Last night a ruthless France eased past surprise of the tournament Iceland thanks to goals from Payet,Griezmann, Pogba and Giroud to set up a Semi-final with World Champions Germany. Iceland fielded the same team to the one which sent England packing just six days ago in Nice. So why did France cruise to an easy victory whereas England failed embarrassingly ?
High pressing and a hardworking mentality
Similarly to the Germans against Italy the French opted for a high intensity approach. The likes of Payet, Griezmann and most of all Pogba were all flying around the pitch in an attempt to dispossess the bewildered Iceland. As a result of this Iceland were unable to maintain possession and were left disorganised and flustered since they went long periods in the first half without the ball. France went on to exploit this with simple through balls down the middle soon after regaining the ball which sent them on their way to the next round. This also prevented Iceland from building play up to the French third, a passing move which determined England's fate in Nice last week.
Attacking from the off
One problem England faced was a lack of creativity up top, Alli, Rooney nor Wilshire could provide the killer pass from deep. To counter this issue Didier Deschamps picked an offensive formation with Pogba and Matuidi as his two holding midfielders and Sissoko coming in for the suspended, more defensive minded Kante. Pogba and Matuidi looked to get on the ball as frequently as possible and the latter provided a well weighted assist to open the floodgates. Unlike France England struggled to get in behind the Icelandic defence, excluding a spectacular ball from Sturridge which resulted in a penalty. Perhaps a higher Icelandic backline against France was the smallest nation's downfall as they underestimated Giroud's ability to time his run and sneak in one on one.
In form players
England's previous game against Slovakia was a dreary and disappointing affair in which England's best attacking players up until that point : Walker and Rooney were left on the bench. Whereas these two lost their form, Rooney most of all with an abysmal performance, Deschamps continued with Griezmann after his winning brace against the Republic of Ireland. It was no surprise when the Atletico Madrid forward put in a MOTM performance and guaranteed himself a starting spot against Germany. The same was applicable for Giroud, who despite criticism over his ruthlessness was trusted in by Deschamps and went on to add 2 goals and an assist to his name. Many will question the possible outcome if Hodgson had opted to keep his best players starting against Slovakia, however to the now ex manager's relief it's only speculation.
Quality
Hugo Lloris vs Joe Hart
Paul Pogba vs Dele Alli
Antoine Griezmann vs Harry Kane
Dimitri Payet vs Raheem Sterling
At the end of the day France have a superior team and greater squad depth to England's, however this is no excuse for Roy's men losing to a team of part-time footballers, Despite this Roy would certainly take a handful of French players ahead of the England members who failed him in France (Harry Kane are you reading ?!)
Great to see you writing Tom. The best thing for an aspiring writer to do is generate lots of high quality content, as you are. Have a think about the value your content adds. Do you need to include information or images your readers will have already consumed elsewhere? Give them something new upfront. I agree with your suggestion that England should have been more creative from the start; don't be afraid to do the same and keep your audience engaged by banging in a few authentic lines early on. Also, how are you getting the message out that you are blogging? Use social media carefully and cleverly where you can. Always think about building a loyal readership. Keep up the good work! Tom P (Maynard forwarded me the link - happy to talk more if you would like)
ReplyDeleteGreat to see you writing Tom. The best thing for an aspiring writer to do is generate lots of high quality content, as you are. Have a think about the value your content adds. Do you need to include information or images your readers will have already consumed elsewhere? Give them something new upfront. I agree with your suggestion that England should have been more creative from the start; don't be afraid to do the same and keep your audience engaged by banging in a few authentic lines early on. Also, how are you getting the message out that you are blogging? Use social media carefully and cleverly where you can. Always think about building a loyal readership. Keep up the good work! Tom P (Maynard forwarded me the link - happy to talk more if you would like)
ReplyDeleteThanks for your advice it's really appreciated since I've never started anything quite like this before. I have set up twitter and facebook accounts which generate the majority of my page views and I try and expand the readership of those daily. I am currently at 600 views which is better than I would have expected. Once again thanks for taking your time to read this and offering some worthwhile advice.
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