26-23=3 to be cut before heading to Euros

Blanc has kept 26 players in his pre-list...list for the Euros. He will need to reduce that number by 3 for his final list. Here are the players to keep an eye on:

Kaboul - The Tottenhan central defender has already declared forfeit for the Euros. After re-injuring a nagging knee know, he will not be available for Les Bleus.That is one of the 3. No odds - he isn't going.

Remy - The OM striker also picked up an injury and is in question whether or not his fitness will come back in time. Unlike Kaboul, Remy does not seem to have a clear cut replacement in the list. The striker order appears to have become Benzema the starter with Giroud and Remy as his deputies. Remy offered the flexibility to play on the wings as well. Odds 50/50 that he goes, entirely depends on health.

Together again?

Gourcuff - Does the midfielder have enough to get back in the squad? The manager has a soft spot for Gourcuff and that might put him on the flight to Eastern Europe. Much will be determined in training. Does the midfielder have enough in his legs to be a viable option for the French midfield? I am doubtful that he is any where close to the form he had a few seasons ago. Odds 50/50 a lot of this due to his relationship with Blanc otherwise I would drop his odds at 30%.

Ben Arfa - To me the Newcastle midfielder should be a shoe in to go, but I have a feeling Blanc will heavily scrutinize "Le Petit Prince." I would think that Malouda is the one in jeopardy but Blanc keeps talking about the Chelsea man's experience...Ben Arfa might benefit from Remy not being able to go as the midfielder brings pace and creativity that can be leveraged on the wings (where without Remy would be a void to fill). Odds 75% he goes.

Matuidi - Blanc has retained 3 true holding midfielders - Diarra, M'Vila and Matuidi. For that reason I would think that Blanc will keep all three. However, he demonstrated against Germany that he was not afraid to slot someone like Malouda as a deep lying midfielder. Could Blanc see that as an option or even the likes of Gourcuff playing a deeper lying role? Odds 70% he goes.

Martin - The Sochaux play maker has struggled this season, while still showing well for France. Question becomes, if Gourcuff is kept will that make Martin's participation at risk? With Nasri and Gourcuff, Blanc would have his two main central play makers and might not see the need of a third.
Odds 50%.

A lot will depend on who recovers from injuries as well as how the friendly games go for Blanc and Les Bleus. It should be an interesting few weeks! 

Allez les Bleus!

Ben Arfa - Le Petit Prince back in the picture for the Euro?

This past weekend, Hatem Ben Arfa, once again teased us with his talent. Leading Newcastle to a decisive 3-1 victory where each goal was influence by Le Petit Prince - one goal and 2 assists. Could he make a late surge into the roster for Blanc? Maybe. He would give Les Bleus a creative option that they continue to search for - Gourcuff, Nasri, Martin etc are all looking to stake their claims to the role...all with mixed results, meaning neither one if them has put their stamp on the role. Ben Arfa would add another element - his left boot. Let us see how Ben Arfa plays out the rest of the season for Newcastle. If the Magpies make a late push to get into the top 5 of the Premiership and if Ben Arfa continues his form, it will hard to ignore him for the Euro.

Nasri has not been consistent enough to be given the keys to Les Bleus. Martin remains too green when it comes to the international game. Ben Arfa has been away from the national team for a while, but he has experience at this level and the talent. Gourcuff has not captured his form from a few seasons ago.

I would say Ben Arfa has better than a 50-50 chance of getting on the squad...if his form continues.

The rumors were correct - Blanc turns over his starters

5 of his starting 11 will be different this afternoon when France face Romania. Granted, two of the changes are due to players returning from sickness in the case of Sagna or from suspension in the case of Rami. The other 3 are strategic changes made by Le President.

The starting line up:

Le onze français :
Lloris – Sagna, Rami, Abidal, Evra – Cabaye, M’Vila, Martin – Valbuena, Benzema, Ribéry
 
Remplaçants :
Mandanda, Koscielny, Nasri, Réveillère, Malouda, Diarra, Rémy

Not a big surprise in seeing Nasri sit, he has been given his chances but failed to impress, now it is Martin's turn to see he can finally find the maestro Les Bleus have been missing. Question becomes what happens if and when Gourcuff returns to health and form? Or has the train left the station when it comes to the Lyon play maker?

Cabaye with M'Vila is interesting as well, not that the Newcastle midfielder does not warrant a chance in the midfield, but more the fact Blanc starts his former Bordeaux captain - Diarra, and gives him the arm band, and then sits him. One would hope that the player that most readily gets the arm band would also be one of the core players on your roster.

On the right, I am glad to see Blanc giving "Le Petit Velo" his chance again. I feel every time Valbuena has been given a chance for France he has taken full advantage of it. The fact he is a natural right winger doesn't hurt either!

One aspect to watch is without Diarra on the pitch, Blanc has sacrificed some size, this might play a role on set pieces in particular defending them. Something France have not been very good at as of late.

Les Bleus escape Romania with a draw. France have trouble with the Romanians and they will be inaugurating a new stadium as well giving the home team and crowd a huge boost.

France 1 - Romania 1
Benzema scores again for Les Bleus

Allez Les Bleus!

Les Bleus opting for an attacking formation for Chile match

Surprise surprise, Blanc announces what appears to be a very offensive minded formation! What appears to be a 4-3-3 could really be seen as a hybrid Spanish formation: 4-1-4-1. A very offensive midfield.

The line up: Lloris - Sagna, Kaboul, Abidal (cap.), Clichy - Mvila, Martin - Rémy, Nasri, Malouda - Benzema.

