| How do we beat France? 09:20 - Dec 6 with 1764 views | saint901 |
The French have a star player in Mbappe. They have Giroud who is in form and benefits from the attention given to Mbappe. They have Griezeman who pulls the strings. They have Dembele who looks a threat.
Nobody has really tested their defence and in my view, Varane still looks a little short of his best and their left back (Hernandez?) looks to be out of his depth. I think the rest are decent prem standard players but not brilliant or necessarily influential.
I would expect Southgate to stick with his cautious first 30 minutes approach (even though I would prefer a 20 minute all out assault on them from the first whistle). I would expect him to pick Maguire and Kane.
Maguire I can see would be comfortable against Giroud and so long as he stays on him, he should nullify that threat.
I would however play Henderson and Philips from the start to stop the ball going to Mbappe. I really think that there is not a full back in the world who can stop him, so the answer is to prevent him getting the ball. Putting a couple of DMs should help with that.
I'd then put the speed merchants up front (Rashford, Foden, Wilson) with Bellingham sat between the DM's and the forwards.
So I've got a 4-2-3-1.
I'd save Kane and Grealish (for Wilson and Rashford) for the second half.
The instruction would be to sit with a mid block (10m either side of the half way line) for 30 minutes and then to all take five steps forward and force the French to try to play their forwards in from distance. The pace we have up front should be enough to stop their back3/4 from advancing too far which would help.
That's my plan. I'm waiting by the phone for the call from Gareth. |  | | |  |
| How do we beat France? on 11:28 - Dec 6 with 1697 views | dirk_doone |
I like the philosphy of the England cricket team as expressed by Ben Stokes: we focus on our own strengths and don't think too much about the opposition. So, we should play our best 11 players. That would not include Phillips and Wilson. If we make our selection all about France, we'll have already lost. Will they be making their selection based on the England team? |  |
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| How do we beat France? on 13:37 - Dec 6 with 1643 views | saint901 |
I sort of agree but Korea went with that philosophy against Brazil and were 4-0 down at half time.
We do have to pick our best team (and I would not start Kane but Southgate will) but we have to have a tactical plan which forces the French into a game that is not natural and that means squeezing the middle of the park and forcing them into long balls. | | | |
| How do we beat France? on 21:21 - Dec 6 with 1530 views | Poirot |
Easy
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| How do we beat France? on 21:24 - Dec 6 with 1525 views | RednWight |
I think the best plan is to get someone to burgle Mbappe’s place on Friday |  |
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| How do we beat France? on 22:26 - Dec 6 with 1487 views | felly1 |
The same team that started against Senegal. | | | |
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