Spain 1-1 France

Awesome finish to this game as Giroud scored the much deserved last minute equalizer to Ramos' first half goal. Plus Lloris was beast!!!

Well done Giroud, Benzema in front of goals was just . France would have won this if Benzema had finished those chances

We deserved to win!!!

Totally walked on Spain in the second half. Awesome performance and great result.

Matuidi, Benzema, Ribery, all made Spain suffer so much.

Lloris was amazing in first half. And to think that some third rate English club picks an overage and overweight american who is 42 instead of him.... LOL

Lloris is a top5 GK for sure, maybe even top3.

Giroud

Great game, France deserved the win if im honest.

Juanfran was an absolute disaster defensively, and he cost his team the win with the most stupid dribble attempt i have ever seen. Arbeloa managed to keep Ribery relatively quiet in their duels, too bad he had to come off.

Physically, France just dominated the second half. Matuidi and Sissoko were fanstastic tackling and surging forward. Benzema was actually making runs in and he did great. RIbery was their motm, while Valbuena's activity in the middle was great from the minute he got in.

As for Spain, they cant play tiki taka ala barca without a double pivot. This was proven before. THEY DONT PRESS LIKE BARCA. So second half, Xabi got swarmed, and he had little help defensively. Work rate from those SPain AMs is shat, they just couldnt keep up with the french running past them. Alba bossed, Pedro did good, Cesc? ffs what a joke of a game he had. THey would have been better served with the likes of Navas creating natural width and Torres making true CF runs.

Fail tactical scheme from VDB imo, got pushed into some early subs but he could have lined up a better team. Kudos France, highly deserved draw and could have gotten better.

I went crazy when Giroud scored!! i forgot i was in the office at work and people looked at me like im some crazy idiot.

im not even a French NT supporter, but I like a lot of their players and was so happy for Giroud. Also can't really stand the Spain NT and think France deserved at LEAST a draw from this one made my day

Also agree with Ribery for MOTM. the man was dangerous just about every single time he had the ball. Also can't forget Lloris.

Koscielny's tackle on Pedro was horrible! Lloris was a real hero this game. He made countless fantastic saves.

Xabi pissed me off for refusing to get helped up and acting like a b1tch on the ground towards the end.

OLpower wrote:Lloris was amazing in first half. And to think that some third rate English club picks an overage and overweight american who is 42 instead of him.... LOL

No reason to insult Friedal but Lloris proved today he should start for the spurs.

looool wenger went crazy during the commentary

Vicente del Bosque is my hero and idol but he continues to disappoint when he underestimates teams with such provincial tactics such as these. As usual in these types of games we highly underestimated France and lacked the complete killer mentality and drive to finish the game off. I cannot fathom how Arbeloa, Torres, and this atrocious Atletico clown are included in the squad when there are so many others who deserve the spots over them. Not just these names but this recurring incident with VDB has gone on for a long time as he has succumbed to the politics and names that are media darling rather then far more talented, younger and hungrier players.

I don't want to begin about Cesc and his complacently taken penalty when we had our taker Xabi Alonso on the field. I also don't want to begin to criticize how the final goal was typical of Espana which always rears it dark side when we think we have ran away with the game.

I'm happy for Giroud though who has taken a ton of pressure off his back after his recent (uncalled for) criticism. He did in a few minutes what Benzema couldn't do throughout the whole game and that is to stay in the box and score a damn goal.

Didn't watch the game but did certain players cough Benzema cough, cough Ribery cough pass to themselves like usual

Because that's what i heard that the rest of the France team was working hard but not given the ball as much as they should.

I actually think Benzema was pretty good, and was making runs in the box on a consistent basis. Nothing to do with the player that we saw in the euros, and he took the chances the got well enough. bar that 1st half 1v1 on the far left when he was on his wrong foot, he wasnt exactly set up by his team mates, but did a lot to get them involved and to hold up play.

@Mole, a lil bit lol, but they were far more effective than usual. looks like Deschamps smacked Benzema, and asked him to make proper CF runs

@Arq, what players do you think Vicente should be calling up?

Great Leader Sprucenuce wrote:Didn't watch the game but did certain players cough Benzema cough, cough Ribery cough pass to themselves like usual

Because that's what i heard that the rest of the France team was working hard but not given the ball as much as they should.

What does this even mean really?

