goal had Giroud not made hash out of a 1v1 in the 29th minute where he ballooned an attempted chip. Of course the Arsenal man did break through right before the half on a lovely little free kick from Valbuena that Giroud buried for a 1-0 lead. The second half saw France build upon their score line to finish with a relatively comfortable 3-1 victory. End of day - 3 points.
• The rookies - Varane and Pogba - both received their first starts and caps. A lot of noise was made when the Real Madrid and Juventus players were selected by Deschamps. Even more noise built up this week as it appeared that one if not both could be starting. Both players did more than just take up a spot on the field. Granted Varane was never really placed under threat, although Georgia did show some offensive spunk. However Pogba really impressed me. He clearly has the technique and power to control the midfield and do much of the dirty work. He offers a nice contrast with Matuidi in the midfield. It would be interesting had M'Vila not been an idiot and were still part of the senior squad this season. Pogba even contributed to the offense showing off his big leg with a nice strike from distance in the first half. The future looks bright for these two players. It will be interesting to see if one or both start against Spain.
• The veteran wingers - Ribery and Valbuena - both looked energized, had bags of pace, tricks and offensively minded. The both created major headaches for Georgia. Add to this both scoring goals and the game was good for the former and current OM players. They will need that level of activity and success on Tuesday when they face Spain.
• Jallet was impressive on the right flank. He was always available to jump into the offense, provided some solid crosses and tracked back well when he had to. France tends to lean to the left on attack - where Ribery likes to set up shop. To have a player like Jallet who can push the game on the right side gives the team some much needed balance. As the game wore on his crosses were not as effective, but overall was a real presence in the French game.
• Finally how can one overlook the captain Lloris? The Tottenham keeper showed how important it can be to have a world class back stopper. He made 2 huge saves early on - off a free header and made a strong save on a vicious shot. If he does not make these two saves who knows what happens. He was not able to keep a clean sheet, but not due to his error.

The Bad:

Haven't seen this in a long time.

• The struggles of Benzema are becoming a real issue. He has not scored for France in what seems like years...oh wait I think it has been! Last time he score was June 5th 2012...okay maybe not years...but feels that way. Especially for a striker of his raw talent. The weight of this streak is clearly impacting the Real Madrid striker. He had some clean looks at goal, getting two 1v1 opportunities and both times being too timid with his efforts. He continued to work hard all game. If he continues to do that the goals will come...but it is becoming a bad part of these games for France.

The Ugly:

• Following on Benzema's troubles is an overall ugliness when it comes to French finishing. Yes Giroud had a goal, but he butchered an early effort when he found himself alone against the keeper and chipped into row Z. Benzema had some weak attempts when he found himself in excellent scoring positions. Too often Les Bleus tried to be too cute, rather than just putting the ball on goal. Yes France scored 3 goals, but it should have been 4 or even 5. Against a side like Spain if France does not take advantage of their opportunities they might come out with a positive result.

Overall a positive result. In addition none of the players on a yellow picked up another card - in particular Matuidi. The fact that Spain was held to a draw at home was the final positive that came out of today. Of course none of that will mean too much if France lose to Spain on Tuesday. The other positive - France are close to guaranteed to at least qualify for the play offs if they do not finish first in the group.

I will be curious to see how Deschamps approaches the game on Tuesday. Does he stick with his 4-4-2? Or might he go back to a 4-2-3-1 and look to add to his midfield to counter the Spanish midfield? This weekend will be interesting with regards to how Deschamps gets his troops together. Finally will the youngsters Varane and Pogba get another start? I think the Juventus midfielder has the best chance to finding himself in the starting line up of the two.

Allez les Blues. 

Deschamps thinking of a 4-4-2 to face Georgia?

Georgia is a prototypical Eastern European national team - plays hard and defensively. Looks to lock down for 90 minutes, try to beat you on a counter or sneak out with a draw. They forced the defending world cup champions, Spain, to sweat for 86 minutes before conceding a goal in these qualifiers. So France should expect much of the same this Friday. With that in mind, the word of out Clairfontaine is that Deschamps might look to start both strikers - Benzema and Giroud. This would most likely entail leaning on a 4-4-2 with both strikers up top (look for Varane get a start as well).

So what would that mean for the rest of the formation? Mostly 2 central more defensive oriented midfielders - Matuidi and Gonalons in the middle with wingers Ribery (if he is fit) on the left and Menez/Valbuena on the right. So no true central midfielder with the #10 responsibilities. Of course Ribery and Valbuena both have a tendency to drift inside as the game goes on. But can Giroud and Benzema cohabitate at the top of the formation?

Against Georgia, maybe Deschamps needs to take some chances and go with another more offensive minded midfielder. Try to get an early "cheap" goal...hit long range shots, crosses and high balls into the area for either Giroud to knock down or to get Benzema to latch and clean up some loose balls. I think if France looks to build up to the perfect goal, they will only get frustrated by what is sure to be a Georgia packed in around their goal.

Let see if the 4-4-2 can work...it has not been very successful when used in the past.

Allez les Bleus.

Deschamps faces same dilemna as Blanc - central defensive pairing

Similar to his predecessor, one of the first issues that needs to be settled is which central defensive pairing he can lean on. Blanc found success in pairing Mexes with Rami, although by the end of his tenure the Mexes half of the equation started to show some cracks. Unlike Blanc, Deschamps does not have a pair of veteran defenders to pick from but he does have a number of options that could hold on to the role for years to come. Question is which pairing gets the call Friday and beyond.

Getting the band back together on Friday?

