France NT News, Formations & Results

Probably the line-up against Serbia tonight:

Lloris (cap.) – Sagna, Varane, Mathieu, Digne – Pogba, Cabaye, Schneiderlin – Sissoko, Rémy, Cabella.

7 changes compared to Spain line-up.

Is Varane a given in the first Xi ?

Do you mean, is he a starter in the first XI ?
If that's the question, yes he is. That would be so stupid to let him on the bench, you can't waste a pure diamond like him.

Gardiens: Lloris, Mandanda, Ruffier

Défenseurs: Digne, Evra, Jallet, Koscielny, Mangala, Mathieu, Sagna, Varane.

Milieux: Cabaye, Matuidi, Pogba, Schneiderlin, Sissoko.

Attaquants: Benzema, Cabella, Gignac, Griezmann, Payet, Valbuena, Rémy.

yohan kebab
payet is back
no sakho
no corchia
no kurzawa

no ben yedder X 3

looooooooooooooool France calling up Mathieu all of a sudden just because he's playing for Barca. Leave him alone you poses, he needs to rest, fss.

makes no sense whatsoever especially when considering his age .


DD just can't ignore someone who plays in a big team

That was my problem with DD in OM too... he stays loyal to players whose talents doesn't deserve it. I understand staying the course with Benz, Varane and Cabella. They have unique skills. But Remy and Sissoko? You have to call up Gonalons and Ben Yedder... a must. Heck, Lacazette too.

Congrats to Payet and Gignac btw. Thoroughly deserved, although they need to keep it up (for once lol).

According to l'Equipe, the lineup against Portugal will be:

Lloris
Sagna-Varane-Mangala-Evra
Pogba-Matuidi
Payet-Valbuena-Griezmann
Benzema

Some rusty guys getting a start on defense... we'll see how it goes.

Think Gignac has been the best french striker this season.

Whats Menez's history with the NT? I think his form shouldn't be easily overlooked imo, i feel like he will complement Benz in attack

Not rated in France at all

Still, its hard to disregard his current season imo, he does come off a bit selfish every now and then but it pays off most of the time

too many better players in front of him. France is going to take 6 forwards and they will be: Benzema, Giroud, Lacazette, Griezmann, Valbuena and one of Fekir/Payet.

I don't think Deschamps is good enough coach to lead this very very very packed France squad in its prime to anything special. These next 2 Euros and WC in the next 5 years are going to be very important for this current generation, they really can't afford to waste any of the tournaments with a manager whose meh

I would love to see France try 3 at the back. Sakho is best when played in a back 3 at LCB. Plays to Varane's strengths as well and allows for Koscielny to start as well. And most importantly gets rid of fullbacks (where I feel France are at their weakest). And allows for an extra creative player further up the pitch where the depth for France is good.

Don't call me James wrote:I don't think Deschamps is good enough coach to lead this very very very packed France squad in its prime to anything special. These next 2 Euros and WC in the next 5 years are going to be very important for this current generation, they really can't afford to waste any of the tournaments with a manager whose meh

I would love to see France try 3 at the back. Sakho is best when played in a back 3 at LCB. Plays to Varane's strengths as well and allows for Koscielny to start as well. And most importantly gets rid of fullbacks (where I feel France are at their weakest). And allows for an extra creative player further up the pitch where the depth for France is good.

How many NT teams play with 3 at the back ? I'd rather play Zouma/Mathieu-Varane-Kos if it is to happen. Sakho is too shaky with the ball imo to play in the back 3. Also France don't have players who can play wingbacks.
Moreover, Deschamps is the best french coach out there anyways.

No way in the world France plays 3 in the back nd they absolutely should NEVER play 3 at the back. You only do that if you have talent deficiency at the forward positions (like Juve and Italy NT) and you have great wingbacks... Neither is the case for France.

Deschamps is a fantastic coach.

Another friendly where we look like we didn't want to be bothered...  i'd rather we stop playing these stupid things until 2-4 months before the Euro.  Then they'll take it seriously and you can learn something.

Exact same thing the summer before the WC too.  Went to South America and everyone was already on vacation.

@ France getting destroyed by Belgium just as I predicted. Belgium simply have more top heavy talent.

Belgium understandably took their foot off the pedal once it became a rout since they have a huge game against Wales coming up in couple of days.

Of course, France play like champs when it counts...  we suck at friendlies.  Have sucked at them since Deschamps took over because he experiments all the time.  I mean, we had a midfield of Cabaye-Sissoko-Matuidi and Giroud at CF... not to mention Tremoulinas and Sagna as the fullbacks.  Complete crap starting XI and they weren't playing hard to boot.  

It's like Netherlands, Germany and Italy NTs too...  friendlies are hit and miss.  Nobody really cares.  As a result, you always think that they are struggling going into official comps and they suddenly look great.

We haven't won a friendly against Belgium since the 80s i think... that's how indicative these things are.

So France sleepwalks through a game against Albania and lose.  No aggressiveness.  No imagination.  Everyone was on vacation.

We don't care about friendlies to begin with let alone June friendlies.  These are stupid.

@RWO... France and Germany should start a ranking of who is more shat in friendlies. May need to add the Netherlands too lol.

June friendlies are definitely stupid.

But I do think France should have at least scored a goal with the team they put out.

I think Euro16 is last chance for Deschamps tbh. I don't rate him but he didn't do that badly at the WC and it was fine to let him go with Euro16. However I wouldn't give him any more chances after that if France fails to reach semis at least. Specially with the talent.

sportsczy wrote:@RWO...  France and Germany should start a ranking of who is more shat in friendlies.  May need to add the Netherlands too lol.

Indeed. Really not sure who'd take the lead XD The really fun thing is that quite a lot of people still don't understand that and celebrate friendly wins like a competitive win...

Thing is RG... Deschamps is excellent at getting players to play with intensity and within a good tactical scheme in competition. When there's no competition, his message doesn't really ring a bell because players are more concerned about staying healthy as opposed to playing hard. He wants physical impact... but you can't bring physical impact in meaningless friendlies.

Per usual, i would expect France to start picking up a lot of form in January as they start getting closer to the Euro and the players want to be prepared for the competition.

In any case, France needs to make the Euro semis at least for DD to keep his job.

Was Albania any good? Well qualify if we beat them next game

Stubborn at home. Resilient team. Aggressive and compact.

RealGunner wrote:Stubborn at home. Resilient team. Aggressive and compact.

Think we're at home in the return. We can do with a tie.