No surprise at the back, with the absence of France's first choice central defensive pairing, Blanc opts for what appears as his most steady combination. Sagna and Clichy are natural choices on the flanks, especially with Abidal being asked to slot in the center and Evra having sat out.

Also no surprise that we see Benzema up front, based on his recent form as well it should be interesting to see if he can find some goals for Les Bleus. Here is the surprise for me - Martin, Nari, Malouda and Remy with only M'Vila as your natural holding player. That quartet of offensive midfielders looks to do what Spain does so well - keep possession. While I realize you can line up Martin deep, next to M'Vila, he is really more offensively geared. Now his talents can be leveraged to spring counter attacks from deep as well as be a late runner into the offensive actions. The formation could also swing to a 4-1-3-2 with Remy pushing up high on the right flank to shoulder Benzema.

It should be interesting to see how the game and team evolve during the match. Clearly Blanc is not afraid to try new formations and look to get his best players on the pitch, good for him. Unlike the previous regime, who stuck to one formation whether in the middle of a World Cup game, qualifier or friendly.

This should be very insightful.

Allez les Bleus

France v Poland: Welcome to some new faces

No surprise, but Laurent Blanc announced that the players he has not used over the past 2 matches will start for the final friendly before the summer break: Carrasso in goal, N'Zogbia and Valbuena in midfield and Hourau at striker. Question remains who else will start and what formation with Blanc look to leverage?

I have a feeling he will lean on a 4-4-2 or a 4-2-3-1. I am not sure he wants to have Hourau as the lone striker so look for the former to be employed. N'Zogbia wide left with Valbuena on the right, the central midfield I could see Martin coupled with Matuidi, M'Vila or maybe even Cabaye. The front two will be Hourau and Gameiro, with the defense similar to the last match. Get Sakho another run out in the center of defense with Kaboul as his partner. Reveillere and Evra holding the wide roles. Finally Carrasso in goal. A more offensive leaning formation, which will place an increased amount of pressure on whomever is the holding midfielder.

It will be interesting to see how Martin does after his coming out party against Ukraine. Let us hope he can build upon his showing.

Allez les Bleus.

After a lackluster 1st half...a 5 goal second. What a debut for Martin

With many of these friendlies, the game between France and Ukraine was an exercise in playing pass around and keep away rather than really trying to get a result...that is until the second half. End of the 90+ minutes and Les Bleus leave the Ukraine with a 4-1 victory, scoring 4 straight goals and might have had more.

The Good:

Could we see both these men in Blue on Thursday?

• Let us start with the debutant - Marvin Martin - what can you say from a player who entered the game at the 79th minute and had quite the last 10+ minutes of the game. The leading assist man from Ligue 1 showed that he has a good goal scoring touch as well. Hitting a sneaky shot for distance that found is way just inside the inner post and then patiently latched on to a simple square ball from Benzema, and cooly finishing with a strike into the Ukrainian upper 90. Martin also came close to springing Benzema on a wonderfully weighted pass. Before we get ahead of ourselves and start comparing him to Zidane - and the fact Zizou also scored a brace on his debut for France will draw comparisons - we only saw about 12 minutes of Martin. He was also playing against a tired Ukrainian side; however, it is something to build on and it is positive.



A true poacher

• A number of France's other new starters did some good things. Cabaye gave Newcastle fans something to look forward to, he had a high motor and made some strong passes. Matuidi demonstrated an ability to play the midfield "destroyer" role, however at times I felt he was pushing a bit. Kaboul had a quiet, yet solid
  game, his goal was a great show for the Tottenham man, always good when you can get your central defender to be a threat in the air on set pieces. Finally Gameiro showed me something, an ability to turn what appears to be a lost cause near the 18 yard box and turn it into a goal scoring threat. His goal was a great example of a goal poachers goal - he latched onto a loose ball and, without hesitation, struck a thunderbolt into the Ukrainian goal. He had done the same end of the first half, turning what appeared to be a lost ball and forced a strong save from the Ukrainian keeper.
• Ribery is starting to look like his old self. He was devastating on the left flank when he entered the game, every time the ball game to him he had the chance to spring the Ukraine defense. The last France goal was a direct result of Ribery's high pressure causing the Ukrainian turn over. Let us hope that Der Kaiser has been humbled after last year's world cup and plays the way he did rather than spend time his time being a pain in the team's collect side!
• 4 Goals...can never complain when you can post 4 goals in any game.

The Bad:

• The goal against Mandanda was not good....one would think the shot would have been deflected, but on replay it was a simple pile-driver shot that Mandanda misread. Granted the ball did have some nasty movement, but when you are an international keeper you must make that save. Seems like French keepers have problems playing away to the Ukraine...remember Frey's gaff a few years back?
• Too Bad Les Bleus did not play like this last Friday! It was bad that France found its scoring touch during a friendly and not when the games counted. 

The Ugly:

• By no means a perfect match, but cannot really identify any truly ugly showing. I might come up with something over the next few days.

After defeating any team 4-1 you cannot leave unhappy.  Blanc will look toward Thursday's game again Poland to close out the season on another upside. I would expect to see the remaining players who have not showcased during the past 2 games - N'Zogbia, Hourau, Valbuena and Carrasso. I have a feeling Blanc will leverage a similar line up as against Ukraine. I do think he will go back to a 4-2-3-1 or even a 4-4-2, with Martin pulling the stings, N'Zogbia on the left and either two strikers - Gameiro and Hourau, or the PSG striker alone up front. Valbuena should see time on the right side in either formation.

Will be interesting to see, I hope for another four goal game!

Allez les Bleus.