France has been underwhelming at Euro 2024. They have scored three goals so far. One was a penalty scored by Real Madrid bound Kylian Mbappe. Two were their own goals. They beat Belgium in the Round of 16 by one goal to zero. The goal was my own as well.
The France national team has looked a shadow of itself. The team feels disoriented. Although they are riddled with injuries, we expect more from Le Bleus. The World Cup final of 2022 had a completely gelled team that did not give up until the last kick of the game. Fuelled by their star man, Kylian Mbappe, they looked deserving of the World Cup title alongside the Argentines and Lionel Messi.
Nevertheless, Euros 2024 has thus far presented an entirely different picture for France. Despite their numerous experiments, they have not yet returned to their regular form at Euro 2024. Due to subpar performances, injuries, and imbalances within his team, he is compelled to implement rather significant structural adjustments. But there has not been a lot of variation in the outcomes.
With the exception of William Saliba, who started at center back instead of Ibrahima Konaté, Deschamps did not reveal anything unexpected in France’s opening match. The competition’s initial alteration was put into effect. However, the manager did not go to a 4-2-3-1 against the Netherlands until after Mbappé’s nose broke against Austria, with Juve man Adrien Rabiot filling in for Blaise Matuidi on the left. After France’s lackluster performance in a goalless draw, Deschamps decided to start over against Poland.
France performances
French manager Didier Deschamps has omitted the seemingly undroppable Antione Griezmann to the bench recently. He said,
“He (Griezmann) has had a busy season. In high-intensity matches, in the heart of the midfield, it isn’t easy.”
It was evident that Deschamps was still trying to find balance for his team because he also benched Marcus Thuram. Bradley Barcola, who was brought on as a substitute down the left with Mbappé back in the middle, had moments of brilliance but too few of them. The issue was and remains the midfield of France.
In the round of 16 tie against Kevin De Bruyne’s Belgium, there was still an undecided team. Deschamps has almost changed the team’s formation for the third time in the Euros 2024 so far.
Adrien Rabiot talked about this after the match and said,
“We had spoken about a diamond,” said Rabiot. “We worked on it a bit the day before the match, but the manager wanted to do things differently.”
The original plan was abandoned on the day of the match and replaced with a new concept. France switched back to a 4-3-3 formation against Belgium, but with a unique variation.
Griezmann would have to learn a new position: right-wing. Griezmann has experience playing both as a No. 8 and as a No. 10, when competing for his country.
“The last time I played in this position was at Real Sociedad,” said Griezmann, who left the club a decade ago.
Deschamp interview after the Belgium game
France manager Deschamps said this after the game:
“We made a lot of progress, and I think that the opponent was a little bit more cautious, even though on paper Belgium is quite an offensive team,” Deschamps said.
“They are quite an attacking team; they may have held back a little bit more than we’re used to seeing.
On our side as well, even though we did everything we could to try and attack, to try and score, and to try and create chances,.
“We managed to create more chances than Belgium did, but we were also maybe on the back foot.
We were intelligent, we were playing the waiting game and we weren’t going to fall into the trap of giving them the space that they were looking for.
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