France v Iceland aka lets fap over Ben Arfa and Cabaye

If Kos were to start it should be for Mexes imo

The reason Kos isnt playing is because Rami is better and Blanc is not going to play 2 relatively inexperienced players ( atleast on the international stage)

Mexes is there for leadership and experience, i have no problem with the CB partnership.

Now Evra he's a problem lol.

You guys are on crack if
a) you think Rami or Mexes are slow and not good
b) Kos is even in the same league as either of those two

Only reason Koscielny is on the team is that Abidal got injured. Otherwise, he would've been the 3rd CB cover and a kid (Mbiwa in this case) would have come 4th. We would've gone to the Euro with 3 full CBs and Abidal. As it stands, Blanc needed an experienced 3rd CB and Kos got the opportunity. He's only started once for France (Mexes, Abidal and Rami all out) and has barely seen the field.

I highly doubt Kos makes the team after the Euro since there are so many more talented CBs that are right on the verge in France.

Rebaño Sagrado wrote:If Kos were to start it should be for Mexes imo

The competetion is between Rami and Kos not with Mexes. The sweeper role.

Mexes is the guy coming out of the line to break play and i dont think both Rami and kos are suitable for that role,at least not better than Mexes.

Only place where Kos has a beckenbuer stats is this forum lol

I think Blanc made a mistake when he so quickly decided some of the pairings in his team. Now he is stuck in his thinking, and forcing Mexes-Rami because he announced it long ago.

There is absolutely no way either of them is better than the current Koscielny. He should have had players competing fairly for positions, that's something i dont like about Blanc. He set things one way at the beginning and dont change them.

Koscielny should be starting. Benzema cant be the only natural scorer in his line up, that's a fail, but he has decided Benzema would play alone up top so that wont change. He has decided Evra should be in the team long ago when Evra never plays good for France and is fail with man utd...

Benzema and Giroud should play together, with a combination of Ribery/benArfa/Nasri/Menez making plays behind them. But instead, he decided to call up Ribery, ben Arfa, Valbuena, Menez, Nasri, all redundant. where are the goals coming from? I am not a Blanc fan at all.

I wonder if it would be wise to use Koscielny as an LB. He's quick enough for it IMO.

Mexes needs to be there btw.

I don't rate Koscielny that highly Nick. Blanc saw him in training and has hinted that he's not tactically good enough... which really comes down to Arsenal not focusing enough on defensive tactics. Clichy was axed because of this issue until he went to city. Sagna was not untouchable as well. Rami is better physically by a mile than Kos. Not even close there.

No way he's better than either Rami or Mexes.

No way in hell France will play 4-4-2 against the other top teams.... its alright in the group stage but playing 4-4-2 against the likes of Spain it just asking to be KO'ed....

I see what your saying about Benzema being the only goalscorer in the line up but thats the way football is going.... theres a heavily reliance on attacking midfielders that can play in between the lines instead of actual forwards.

Plus with Ribery, Nasri and Ben Arfa feeding Benzema i fail to see how he's going to struggle to score.

Hispano he maybe quick enough but he doesnt understand the position very well he showed that when he played RB earlier in season for Arsenal.

If any CB is going to play fullback it will probably be Mbiwa.

Hopefully it's Clichy, then.

BTW can anyone tell me about Tabanou and Baysse?

I'd thought one of them would get into the NT as bench players at least.

Lord Hispano wrote:Hopefully it's Clichy, then.

I'd rather see Benzema at LB than Evra tbh

Reveillere is an option too...

Mole I don't think Nick was referring to 4-4-2

More of a 4-2-2

With Benz and Giroud up top

Rebaño Sagrado wrote:Mole I don't think Nick was referring to 4-4-2

More of a 4-2-2

With Benz and Giroud up top

Yeah i know what he was getting at.... a Man Utd style 4-2-2-2-0 lol

In anycase that got owned by Barca in CL final not once but twice....

You basically give up the midfield battle for moar attacking prowess.... and that isnt wise against the likes of Holland, Spain, Germany.... heck evern Italy.

As for Reveillere instead of Evra iam down for that aswell..... Evra is like a 20 stories building fire with the president inside..... doesnt matter how he gets out just get him the f*ck out

Great Leader Sprucenuce wrote:No way in hell France will play 4-4-2 against the other top teams.... its alright in the group stage but playing 4-4-2 against the likes of Spain it just asking to be KO'ed....

I see what your saying about Benzema being the only goalscorer in the line up but thats the way football is going.... theres a heavily reliance on attacking midfielders that can play in between the lines instead of actual forwards.

Plus with Ribery, Nasri and Ben Arfa feeding Benzema i fail to see how he's going to struggle to score.

Hispano he maybe quick enough but he doesnt understand the position very well he showed that when he played RB earlier in season for Arsenal.

