France beat England with man down / Image by DailyMail.co.uk
France and England ended the 2016/17 season with an eventful international friendly which brought five goals to the plate, a red card and plenty of action.
Instead of grabbing the game by the scruff of the neck with France going a man down and the game locked at 2-2 result, England lacked resolve and determination displayed against Scotland and failed to live up to the expectations at Stade de France.
On the other side, hosts proved once again they boast one of the most exciting teams in Europe – and beyond – at the moment.
Here are the five things we learned as France beat England 3-2:
Harry Kane once again justified the captain’s armband
Tottenham striker Harry Kane opened the scoring at Stade de France by latching on a well-constructed attack on the left hand-side, later on converted the penalty to score his eleventh goal in last five performances for club and country.
The forward who had been rather prematurely described as one-season wonder keeps flourishing. England captain for the night once again justified Gareth Southgate’s choice, just like he did against Scotland in last week’s World Cup qualifier.
Kane helped the Three Lions remain unbeaten in Scotland with his dying moments’ equaliser and he kept the high level of his performance against France as well. Unlike most of his teammates though.
England midfield mediocre
England might have one of the most talented squads in Europe at the moment, but the current squad at Gareth Southgate’s disposal lacks some proper midfield power and it is slowly becoming a gaping problem for the Three Lions.
With Eric Dier as the only central midfielder in the team and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain by his side, it is no wonder Southgate thought about slotting in centre-back John Stones further up the field in the holding midfield role.
France scored their goals thanks to acres of space left in the England midfield and lack of pressure on fantastic attacking potential Didier Deschamps’ side boasts. Eric Dier was frequently out of his holding position and we caught him wandering around the pitch, whereas Arsenal winger Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is once again showing that midfield role simply does not suit him.
French flair fantastic
French team could as well say a big ‘thank you’ to England midfield, but it does not diminish the fact Les Bleus are boasting one of the most exciting attacking lines in the world right now.
With Kylian Mbappe on the left and Ousmane Dembele on the right-hand-side of the pitch, Les Bleus offered great support for Olivier Giroud on the night against England. The world will keep buzzing about the two youngsters from AS Monaco and Borussia Dortmund, respectively, after their scintillating performances against the Three Lions.
The most important aspect of the match that made the biggest difference between the two teams is the squad structure and the fact France boasted a creative string in the face of impressive Paul Pogba, and a midfield power engine of N’Golo Kante who did great to stop England’s attacks in their tracks.
The most exciting thing about France is the flair and flamboyance, however, present not only in the likes of Mbappe and Dembele but in Lemar and Sidibe as well, the two players who often ran upfront to add options in front of England’s goal.
Red card (almost) killed the pace of the game
And while England were quite static to begin with for the better part of the game, Raphael Varane’s 47th-minute red card almost completely changed dynamics of the match at Stade de France.
Didier Deschamps decided to pull out Arsenal frontman Olivier Giroud to bring in teammate Laurent Koscielny and that’s when the flamboyant France decided to drop a bit deep and hit the brakes on their usual style of play.
On their own part, England failed to capitalise on the fact they were man up over their rivals. The Three Lions lacked fluency, pace and flair, the two attributes so characteristic of their more exciting – and in one word better – rivals tonight, who ultimately decided they would not wait for England to come calling, but got back to their usual style of play and ultimately scored for the win despite being man down.
Joe Hart should be worried about his England future
Should he fail to settle nicely this summer, Manchester City outcast Joe Hart could as well lose his No1 spot in England national team.
Gareth Southgate insists Hart remains his first-choice ‘keeper, but he was smart enough to drop the Torino man for the France friendly after his below-par performance in Scotland. England boss rewarded Heaton and Butland with 45 minutes each in order to check his options and his experiment showed plenty of promise despite the fact the two England goalkeepers conceded three goals on the night.
International inexperience might have been the biggest reason behind it, however, but nor Heaton neither Butland should be blamed for their teammates’ mistakes. England kept opening spaces for France with midfield completely non-existent at times, and two of the English goalkeepers should only be praised for a couple of nice efforts when they singlehandedly prevented their team from conceding even more.
England do have one Fraser Forster in the offering as well, so Joe Hart could be placed under some big pressure as the World Cup qualifiers continue next season.
FRANCE: Lloris 6.5 – Sidibe 8 (Jallet -), Varane 5, Umtiti 7.5, Mendy 6 (Digne 6.5) – Dembele 8, Pogba 7, Kante 7, Lemar 7 – Mbappe 7.5, Giroud 6.5 (Koscielny 6.5).
Unused subs: Areola, Costil, Griezmann, Kimpembe, Lacazette, Matuidi, Payet, Rabiot, Sissoko, Thauvin, Tolisso, Zouma.
ENGLAND: Heaton 6.5 (Butland 6.5) – Jones 7 (Cresswell 6), Stones 6.5, Cahill 6.5 – Trippier 6.5 (Lallana 6), Dier 6, Oxlade-Chamberlain 6, Bertrand 6 (Walker 6.5) – Sterling 7, Kane 7.5, Alli 6.5.
Unused subs: Defoe, Forster, Gibson, Hart, Lingard, Livermore, Rashford, Smalling.
REFEREE: Davide Massa
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