The players that Deschamps can call on - Varane, Koscielny, Sakho and Yanga-Mbiwa. The wrinkle for the game on Friday is that if Kos picks up an other yellow card he is out for the Spain match. Makes the game against Spain play a role in Deschamps' thinking. Of course DD and the team cannot look beyond the match Friday. Look at what happened in prior qualifiers when teams...like Belarus...are taken too lightly.

• Koscielny - I do not think he will play Friday. DD will want his full compliment of defenders for hosting the defending World Cup champions Spain next week. He will not risk another yellow card for his Arsenal defender.
• Varane - The Real Madrid defender has a legitimate chance to start, with his play of late for Real Madrid there is not question of his talent as well as his confidence. I just do not see him getting a start in such a game - getting his first cap. 
• So the central pairing will be...Sakho and Yanga-Mbiwa. This pairing makes the most sense for me. Sakho has established himself as a starter for Les Bleus and he and Mbiwa have some games under their belts together for France. Games where they both played well, actually the Newcastle man played very well during those matches. Deschamps will want to lean on a pairing that has some understanding playing next to one another and who will be able to seamlessly handle the qualifier.

What will be interesting to see is, which ever pairing Deschamps leans on, if they play well on Friday - what will he do against Spain? To be determined!!

Allez les Bleus.

Walking wounded at Clairefontaine - Fanni called up to replace Debuchy

No surprise as players are starting to suffer the toils of a long season - Newcastle's right back Debuchy had to drop out of the French squad. He will be replaced by Rod Fanni from Marseilles. Deschamps will now have to decided between taking either the starting right back from PSG or Marseilles. The irony. My sense is that look for the PSG right back to get the nod.

Hello again old friend!

There are other knocks to keep an eye on. Ribery, Menez and Cabaye were all training separate from the main squad to rest their ailing bodies. No surprise with Ribery, I do not think anyone thought he would play on Friday against Georgia, instead look for him to be rested for the Spain game. Might we see both other midfielders also left on the sideline?

Could we see the likes of Remy and Payet occupying the wide space with Valbuena behind Benzema? Gonalons and Matuidi might be leveraged to run the midfield engine. This would allow Cabaye, Ribery and Menez to get extra rest prior to the Spain match.

The other question is who does Deschamps start as his central defensive pairing? Really have no idea what DD will do with that issue. Could we see Varane get a start?

Rest of week will be very telling. Let us hope that no one else has to drop out of camp.

Les Bleus - youth being served - team for World Cup qualifiers

Deschamps announced his selections for France's upcoming matches versus Georgia and Spain. The pillars of the squad remain, but we are getting some fresh blood into the mix.

Gardiens : Mickaël Landreau (Bastia), Hugo Lloris (Tottenham/ANG), Stève Mandanda (Marseille).

Défenseurs : Gaël Clichy (Manchester City/ANG), Mathieu Debuchy (Newcastle/ANG), Patrice Evra (Manchester United/ANG), Laurent Koscielny (Arsenal/ANG), Christophe Jallet (PSG), Mamadou Sakho (PSG), Raphaël Varane (Real Madrid/ESP), Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa (Newcastle/ANG).

Milieux : Yohan Cabaye (Newcastle/ANG), Maxime Gonalons (Lyon), Blaise Matuidi (PSG), Paul Pogba (Juventus/ITA), Franck Ribéry (Bayern Munich/ALL), Moussa Sissoko (Newcastle/ANG), Mathieu Valbuena (Marseille).

Attaquants : Karim Benzema (Real Madrid/ANG), Olivier Giroud (Arsenal/ANG), Bafetimbi Gomis (Lyon), Jérémy Ménez (PSG), Dimitri Payet (Lille), Loïc Rémy (Queens Park Rangers/ANG).

Already played for Manchester United and Juventus

The two next generation stars - Varane and Pogba - are in the mix. Both have been playing bigger roles for their clubs. And we are not talking about small teams - Real Madrid and Juventus respectfully. It only makes sense that both have been added to the mix, allowing Deschamps to give both youngsters exposure to the rest of the squad and could we see them in these matches?

I am also happy to see Mbiwa back in the list. I will be interested to see what central pairing on defense DD leans on, will he go back to Sakho - Mbiwa central pairing? Or will Kos be slotted there?

Ribery, who is recovering from an injury, will not play Friday against Georgia but hopefully will be ready for the Spain match. 

It will be interesting to see what Deschamps does up front with Benzema. His goal scoring drought has become problematic, to say the least. Does Remy get a chance to get on the pitch? I will be interested to see what formation Deschamps looks to roll out Friday. Go with some youth that will be motivated to getting a game for France and rest some his veterans for the Spain match? Or go with his best squad to ensure a victory against Georgia? Reality is, France must get the full 3 points versus Georgia for the Spain match to matter.

Allez les bleus!

Georgia v Ireland...the Georgians demand a place in the World Cup!!

I found the video for the penalty kick that was award Ireland versus Georgia during the qualifiers...thanks to "caughtoffsides." As stated in the blog post, figure out how this play results in a penalty kick for the Irish, giving them the goal they needed to draw with Georgia, granted they still would have finished 2 points ahead of Bulgaria however who knows, if Ireland were within striking distance at the end of the group stages Bulgaria might have given a better showing against Cyprus, to whom they lost 4-1!!! But just for fun, here is the video... I guess Robbie Keane should have told the referee there was no foul...



I have watched the video and absolutely no idea what the referee say. The play was offsides not a penalty...maybe he thought the Georgian defender had fouled Keane on the first play, but the defender clearly plays the ball and Keane is no where near the defender. The second action you might think a hand ball but the defender clearly uses his chest to deflect the second ball in...interesting.