France NT News, Formations & Results

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

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

I think more credit should be given to the Albanian defence other than the friendly excuse. I watched the game and the French players certainly didn't lack in trying and fight. Ever since De Biasi started coaching this team, the Albanian defence has gotten better and better and right now is as good as they can realistically be. In this campaign they've been very good, drew against France in Paris in an earlier friendly, beat Portugal away from home, conceded a very late unlucky goal to be denied a win against Denmark and would've beat Serbia if not for the incident. Only 2 goals conceded so far. This is a strong defensively team which France couldn't crack despite their very high effort thanksmto De Biasi's grest coaching.

Albania is underrated but it's really difficult to face them , a NT veru tough,   asking to Portugal too.
Whenever I saw them playing I was impressed for their organization  , considering they haven't great ( not even good? ) names.
If Albania won't get qualified to Euro 2016 I ' m sure  it will be just because of  that Serbia-Albania fact and the consequent walkover against them

Robespierre wrote:Albania is underrated but it's really difficult to face them , a NT veru tough,   asking to Portugal too.
Whenever I saw them playing I was impressed for their organization  , considering they haven't great ( not even good? ) names.
If Albania won't get qualified to Euro 2016 I ' m sure  it will be just because of  that Serbia-Albania fact and the consequent walkover against them

If they don't qualify it's because we'll beat them like we did Serbia. We're three times better than the first meeting.

I've watched enough of France NT to know when they're pretending like they're trying....  and when they're really trying.  They were on vacation mode.  Same thing happened the summer before the WC when we scheduled friendlies in South America in June...  we lost all of them.  

There's about 3 extra levels of aggressiveness and speed of execution that occur when the team is playing with a competitive mindset.

I think NT friendlies are absolute garbage now unless it's a few months before a major tournament and there's actually a purpose you can sell to the players.

Best moments in French football history (club and NT):

What's the reason behind calling up Zouma instead of Sakho Sports?


Attack looks good.

Fekir will be used as a CAM hopefully.

Because Sakho has been on the bench but Zouma has been starting?

Coquelin not called up ( I rate him) makes the idea how much is great the potential of this France .
In attack Lacazette is injured..
The defence needs of a leader it misses this and then  it's GOAT imo

Sakho hasn't played a single minute this season and Deschamps has said that players who don't get to play at least once every 10 days will have zero chance of making the team...

Zouma is a beast. Just young. I really really really rate him. Just needs seasoning and Deschamps wants him to get used to being part of the NT get together.

I have no hopes of Deschamps being adventuresome however. The front trio will be Valbuena-Griezmann-Benzema. After that, you will see Fekir-Martial-Giroud as the second attacking unit.

In midfield, it will be Cabaye-Pogba-Matuidi with Schneiderlin-Kondogbia-Sissoko as the second unit.

In defense, rightback is a huge issue. We are going to have to go with Sagna or Debuchy... there's nobody on the horizon either. So the starting 4 imo will be Sagna-Kos-Varane-Evra. Behind them will be Debuchy-Zouma-Mangala-Tremoulinas. I expect Kurzawa or Digne or both to make the squad sometime this season. Laporte may get a look too at CB.

Lloris is uncontested starter with Mandanda uncontested second. Ruffier is the third, although injured.

Good team... but they carry no motivation in friendlies. Really hard to watch lol.

I honestly hope Deschamps grooms Zouma, he and Varane would be a beast pairing in the future. Jose and JT have spent a lot of time working with Zouma to ensure he becomes a defensive powerhouse so if Deschamps does the same, not much will stop him from becoming one, considering how hard he works.

Overall, I think that squad is very solid, but RB could be an issue in the future. What ever happened to Corchia?

Corchia is absolute crap.  All our talent is at LB with Kurzawa, Digne and Amavi.  Heck there's even Mendy there too.  Honestly have no idea who could possible play RB.  Too bad Aurier chose Ivory Coast over France 2 years ago.

Who ever is the current U-21 starting RB must be laughing, then

I can't believe Sakho is still at Liverpool after deadline day. Imagine the manager keeps benching you for Lovren and not for merit whatsoever. Would have *bleep* off for being treated as poorly as he has been by Rodgers and yet he's clearly LIGHT YEARS better than both Lovren and Skrtel.

And now it's costing him a spot in the NT in a Euro year that's going to be held in France.

He refused extension, no? I would think Liverpool must move him in the winter.

This young generation (19-23) is scary talented though... Varane, Zouma, Kurzawa, DIgne, Pogba, Fekir, Martial... then you add the 24-26 group of Griezmann, Lacazette, Ntep, Kondogbia, etc.

I mean it could be a golden era coming up.

I agree with you there. A lot of talent coming out of France. If they can produce a GK to replace Lloris and a RB, they'll be set, potentially.

i know benzema just came back from injury, but damn was he awful, haven't seen him look that bad in a while .

Deschamps is going to have a hard job on who to call up for the Euros. Just look at the squad France has at disposal (the only position that's lacking is RB) :

GK: Lloris, Mandanda, Ruffier
CB: Sakho, Mangala, Koscielny, Varane, Zouma, Laporte, Mathieu, Umtiti
LB: Kurzawa, Digne, Clichy, Amavi, Mendy
RB: Sagna, Debuchy
DM/CM: Schneiderlin, Gonalons, Coquelin, Kondogbia, Pogba, Matuidi, Imbula, Grenier, Cabaye, Moussa Sissoko
AMs/Wingers/Forwards: Fekir, Payet, Valbuena, Ntep, Thauvin, Griezmann, Benzema, Lacazette, Giroud, Martial, Remy, Gameiro

Don't forget Ribery and Nasri retired from the NT

I am confused how Cabaye, Valbuena and Moussa Sissoko still start in this team.

Such a beast

Benzema story getting worse tbh... this "friend" of Benzema that got him into this mess has a history:
-  Beat up a l'Equipe reporter during the WC because bad things were written about Benz
-  Has been convicted twice for pretty serious crimes
-  Made 24 hour trips from Lyon to Madrid, one of which he was carrying 100kg of Marijuana.
etc.

Then you add the Zahia affair, the car accidents, his aunt suing him for damages, etc...  just makes up a lot.

I think, unfortunately, that Benzema is going to be blacklisted from France NT regardless of what happens.  The FFF is very conscious about the team's image going into Euro 2016 and i just don't think they want Benz being a part of it. Given that Cantona and Ginola got blacklisted for far less... not to mention Nasri and Payet recently... i just don't see how he survives this.

This is going to be the year for one of Martial or Lacazette to take over... even Giroud.  The position is wide open now.

or he might get a slap on the wrist and stop doing dumb shit, france clearly needs him atm, they will have a last warning kinda talk with him imo.

He's already had those Chad... he risks big here. France would be better with him, but there are plenty of options behind. Martial is on. Giroud of course. If Lacazette finds form again, there's him. And Fekir should be back from injury in the 2nd half of the season. Ben Arfa is getting a look too.

Talent is there. It's not like past years.

well since he has been warned before then so be it, very stupid of him to not think this far ahead oh well, i wanna see how he reacts to this, hopefully he pulls a kobe and really start balling .

From a very reliable source... the FFF and DD are thinking like this: If after Valbuena's hearing on or before Nov 20th, the French justice system continues to press charges against Benz, he will be indefinitely suspended from all NT participation... so he'd be out of the Euro and his NT career will be likely over.