France registered their second victory of Euro 2016 with two late goals against a dogged Albania side.
Here, FA Education Editor Peter Glynn looks at three discussion points for coaches from Didier Deschamps’ side’s 2-0 victory on Wednesday evening.
France 2-0 Albania
UEFA Euro 2016
Group A
Wednesday 15 June 2016
Stade Velodrome, Marseille
1. Willingness to change approach
After an underwhelming first-half performance in which France failed to breakdown Albania’s compact defensive unit, Deschamps demonstrated his managerial conviction and willingness to switch tactical approach with a series of half-time and second-half changes.
Before the game, the France head coach had taken the bold move to leave both Paul Pogba and Antoine Griezmann out of the starting line-up, instead selecting youngsters Anthony Martial and Kingsley Coman to flank central striker Olivier Giroud in attack.
The hope had been to inject pace and incision to the France forward line with a more traditional front three shape.
However, with only 45 minutes played, Deschamps replaced Martial with Pogba and reverted to the narrower attacking formation - designed to advance full-backs Patrice Evra and Bacary Sagna - which had showed encouraging signs in their opening victory over Romania.
2. What next for the traditional winger?
With Deschamps bringing his dul-winger experiment to a premature end at the half-time break, further questions will be asked over the future of the traditional wide player when confronted by a heavily congested defence.
With Albania sitting deep, restricting space beyond their backline and regularly surrendering all ten outfield players behind the ball, there were very few opportunities in the first period for Martial and Coman to isolate full-backs 1v1 in wide areas or run in behind defenders to receive through balls.
France's young winger, Kingsley Coman, skips past two Albanian defenders
As such, the French wide threat was routinely snuffed out by two or three defenders who quickly swarmed around the ball. Alternative was necessary.
A key theme of the tournament so far has seen multi-functional, wide attacking players – Dimitri Payet, Andre Gomes, David Silva - drifting inside into the pockets of space in and around a central attacking target.
It is a strategy designed to drag opposition full-backs inside, in turn creating space in wide areas for the forward runs of their own attacking full-backs.
During the second period, France used the approach to their advantage and that was best illustrated by Evra’s left-wing cross for Giroud which rebounded against the foot of the post.
3) How to overcome the deep-lying block?
One of the biggest tactical challenges of Euro 2016 seen so far, has been how to penetrate a deep-lying block of defenders where attackers are regularly outnumbered.
Finding intelligent and creative ways to unlock heavily congested defences has been the dominant theme in games between Portugal v Iceland and Spain v Czech Republic as well as others.
At various times during this contest, France could be seen to be outnumbered 5v8 and 6v9 around the penalty box.
In response, Deschamps’ men looked to bypass the many bodies in central areas by moving the ball wide to deliver accurate clipped crosses. It was from this method that Atletico Madrid’s Griezmann registered France’s opener.
Dimitri Payet uses a neat change of direction to create enough room to score France's second
However, wide play wasn’t the hosts only attacking approach. Once again their talisman, Payet demonstrated his worth with the ability to find creative solutions when surrounded by multiple defenders.
Among many of the West Ham creator’s sublime touches, the 29-year-old showed how to unbalance a defender by shifting the ball quickly from one foot to another, how to use a scoop pass to deliver the ball through the tightest spaces in a crowded penalty areas and how individual dribbling, an element of disguise and clinical finishing can still win in the end.
Peter Glynn is FA Education Content Editor and will be providing comment and analysis throughout Euro 2016.
Peter is editor of The FA’s coaching magazine, The Boot Room, and is a holder of the FA Advanced Youth Award and UEFA B coaching licence.
Follow Peter on twitter: @_peterglynn
*The views expressed in this article are those of the author and not necessarily The Football Association