If anything people didn't pass to him as much as they should have. He pretty much put it in the goal for Sissoko and Menez. And flashed one across goal that Menez should have followed up on.

also, I think Valbuena should start instead of Menez.. Valbuena is as good as anybody out there and he changed the game when he came on

Benzema did well today and was causing havoc, him and Benzema. He forced a good save from Casillas and made dangerous crosses.

He only came off due to a knee injury and not because he was flopping.

Giroud did well though with literally his only first important touch despite it being horrible mistake from Juanfran

VDB tactics worked fine until Arbeloa was injured leaving busquets and Ramos in defence.

Ribery also became alive and raped Juanfran constantly. Iniesta didnt have a good game, but bringing Torres on in place of him, just meant even more inability to keep the ball. The bastard didn't even track back.

With a midfield of iniesta-busquets-xavi, Spain can play without the double pivot, provided they have a proper defence i.e no false CBs like Busquets.

Le Samourai wrote:

Great Leader Sprucenuce wrote:Didn't watch the game but did certain players cough Benzema cough, cough Ribery cough pass to themselves like usual

Because that's what i heard that the rest of the France team was working hard but not given the ball as much as they should.

What does this even mean really?

If anything people didn't pass to him as much as they should have. He pretty much put it in the goal for Sissoko and Menez. And flashed one across goal that Menez should have followed up on.

My experience of watching France is a lot of players only pass to certain players not just Benzema and ignore other options even if they are in a good position to be dangerous.

One of the reasons over last few years they don't seem to work as a team.

I asked the question because i didn't watch the game and i heard that it happened again.

Dat movement from Giroud to get in position for the cross Peeled off the defender like an orange skin

Giroud's runs and movements are always great. Even when he was missing sitter with Arsenal, his movements to get into position were sharp and precise. Very good striker.

But come on.

You Know better than that Mole.

People can have their criticisms of Benzema....that's fine...but when it comes to playing the game right and passing to the best possible option....he does it every time.

It's easily the best aspect of his game.

When Cabaye got into scoring positions he passed to him...when Ben Arfa got open he passed to him...same for Ribery et al.

The only reason some players perhaps didn't see as much of the ball as they would have perhaps liked....is because they were playing us. People just don't see that much of the ball.

When you have the ball you immediately move it to outlets because there's space....it doesn't always get to the centre because defense stops it. So Ribery, Menez , Valbuena, and Benz when he drifts there will naturally see most of the ball.

As i said i didn't watch the game i'm just going off what i was told....

That the likes of Menez and the midfield trio were often in good positions and ignored.

None of the forwards ever got ignored today or in the past. Whoever has been telling you this doesn't know what he's talking about.

The problem with France has been very easy to diagnose for a while: We have no midfield creativity and generally the players lack technique who play there. Even tonight, we were missing our 2 most technical midfielders in Diaby and Mavuba. So without that, Benzema is forced to come up and help with the buildup otherwise nobody would ever see the ball. He leads the NT in assists by a country mile this year with 5 in 10 games. Nobody has more than 2.

This game was a bit different. Despite lacking technique, our midfield was able to control the game with work rate and physical play. Matuidi was absolutely a beast. Then Valbuena came in when the physical toll was taken on Spain and it suddenly clicked.

France emphasizes the left because the best winger in the world plays there in Ribery. It's kind of like Di Maria and CR7... Di Maria is great, but the ball is always going to go mostly on CR7's side. It's just pragmatic footy.

Menez should have had a goal too tonight if it wasn't for that BS offsides call. That's what the RW player on France NT needs to do all the time... you know Ribery and Benz are going to create. When you see the box is empty, it's your job to crash it from your side. He's still a bit hesitant at that.

Best players were Lloris, Ribery, Matuidi, benzema and Valbuena.

Flops were... Koscielny. He sucked.

Sissoko has been a very pleasant surprise. Honestly, i didn't know why we called him but he proved me wrong.

Sakho did a very pro job covering his side as well. Never easy for a 22 year old CB to learn on the fly like this.

Once we get injured players and suspensions back, the base team for France will look like this imo

Lloris
Debuchy-Mbiwa-Sakho-Evra
Mavuba-Cabaye-Matuidi
Benzema (as the #10)-Ribery
Giroud

menez and valbuena will be impact subs. Diaby, if he ever gets healthy, will obviously challenge for a midfield spot. Sagna is a the dark horse out there too.

I like this team a lot. Building up well.

Sportz i can't your lineup seriously with Evra in it

That race between Evra and Cazorla was hilarious. It looked like Evra was running through peanut butter