Malouda dwells on England draw

France midfielder Florent Malouda has expressed frustration that Laurent Blanc’s men were unable to kick off their Euro 2012 with a win.

The left-footer accepted that Les Bleus’ 1-1 draw in their opening Group D fixture against England was a fair result, and believes the French were punished for a slow start.

“It is a little frustrating. We would have liked to win this game (against England),” the winger told RBC Sport.

“But given the start, it’s also a good result. We must control the pace early in the game. What is nice is that we kept a cool head.

“We reacted (well) and this is a valuable point. We must now win games to qualify.”

The French stretched their unbeaten run to 22 games with their draw against Roy Hodgson’s men, whose work rate the 32-year-old went on to praise.

“England has frustrated many teams. It is very difficult to work around this defensive block,” he said.

“They did not leave space even though, physically, it was beyond them late in the game.”

The Chelsea star also hailed midfield colleague Samir Nasri, claiming that the Manchester City star had deliberately deceived his club-mate and England custodian Joe Hart to score the equaliser.

“Samir is the type of player that we want to get on the ball. He is familiar with this goalkeeper (Hart) and managed to deceive him. His goal gave us great freedom,” Malouda said.