[ad_1]
After Argentina, the Tricolores had to prove that not having a guiding idea does not mean that one has no ideas. The tactical badysis of the "Cahiers du foot"
To a Argentina player but naive, enthusiastic but limited individually, France had responded with a form of order. Game, of course, but framed: we let the opponent to better enjoy the spaces behind his back, we defend when the score is favorable and we discover without haste when it is no longer. A way to do very effective in the round of 16, but not duplicable to infinity. Like many other teams still in the running (Russia, Sweden), Uruguay, intelligent and methodical, but also sometimes very cynical, does not overplay. When it serves his interests, as for the match against Saudi Arabia and Portugal, he does not even play at all … So in this quarter-final, the Blues had to change their suit, prove that do not have a guiding idea (positional game, counter-attack …) does not mean that we have no ideas.
See also:
Analysis of the France-Argentina match: the Blues and the vital space
Then, the men of Didier Deschamps, again arranged in an asymmetrical 4-2-3-1 where only Tolisso replaced the suspended Matuidi left side, recited their lesson. Those who enjoyed the very open game offered by Argentina, an unbridled face where offensive talents are free to express themselves, have accepted the Uruguayan wrestling. Without making all the shots of a very physical adversary, but not hesitating to challenge him on his strengths.
The hinge Gimenez-Godin dominates in the air? She won only five of her sixteen aerial duels, compared to seven out of ten for Giroud alone. And it was on a set kick that Varane opened the score of the head. Uruguayan strikers return to help their partners in the defensive phase? With five successful tackles, Griezmann, regular of these meetings "has muerte" with Atlético Madrid, is the best player of the match in the field. Pogba is sometimes nonchalant? His fourteen wins are the best total of a tricolor player in a knockout match of a World Cup since Lizarazu against Croatia in 1998. It was feared that France dominates in the game but suffers in physical intensity, it ends finally with 56% of won duels. However, it is not only by fighting with the weapons of their opponent that the men of Didier Deschamps have won their place for the semifinal.
Sisyphus football version
Since the beginning of the World Cup, Uruguay is offensively offended in the construction of his attacks, the striker Cavani becoming a kind of player to do everything: first counter-attacker, but also symbolic playmaker, he is the one who must allow the block to go up, make pbades sharp and, when the opportunity arises, to be at the conclusion. Although the 4-4-2 diamond since the match against Russia had allowed the Uruguayans to squeeze and recover balloons higher, the dependency remained strong. And the absence of the Parisian striker was bound to weigh, his substitute, Stuani, being above all a player of surface endowed with the head. To cut the air link was to force the Celeste to build on the ground. And so be able to block it in his camp.
See also:
The foreign press praises the "show of force" of the France team
Then France built in the half Uruguayan field (52 pbades managed by Pogba in this zone, 47 by Griezmann), without discovering but by stifling an opponent preferring to defend to nine or ten, without possibility of countering, rather than seven, risking a goal. Torreira, the defensive midfielder expected from Arsenal next season, has exploded the statistics (four interceptions, thirteen balls recovered and four tackles) but with no other contribution than to delay the deadline. The myth of Sisyphus football version: without the ability to use the ball once taken, we are condemned to clear it and wait for it to come back. Tirelessly. Number 10, and therefore player among the most technical of his team, Bentancur is sometimes down to help his defense and fluidize the recovery. Ironically, it is he who loses the ball before the free kick that brings the first goal …
Of course, the Blues did not create much with the ball, and they did not have much more opportunities than their opponent. But the explanations exist, and they are more acceptable than after the 90 minutes of boredom against Denmark.
The word to the defense
The management of the score, first. In the lead before the break, they did not necessarily need to do more, and their defensive possession at the end of the game, weapon rarely used in recent years, shows great maturity. The quality of the opposition, then. Never really ambitious, to the point that Suarez did not hit a single ball in the French surface, Uruguay remained low on the ground, a configuration he masters better than any other. The profile of the players, finally. During Mbappé left side, Tolisso offered solutions between the lines but mainly participated in the defensive effort. " I evolved into an unusual position for myself, but the coach had spoken to me and told me what he expected of me, I tried to do the best he confided in a press conference. I had to help Lucas, help the midfielders, Paul [Pogba] and NG [Kanté] that they do not end up in two otherwise, it was going to be complicated, they were going to take waves. I had to stay a minimum with them, while helping Lucas on the side .
The instructions were therefore defensive, and their good application offsets the lack of creativity in attack, a field where Pogba was a little more discreet than usual and Mbappé almost too fast for his partners . But when the control in defense and in the middle is total, the waste approaching the opposing surface is inevitably less penalizing. No time to have regrets that the ball has already returned to Kanté's feet …
See also:
2018 World Cup: caution and 4-4-2 as safe havens
After this new demonstration of adaptation to the adversary, how to imagine the confrontation with Belgium? The neighbor, excellent in offensive transition, should a priori leave the ball, but much better use it than Uruguay. He is also of rare tactical adaptability, able to beat Brazil with a device worked only twice in training (dixit Tielemans) and never in match. And, with Fellaini and Lukaku, he owns two golgoths capable of playing the air controllers.
But the Belgians attack better than they defend – only Courtois and the clumsiness allowed to resist the Brazilian siege in the quarterfinals – , and the suspension of Meunier, which will force Roberto Martinez to tinker in defense, offers very favorable duels in the area of the opposing sides. What to imagine a little more madness than this Friday and hope for a new popular communion throughout the country. Because, as Pascal Dupraz said in the post-match on TF1: " Football is joy, do not forget it .
Christophe Kuchly
Source link
