England's Roy Hodgson will have seen plenty to encourage him as France narrowly beat Iceland – but lots to worry about too
Eight years ago, Mark Noble, James Walker and Kyel Reid were England's foremost players in a side that reached the Under-17 European Championship semi-final before losing narrowly to Spain, whose winning goal was scored by Cesc Fábregas.
France eventually won that tournament with a midfield illuminated by Samir Nasri, Jérémy Ménez and Hatem Ben Arfa, who were so brilliant in the competition that folks immediately began yearning for the day when they would orchestrate the senior team's attacks. In Sunday night's friendly against Iceland, they finally all started a match together for Les Bleus, just behind Karim Benzema, another member of the teenage 2004 youth champions. They showed enough qualities to suggest they could repeat their triumph. But France also showed the flaws that could undo them.
In a nutshell, France demonstrated they have enough ingenuity going forward to beat anyone but also, despite the fact that their 3-2 win extended their unbeaten run to 19 matches, that they are sufficiently vulnerable at the back to give hope to any opponent. They are, then, almost the opposite of solid, predictable England. Roy Hodgson will have seen plenty to encourage him last night, and lots to worry about.
Defensively France were dodgy. Patrice Evra all but surrendered any claim to starting at left-back with a performance of dreadful negligence. Twice in the first half his dawdling allowed Iceland to score on the counterattack. Gaël Clichy looks a safer option. The Manchester United player was not the only culprit, however.
When Laurent Blanc took charge two years ago, he said finding a solid central defensive partnership was his top priority and he soon settled on Philippe Mexès and Adil Rami, owing to the lack of any better candidates. Mexes' lack of speed meant he was unable to cover for Evra's failings on Sunday night– twice in the second half that could have led to more goals for Iceland –and his lack of height led to him being easily outjumped in the build-up for Iceland's second goal.
If Hodgson was to base his team selection solely on footage of this match, he would start Theo Walcott and Andy Carroll against France. Blanc seems unlikely to drop Mexès, whom he appointed captain on Sunday night, but more shoddiness against Serbia on Thursday could yet persuade the manager to start with Laurent Koscielny instead or the Montpellier youngster Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa. Mind you, never mind occasional defensive dithering, Mexès and Rami both offer plenty going forward, as proven by the former's dainty pass late in the second half that led to Rami crashing in the winning goal.
The attacking power of France's defence is boosted by Mathieu Debuchy, the right-back who followed up his superb display against Germany last time out, when he teed up both goals in France's 2-1 win, by scoring France's first on Sunday night. With France's wide players usually darting inwards, Debuchy's duty is to dominate the entire right flank and his duel with Ashley Cole in two weeks time will be intriguing.
Even when trailing 2-0, France looked like winning. That is because they were full of invention and incision, even before Franck Ribéry and Olivier Giroud came on to prove that Blanc has a lopsided squad, heavy on potentially match-winning forwards, light on reliable defenders. Ben Arfa, operating from the right, was full of menace and gave credence to the claims that his long-running feud with Benzema has been buried as that pair continually combined beautifully, one-twoing their way through the Iceland defence on countless occasions. Benzema would have scored several goals if not for good Icelandic goalkeeping and bad officiating, as he was incorrectly called back for offside at least three times when clean through.
Benzema was the lone striker in a 4-2-3-1, with Ménez and Nasri joining Ben Arfa in the attacking triumvirate. All three did well. At the base of midfield Blanc chose not to deploy a specialist destroyer, giving Yann M'Vila the night off to allow Yohan Cabaye and Yoann Gourcuff to prod and probe. The Newcastle man did fine but Gourcuff made little impact, increasing calls for him to be among the players cut when Blanc trims his squad to 23 players tomorrow. Omitting Gourcuff will be difficult for Blanc, who had made a leap of faith by including him in the preliminary squad because he still believes the gifted playmaker can rediscover the form that inspired Blanc's Bordeaux to the French title in 2009. Gourcuff's form, however, has been in a rut for most of the last three years and fans delivered their verdict by booing him off when he was replaced mid-way through the second half last night.
Assuming M'Vila will start the England game, several players could be fielded alongside him to do what Gourcuff could not do on Sunday. Cabaye and Nasri, for example. Asking Nasri to drop back a tad would be one way of getting both Benzema and Giroud into the starting line-up. On recent evidence, both are too good to leave out. Giroud showed his prowess as a pivot by deftly setting up two goals after coming on, including the Ribéry masterpiece. And the Montpellier man is also a sharp spearhead, leading the scoring charts in Ligue 1 this season. Blanc may be tempted to play Giroud up front with Benzema just behind. "A difficult win is better than an easy win," was Blanc's succinct message after Sunday night's game. By similar logic, difficult decisions may be better than easy ones. Read More
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