If any CB is going to play fullback it will probably be Mbiwa.

Mole, eventhough football is going the one CF way, most teams at least make sure to have a scoring player in that attacking 3, whether it be an inside forward like podolski can be for Germany, or a scoring SS like Mueller or Kagawa.

Mancini was able to set up a very modern 4222 with 2 forwards, and two attacking mids behind them. That's something like that i had in mind. Let the fullback support the attack, play Ribery and Ben Arfa closer to be middle while allowing them to drift wide, and have a fix CF Giroud up top, and a rotating player around him like Benzema.

Yeah iam aware you meant that but i would still have defensive worries using such a system against the best.....

Also its not like Ben Arfa, Ribery, Nasri etc etc are incapable of scoring goals its not like they are Muniain lol.

In any case you would prefer Ben Arfa over Nasri in such a system? Ben Arfa has more game but Nasri tends to take the simple option more often ( maybe too often sometimes)

I get the feeling in such a system Blanc would prefer Nasri.

I mean, just look at Gourcuff... what is he doing there? that's a crying shame, and the proper illustration of how biased (in the wrong way) he can be. It's absolute rubbish, he is treating Gourcuff like a pet project instead of looking out for the best players. He is a manager, he makes those choices according to his reason, but i think it's rubbish.

Great Leader Sprucenuce wrote:Yeah iam aware you meant that but i would still have defensive worries using such a system against the best.....

Also its not like Ben Arfa, Ribery, Nasri etc etc are incapable of scoring goals its not like they are Muniain lol.

In any case you would prefer Ben Arfa over Nasri in such a system? Ben Arfa has more game but Nasri tends to take the simple option more often ( maybe too often sometimes)

I get the feeling in such a system Blanc would prefer Nasri.

well, playing mvila-cabaye in the midfield isnt so bad no? it's his job to tell to guys like RIbery and Nasri that they have to defend for the sake of the team.

Not saying that they are incapable of scoring, but they are opportunistic scorers, as opposed to being instinctive, which to me means that they wont natural make the runs off the ball to put themselves in the best position to finish etc... they will try to force the issue.

I doubt we start a game with both Benz and Giroud in the lineup. They're the only 2 CFs. If the starting lineup fails, you could see if happening as part of a 2nd half substitution.

I think we go 4-3-3 tbh.

lloris
Debuchy-Rami-Mexes-Clichy (please god)
M'Villa-Cabaye-Diarra
Nasri-Benz-Ribery

It allows Debuchy and Clichy to play to their strengths and bomb forward. If we play 4-2-3-1 or 4-2-2-2, we'd need at least one defensive fullback and Evra fraudulently passes as one... i'd rather play Diarra, and he sucks too... just not as bad lol.

Would Nasri work in Diarra's Postion?

Rebaño Sagrado wrote:Would Nasri work in Diarra's Postion?

No

Yh i also see Giroud as an impact sub a bit like how Llorente was for Spain....

Out of all the realistic options i would like to see 4-2-3-1 with Cabaye and M'Vila holding and Ben Arfa, Nasri and Ribery behind Benzema.....

I dont have many concerns over Debuchy or Clichy defensively i have seen them both enough to know despite they have a lot of attacking instinct that they defensively solid too.... ok they are not as solid as Sagna or Abidal but they also provide alot more going forward.

And it will be difficult for any team to go through Cabaye and M'vila atleast basing on Cabaye and Tiote ( and M'vila is better) they have been almost impossible to penetrate through the middle this season.

The 4-2-3-1 is well balanced across the board IMO and leaves enough options on the bench if things are not going as planned.

Why play Nasri behid the striker when Benzema is clearly better than him there.....in every way.....

Clichy lacks solididty IMO. He's just a runner with endless energy. Nothing more. Defense will defo be exposed.


________Lloris
_____Rami____Mexes
Debuchy___________Clichy
_____Matuidi
___________Cabaye
_______Nasri
Benzema_________Ribery
________Giroud

Honestly, we play left AM and right AM if we go to 4-2-3-1. Left AM is Nasri and right AM is Ben Arfa. Debuchy would support Ben Arfa as the RB and the LB will have more of a defensive role since Ribery is already there for Nasri. Benzema roams around.

That's the formation we want to use.

But since we don't have a good defensive LB, we may look to change that. Evra was just awful yday. Next 2 exhibition games and the performance of our LB options will dictate our tactics.

PS. M'Villa is starting for sure Hispano or Diarra. Matuidi hasn't had a min of pt with NT for over a year.

M'Vila's a boss then. France could use Matuidi as an alternative LB.

Matuidi is technically very limited... very limited. That's his problem. He has a huge work rate that reminds me a lot of Ramirez. But he needs to take a big step in his technical ability both dribbling and passing.

He's one of those guys you bring in when you're ahead and need to hold on to a result.