Euro 2024: Kanté and Maignan in good shape, Dembélé unstable, Griezmann in a storm… the weather for the Blues

Antoine Griezmann est à la recherche de sa meilleure forme. MAXPPP – Mikolaj Barbanell

Performances are mixed within the France group.

From the rise in rank of William Saliba to the downgrading of Antoine Griezmann, the very mixed first round of the France team at Euro-2024 reshuffled certain cards before facing Belgium in the round of 16, Monday.

Beautiful: Indispensable Mbappé, eternal Kanté

Even hampered by his mask to protect his broken nose, Kylian Mbappé remained the most dangerous French striker. He caused Austria's own goal in the first match (1-0) and scored from the penalty spot in the third against Poland (1-1), after remaining on the bench against the Netherlands (0). -0).

Beyond his first goal in a European Championship, he also wasted several opportunities to put his team away, which is unlike him.< /p>

N’Golo Kanté was brilliant in the first round, twice elected man of the match, two years after his last appearances in Blue. Always as effective in recovery, he was also offensive on several occasions, even if he was narrow in his forward passes against Poland.

With them, Mike Maignan showed himself to be a worthy successor to Hugo Lloris in goal, conceding only one goal from the penalty spot and reassuring his defense of the voice and gesture.

In front of him, William Saliba, starting for the first time in a major competition, showed the best of the intractable defender that he is at Arsenal. Finally, the young Bradley Barcola managed an interesting first start against Poland, with his sense of percussion.

Unstable: Upamecano and Dembélé, ups and downs

Their trajectories seem to cross in the first round: Dayot Upamecano only made one mistake after an excellent start to the tournament, and Ousmane Dembélé did not shown decisive only once after any two matches.

"Upa" was initially uncompromising in the central hinge for two matches. « May he continue », Didier Deschamps even said about him before the match against Poland.

But a slight delay on Karol Swiderski caused a penalty for Robert Lewandowski, while Poland was not really dangerous and France was heading towards first place.

Conversely, "Dembouz" missed a lot of things during two matches, passes, dribbles and shots, but one of his accelerations was fatal to the unfortunate Pole Jakub Kiwior, offering a penalty to Mbappé.

It remains to be seen whether Upamecano, who has already experienced lows in the past after an error, will regain his authority from the start of the tournament, and if this decisive action will finally launch the Euro of Dembélé.

Stormy: the Griezmann question

Just yesterday « darling » from the coach, who judged him « indispensable », Antoine Griezmann started the match against Poland on the bench, and his entry for the last half hour was not did not wake up the French team.
"Grizou" surprisingly missed several chances, including two big ones against the Netherlands.
For Deschamps, it was about "making it blow", but he did not say if the fourth historic Blue to the number of selections (132, for 44 goals scored) would return to the starting lineup in 8th. "We have time", replied the selector.

Marcus Thuram was no longer a starter against Poland either. "DD" s’is said to be satisfied with his performance in his thankless role on the left, in particular to prevent opposing restarts. But in front of goal, the Interiste showed himself to be too clumsy.

Finally Olivier Giroud, top scorer in the history of the Blues (57 goals in 136 caps), who had accustomed the French public who adore him to spectacularly regain his place in previous tournaments , only offered three very dull entries into play. An ordeal for those who will retire internationally at the end of the Euro.