Group A - France, Romania, Albania, Switzerland

[MW1304]

"That was a really European match yesterday wasn't it"

"Those two teams certainly showed up and played football didn't they"

 

[GIMH]

Could anyone be a dear and provide me with 5 insightful phrases I can spew anytime the Euro cup comes up in a conversation

Chat **** get banged
Bring your vodka and your Charlie
No Vardy no party
I love blue WKD
Chat **** get banged

 

[Cabinet96]

My boi Xhaka won the official man of the match, against his homeland, tears in my eyes.

 

[Furball]

Xhaka was born in Switzerland and his parents were from Kosovo...

 

[Cabinet96]

Apparently Deschamps is going to drop Pogba and Griezmann tomorrow which is hilarious.

 

[Cabinet96]

Xhaka was born in Switzerland and his parents were from Kosovo...

He identifies himself as Albanian and his brother was playing for them.

 

[sledger]

Probably more logical than him dropping Payet at this stage tbh. Still, if true, it does still seem a somewhat puzzling choice.

 

[Cabinet96]

I see the logic as I think he wants to go 4-2-3-1 and play Payet centrally. Thought Matuidi was pretty average on Friday though, so would probably just play Pogba next to Kante, even though it's not ideal.

 

[sledger]

Don't really think there's a need for Matuidi and Kante in the same side tbh. Not against opposition France should expect to beat fairly comfortably or dominate possession against anyway. Would make sense if they were playing against Spain or Germany or someone, but not really against sides like Romania and Bulgaria.

 

[Furball]

Nah Matuidi and Kante are a brilliant pairing. To use a tired cliche they cover absolutely every blade of grass onthe pitch.

Dropping Pogba is lolworthy though.

 

[Uppercut]

I think it's a fair decision. Their shape wasn't great on Friday so moving to 4-2-3-1 makes sense in a game where they can experiment a little, and he's been the worst of the three CMs all season, especially for France. Pogba is about 40% hype 40% potential and 20% quality. Case study in what fabulous muscles and a super agent can do for a player's reputation.

 

[DriveClub]

I think it's a fair decision. Their shape wasn't great on Friday so moving to 4-2-3-1 makes sense in a game where they can experiment a little, and he's been the worst of the three CMs all season, especially for France. Pogba is about 40% hype 40% potential and 20% quality. Case study in what fabulous muscles and a super agent can do for a player's reputation.

No he's not, his growth has slowed down a bit in the last 2 years but he's one of the best passers and dribblers atm

 

[Furball]

I think it's a fair decision. Their shape wasn't great on Friday so moving to 4-2-3-1 makes sense in a game where they can experiment a little, and he's been the worst of the three CMs all season, especially for France. Pogba is about 40% hype 40% potential and 20% quality. Case study in what fabulous muscles and a super agent can do for a player's reputation.

Nah.

 

[DriveClub]

I would probably drop giroud and play griezman as the lone striker.

 

[harsh.ag]

Why is 4-2-3-1 better than 4-1-3-2 for France again?

 

[Uppercut]

They've never tried 4-1-3-2 as far as I know. The choice is between 4-2-3-1 and 4-3-3. France's big handicap is that their full backs are too old to consistently provide width, and Payet and Griezmann drift in from the flanks. 4-2-3-1 gets Martial and Coman in the side as genuine wingers and obviously Payet can't make way. So it's one of Pogba, Kante and Matuidi to drop out and there are decent arguments for it being any of them. Hardly surprising that it's Pogba since his personality is so perfectly calibrated to piss someone like Deschamps off.

 

[Furball]

Should play Digne instead of Sagna at right back tbf

 

[Uppercut]

Should play Digne instead of Sagna at right back tbf

Tend to think Tremoulinas should play instead of Evra too, although I've not seen a lot of either this season and I think he's injured anyway. Digne isn't amazing either though. Not sure it would make that much difference. I'm not a huge fan of Deschamps, taking so long to get Payet in the squad raises some questions about his judgement, but at this stage he's not making genuine comedy decisions like Wilmots.

 

[sledger]

Tend to think Tremoulinas should play instead of Evra too, although I've not seen a lot of either this season and I think he's injured anyway. Digne isn't amazing either though. Not sure it would make that much difference.

Yeah, he's not in the squad.

 

[Redbacks]

I guess France do have to mix it up, I thought Pogba did ok, but overplayed it a bit, almost like he wanted to do a clever dummy/turn regardless of whether it was needed. They got the win but their ball movement was pretty poor and didn't really trouble a compact defence bar the moment of Payet magic. I thought Coman added variety to their attack, so agile and good at breaking lines. Helps that he has been coached by Pep.