France line up for the 2022 World Cup with one of the best and largest squads, full of incredible and generational talent, including this time the recent Ballon D’Or winner, Karim Benzema, something they haven’t enjoyed in past years when competing for past major honours.
After lifting the prestigious World Cup in Russia back in 2018, France wants to repeat their recent success, while also aiming to erase what happened in the UEFA European Championship — being beaten by Switzerland in the penalty shootout.
Didier Deschamps has a massive squad at his disposal — one which grows day by day with ability in every line of the team. From goalkeepers to centre-backs, full-backs to midfielders, and finally forwards where we can see the likes of Antoine Griezmann, Kylian Mbappé or Karim Benzema playing together.
However, they have been in a tactical decline after the European Championship. With a possession-based football style, they have turned into a very slow side that can’t be clinical through their ball dominance. Let’s deepen into this.
This scout report in the form of a tactical analysis will provide a detailed insight into France’s tactics under Didier Deschamps. More specifically, this analysis aims to identify why and how France come into this World Cup as one of probable shocks.
Predicted starting XI
Although France have one of the most changeable starting XIs, with even their formations constantly changing, Deschamps has found the balance inside his large squad, setting up in a 3-4-1-2 with Hugo Lloris in what it’s going to be his last World Cup, behind Lucas Hernández, Raphael Varane and Jules Koundé in what seems to be a very solid, yet young and experimental defence, along with Kingsley Coman, who has started to play as a wing-back for them, and Ferland Mendy, whose performances have helped him to become a starter for his National Team.
Adrien Rabiot and Aurélien Tchouaméni would surely be the midfield partnership after N’Golo Kanté’s injury setback leaves him set to miss the tournament. Up front, France will likely play with a trio of Antoine Griezmann, Kylian Mbappé and Benzema.
In the age profile, we can see France enjoy of a team full of players at their peak, such as vital ones like Raphael Varane, Benjamin Pavard or Presnel Kimpembé. Also, young guns with the quality of Jules Koundé, Aurelién Tchouaméni or the obvious Kylian Mbappé end to settle up a team that as well have veteran players in positions where everyone would want to. The goalkeeper, the ‘10’ and the centre-forward spots.
Attacking phase
As mentioned before, France like to use a possession-based style where players can create a fluid system via their freedom to move around the pitch, but also with certain roles to contribute in the build-up. Players like Tchouaméni have become vital for the team because of their fantastic ability to break pressure between the lines.
France have become a slow team that doesn’t find the correct answers quickly and consistently when setting up with the ball. Usually, their starting position is in a back three — this could be because the pivot joins the line or because they have initially started with three centre-backs. In this stage, Aurélien Tchouaméni has started to turn into a key and irreplaceable player, due to his capacity to progress the team through the thirds.
But when he’s not on the team sheet, problems can happen: The build-up is a bit static, with lots of sideways passing that does not lead to progression, and this starts to make life difficult for the centre-backs, wing-backs and midfielders as they’re always in the same phase, without making harm to the opposition.
France rely on their pivot’s ability to drop deep and find these kinds of players in the half-spaces or in the central areas, being undetectable behind the midfielders. This is a very simple way to escape the first line of pressure and with the right profile, it can be the easiest way to play and not disturb their organised shape.
Although they’ve been changing their structure to a back-three, when playing with a back-four, there are other automatisms and situations where the right-midfielder has a big part in the build-up. As we can see, Guendouzi is located as the midfielder over on the right-hand side. If the ball is played through his zone, he adds himself to the back three or as a right-back to allow the actual wing-back to advance up the field.
In the middle third, France start to accelerate their game as technical quality from players like Griezmann or Benzema moves the team forward and creates opportunities for them. The wing-backs also play a key role in this phase as they pin very wide to make space through the middle for the strikers and for the attacking midfielder.
In the figure below we can see Griezmann leaving his zone to occupy congested lanes and move the team forward as the midfielders and centre-backs couldn’t find the way. After receiving in this position, he releases a pass to the centre-back at his right making the move forward.
Deschamps’ team often relies very much upon some players and profiles to make their attack work, and one of these, besides Griezmann, is Benzema. His quality helps France to create frequent chances with two or three touches. Although he doesn’t drop that deep to help the build-up, in the final third, he’s the cornerstone thanks to his undetectable movements and sensitivity in his footwork. Playing almost in slow-motion, he makes an incredible disorder in the rival’s defensive shape.
France has many different ways of scoring goals. One of the most recognisable is the runs in behind from Kylian Mbappé or his long carries that start at the middle of the pitch and end up almost every time in a 1v1 duel against the goalkeeper.
However, one-two situations on the edge of the box are also a usual sign you see before scoring a goal. This is where Karim Benzema makes himself even bigger, because of how he drags defenders out of their zone and plays football in a very simple and direct way. Additionally, Antoine Griezmann joins as the frontman to execute through passes.
The following action of the picture above us, is a brilliant one, as Mbappé plays the ball to Rabiot quickly, he then opens the ball wide to Benzema, who executes an incredible pass to Mbappé who plays it back to him in a one-two and scores a beautiful goal.
