France vs England...CONTINUE READING
The morning after England beat Senegal I had breakfast with four former professionals and we each decided to pick our combined England and France XI. Nobody selected more than five Frenchmen.
Didier Deschamps’s side are far from unbeatable, but Kylian Mbappé can win games by himself. Without him France would not have won in 2018 and they would not be contenders in Qatar.
A number of other nations could have won the World Cup had Mbappé been inserted into their team.
He is more important to his country than Diego Maradona was to Argentina in 1986.
England will have to alter their tactics because of the forward. Kyle Walker has been touted as the one defender that can compete with Mbappé for pace but even he will struggle to keep up.
Instead, the right back must rein in his attacking game to stop the Frenchman, who will not track back much, from punishing England on the counterattack.
Poland showed how not to defend against Mbappé. For his first goal on Sunday, the entire defence was drawn away, and he was allowed to cut in from the left and shoot.
England cannot let that happen. Mbappé is devastating when he comes inside and gets the ball on his right foot, much like Arjen Robben was for years on the opposite side with his left foot.
Instead, Walker and his team-mates must force Mbappé to go around the outside on his left foot. The Frenchman is dangerous any time he is on the ball but England would much prefer him to be crossing than shooting.
If Gareth Southgate’s men can pull that off, then there is little else to fear against France.
Those Mbappé crosses will be going towards Olivier Giroud, whose physical game can be handled by John Stones and Harry Maguire. A quick centre forward would cause far more problems.
On the right, Ousmane Dembélé can be threatening but he has been injured lots and I am not sure how many clubs would go after him if given the opportunity.
When England have the ball, France will be vulnerable in midfield. Adrien Rabiot lets players run off him, while Aurélien Tchouaméni is competent at moving the ball quickly but there is not much else to his game.
They only play two in central midfield to allow Antoine Griezmann to play just behind the front line. England can overrun France with a midfield three, and we saw against Senegal how effective Jordan Henderson and Jude Bellingham can be when permitted space going forward.
Raphaël Varane is France’s best defender but his partner, Dayot Upamecano, allows attackers space and gets caught ball-watching. England should look to get men in the box because it is unlikely that they will all be picked up.
In goal, I have Jordan Pickford ahead of Hugo Lloris. It feels weird picking an Everton player who has won nothing over the captain of the world champions and a Tottenham Hotspur stalwart, but the Englishman is better.
I have always felt that Spurs will never compete for the Premier League title with Lloris as No 1 and he always has a mistake in him, especially with his feet.
England are a great team and a better one than France. Whether that is enough to stop the great player of this World Cup will decide the quarter-final.- The Times
