Pogba
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| How France could have involved Pogba more |
The 24 year old Juventus man is being valued at a £100 million price however playing in a CDM position he could not offer enough offensively to power through a defensive Portuguese side. Pogba was often picking the ball up in his own half and either feeding it to Matuidi or Sissoko just ahead of him or spraying it wide to the roaming full backs of Sagna and Evra. In fact he completed 115 passes in total, of which 93% were accurate. Pogba also carried out his defensive duties to perfection, he made 4 tackles to regain possession, only Matuidi made more. However such a skilled player has shown he has the ability to beat his man (vs Mustafi against Germany) yet he was restrained to sitting back as opposed to bombing forwards. Perhaps if France had replaced Sissoko with Kante once the Newcastle man began to tire after an outstanding performance, then Pogba would have had more affect further forwards. One argument is that Deschamps was impressed with Pogba's imposing defensive capabilities and did not want to upset the balance and risk a Portuguese equaliser (which came anyway). Criticism of Pogba is unfair given the Juventus man carried out his role as CDM faultlessly.
French mentality
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| French fans was left dejected after an unexpected loss |
It seems Deschamps was content for France to go to penalties against Portugal given he was due to bring on defensive midfielder Kante prior to Eder's strike. However as soon as France went behind Martial was ushered on unfortunately for France he did not have enough time to make an impact. French fans were disappointed not to see the Manchester United man on sooner and were left questioning Deschamps's and France's mentality and whether or not they were set on winning the game. There is no doubting Portugal defensively and credit must be given, since Fonte has come into the set up (knock out stages) Portugal have conceded just once in 550 minutes despite facing the likes of Perisic, Lewandowski,Bale and top scorer Griezmann. France were not expecting a walkover and knew Portugal would be resolute, especially with the return of Pepe, however France did not do enough offensively to indicate they wanted to win the match. Matuidi and Pogba were content on sitting and, excluding some Sissoko bursts, a Gignac shot and Griezmann header they did not not look desperate for a win. Perhaps France were too patient when they needed to be desperately searching and pushing for the all important breakthrough. This is epitomised by the fact that Portugal's main goal threat Ronaldo went off nevertheless France did not capitalise or adjust and remained in large numbers at the back when they could afford to throw the likes of Pogba forwards with such a presence away from the action.
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| Southampton's Fonte had an exceptional game alongside Pepe |
The final touch
The decisive cross or clinical finish were areas where Evra, Sagna and Griezmann were lacking. Despite leading the goal scoring charts by some margin Griezmann could not direct a free header from just 6 yards on target in the second half. On top of that Giroud missed a crucial opportunity when faced with Patricio only for the latter to make one of many profound saves. Evra and Sagna got forward at every opportunity but all too often the likes of Fonte and Pepe easily headed clear what were deemed hopeful crosses. Whilst the full backs must bare some blame for their delivery they will argue that Giroud was often the only man in the box as Griezmann was dropping very deep and Pogba,Matuidi and Sissoko were rarely rushing into the danger areas. Without doubt if France had converted early on then Portugal would have been forced out their defensive shell to set up a much more end to end, chance ridden match.
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