Defensive phase
France likes to place a mid-block defensively which varies a lot if they are playing with a back-four or a back-three. Even when playing the first one, they like to be more aggressive and higher on the pitch to try to rob the ball in the opposition’s own third, to create rapid transitions. Although, having the long runs of Kylian Mbappé, the mid-block has fit in perfectly, trying to win the ball back through the middle, where long-distribution players can execute through-balls for the PSG forward.
This example shows what we are explaining perfectly: France sets a mid-block against Finland, in a 5-2-3 structure, with a zonal marking and jumps of some players to tightly mark opposition players at the strong side of the ball.
When playing in a 4-3-3, obviously, this changes several things but not the principles: They still set up to mark zonally with very narrow lines, overloading the central zones, applying a trap to make the rivals play to the wings, where full-backs can jump to win the ball, with the support of the midfielder of that side.
Their high pressing is normally guided by the attacking midfielder blocking the passing circuits of the rival pivot, the strikers waiting to pull the trigger to suffocate centre-backs and midfielders very high on the pitch, with one of them even going into wide areas to block passing options to full-backs.
However, France has not been looking that good defensively with many signs of concern including the rival forwards breaking with runs-in-behind between the centre-backs, as well as defending their own box, where they have been conceding penalties or leaving free players at their backs.
As we can see in the data viz above us, they have been very passive in their own third, not making many interceptions and not recovering that much. This, on many occasions, could be because they do not spend that much time in their own third; nevertheless, they have been poor when trying to win the ball in this zone.
Transitions
In attacking transitions, ‘Les Bleus’ like to rely very much on probably the world’s best player running into the space: Kylian Mbappé. At the very first moment France’s players receive the ball in transitions from defence to attack, they get their heads up to find the PSG forward, to then release a through pass to activate him with space to make the run-in behind the full-back — one of the common movements you’ll see from the 23 year-old.
Defensive transitions have been one of the biggest issues in France’s game of late, as their centre-backs have been displaying a worrying problem of anticipation when jumping off their lines and in their speed to track players that can run behind their backs while being seemingly undetectable. The wing-backs also don’t tend to do the recovery runs as efficiently as Deschamps might want, so the back-three feels very unprotected at times, adding to their individual issues and coordination problems.
Defenders
Hugo Lloris, Alban Lafont and Alphonse Areola are surely going to be the three goalkeepers in the squad, replacing the injured Mike Maignan. France’s large list of talented players at the centre-back spot is going to cause a selection headache for Deschamps, with names like William Saliba, Dayot Upamecano, Presnel Kimpembe, Raphael Varane and a very long shortlist of defenders that deserve to be in the tournament all vying for a place in the squad.
Full-backs are also well-covered and it’ll be another dilemma for Deschamps to select the best ones, with the likes of Ferland Mendy, Léo Dubois, Jonathan Clauss, Benjamin Pavard or Lucas Digne all available.
Midfielders
Midfield presents another tough selection for Deschamps, as if this squad could present any easy choices. Names like Mattéo Guendouzi and Jordan Veretout are in the running for a spot in the squad, but with the injury to N’Golo Kanté, the call for Tchouaméni and Adrien Rabiot to be the starters at the double-pivot is surely going to happen. The former AS Mónaco and recent Real Madrid signing has shown everyone why he has to be a starter in the most prestigious tournament in the world, thanks to his ball-winning abilities, adaptability to tough moments, as well as his passing ability that often break lines. However, the other side of the coin sees the severally criticized Adrien Rabiot who hasn’t lift-off his level to the top one he always look to turn in the future, but Didier Deschamps see the potential in him to contribute greatly in the midfield’s team.
Attackers
Having players like Kingsley Coman, Wissam Ben Yedder, Ousmane Dembélé or Christopher Nkunku to play alongside Karim Benzema, Antoine Griezmann and Kylian Mbappé has to be one of the most difficult decisions Deschamps is going to make. However, talent is everywhere in the forward line for ‘Les Bleus’. The synergic mix in the attacking-trio France has make is basically unbelievable and something all coach would want to have in their teams. A speed and 1v1 duel beast that likes to harm defenders with his runs; An intelligent forward that drops off his zone with magical touches playing with his back to goal or in the half-turn, with an attacking-midfielder with a technical ability that very little players have to play front to the goal, finding pockets of space to connect. That’s Mbappé, Benzema and Griezmann.
Key player
Recent Ballon D’Or winner Karim Benzema has the chance to show what his football is capable of. His magical season at Real Madrid where his team won the double thanks to his goals, assists and his synergy with the system and especially Vinicius Jr, has made him one of the standout players for the tournament and one to follow in his return to the France National Team.
Tournament prediction
Although France haven’t been playing beautiful football in recent matches, and even in the recent major competitions, they always have an extremely talented squad with world-class players that can’t be underestimated. It wouldn’t be a shock to see them progress to the semi-finals and even, once again, to the final of the World Cup, running it back to 2018 and the last edition of this most prestigious competition.
