For a week now, the Blues have been telling us that what has happened so far is of little importance and that a new competition begins in the round of 16. However, one would swear that this France-Belgium reminded us of something. A gigantic defense, a restrictive offensive animation, a poorly put together plan, an own goal and the case is over. The new competition still looks exactly like the one that preceded it. The Blues are continuing their adventure at the Euro and that is the main thing. Factually, therefore, what they offered in Düsseldorf is sufficient.
Convincing? That’s another story. After four matches, France has offered too little. On Monday, it lacked intensity, precision and ideas. Because Didier Deschamps has built his greatest conquests on the strength of his group and the tightness of his team, his Blues have never gone for fireworks. On the other hand, except in 2021, it has always proposed a coherent plan to achieve its goals. Today, what is this plan? For two years, it has been clear and perfectly summarized at length in press conferences: solidity, solidarity, sacrifice and the talent of the attackers will do the rest.
Randal Kolo Muani (France) scorer against Poland
Credit: Getty Images
She has perhaps never been so strong and she has probably never been so limited up front.
The formula almost earned them a third star in Qatar. But in Germany, the Blues have a big problem. When the talent of the attackers is no longer enough, they have to rely on a penalty and two own goals from their opponents to reach the quarter-finals. These Blues have achieved a unique feat in the history of the Euro: reaching the quarter-finals without any French player having scored in a phase of play in 360 minutes. By only having two shots on target on Monday, it must be said that the affair is practically a miracle. But deep down, by dint of moving forward and persisting in this direction, it must be admitted that this team has made it a trademark.
It has perhaps never been so solid and it has probably never been so limited in attack. One cannot be read without the other. Basically, perhaps we need to stop looking for its identity and be content with what it has offered for the last four matches, or even five if we add the France-Canada (0-0) in preparation. Systems are a false problem, this version of the French team is, without value judgment, the most caricatured in a logic pushed to the extreme. Basically, here it is in the quarter-finals and it has already succeeded where its sexiest version, with Karim Benzema, failed three years ago.
“Griezmann on the right is wasting his talent and the nuisance power of the Blues”
Mbappé and Griezmann rinsed
Is Antoine Griezmann a shadow of his former self? Marcus Thuram can’t get a shot on target? Kylian Mbappé is astonishingly clumsy? It’s all just scum. Today, the captain and his right-hand man, the head and legs of this eleven, visibly drained by their season, have no more fuel in their engine and we’ll probably have to make do with that until the end. We can’t expect any more miracles.
The question now is whether all this will hold. Whether such short-term intentions will be enough. Can Les Bleus build on this success? No more than they built after Austria, the Netherlands and Poland. Matches without fever but where they always saved their skin. The system doesn’t matter, which changes every match, and the casting doesn’t matter. For the moment, their adventure is a never-ending story that repeats itself tirelessly.
