International friendly preview: France v Croatia

Laurent Blanc is expected to provide opportunities to several fringe players when France meet Croatia in a friendly on Tuesday.

France laboured to an unconvincing 2-0 victory over Luxembourg in Euro 2012 qualifying on Saturday, but can now boast a run of six consecutive victories stretching back to September 2010.Blanc was unimpressed by his team’s performance and is set to use the match against Croatia as a chance to test out some alternatives.”There are several areas to improve on from the Luxembourg game but we must continue down our regular path and continue our winning streak,” Blanc said.”We will have a different team, we have the opportunity to make six changes and we will look to ensure that virtually all the players in the squad have participated in one of the two games.”Bordeaux midfielder Alou Diarra is expected to captain the team, with Lyon’s Hugo Lloris remaining in goal.Arsenal centre-back Laurent Koscielny is in contention for his international debut at the Stade de France.And World Cup rebels Franck Ribery and Patrice Evra could make their first home appearance on home soil after incurring the wrath of the French people with their training ground mutiny in South Africa.Croatia come into the game after finally surrendering a 14-match unbeaten run with a 1-0 defeat away to Georgia on Saturday.Coach Slaven Bilic has received fierce criticism in the Croatian press following the reverse, and the 42-year-old will expect an improvement from his players when they tackle France.”I am looking for a response but we are still favourites,” Bilic said, referring to the team’s situation in qualifying Group F, in which the Croats trail leaders Greece by one point.”We knew what we would face in Tbilisi, 55,000 fanatical fans, a solid Georgian team which defended fantastically well.””I understand the anger and the rage … It was not good but the situation in the group remains in our hands.”