Euro 2016: No Benzema, tons of Problems !
The Euros starts today, with host France facing Romania. France has already won on paper as they pack one of the most talented teams in the tournament. The combination of Pogba, Martial, Griezmann and Payet (from the bench) looks like the perfect recipe to play beautiful attacking football and to easily cruise through the final. However, one ingredient is missing from this French team and that is a deadly finisher.
If you watched Arsenal played this season, you understand why the French can’t rely on Giroud to convert chances into goals. He’s awful at scoring goals, you know, his job. Just ask Mesut Ozil, who worked hard to top the English Premier League in chances created, 99% of which were wasted by Giroud.
France’s other option upfront is André-Pierre Gignac, who plays in the Mexican league and well, that’s it. He is just not good enough. So France will need to rely heavily on Martial and Griezmann to carry the goal scoring load - which they are more than capable. However, if France is ever faced with a situation where they need a late goal -where the only option is to play long balls to the area — as good as Martial and Griezmann are, they lack ability to get between the center back and head the ball in.
Considering that France is a favorite, teams will likely play them conservatively. Meaning France’s attack will see lots of traffic in the last third of the pitch. This is where they will need Pogba to create chances and break the defensive wall by hammering precision passes to Martial and Griezmann.
In the end, France’s algorithm for success is simple: If Pogba is “good”; France = wins; else France = loss.
