England Vs France Review

VS

A game which i expected to fully use their home advantage to the fullest and with the new young upcoming English players coming through,I expected them to give a great deal of problems at the back and even some good aerial challenge(As i was told)..But it never came as England once again were technically outplayed by a newly revived French side which were later booed and Jeered off the pitch to once again Ask Questions of England's Future players leading the country.

A Strike by Strikers Mathieu Valbuena and Karim Benzema were enough to sink An England side which sadly i had to admit deserved to lose.Although they had a late rally at the latter stages of the game which led to Peter Crouch giving England a lifeline but it was just to late for the Red lions with Now Cappelo also being faced with problems regarding him breaching an agreement regarding Steven Gerrard and Liverpool.

The les Blues settled way quicker then the Homeside and England Based Samir Nasri was the earliest to scare the Lions with a run down the flank but unleashed a weak shot which still wasn't managed to be Grabbed cleanly by Foster which pretty much sum up England's night.With chance after chance being wasted by France(But the ball was getting closer to the post).It was just about time before you saw the first goal and in fact came soon after with a clever one two between Malouda and Benzema let the French Striker dart into the box before slamming a low shot into the net to make it 1:0 for the French.

Maybe it was the new line up or something as the English team had like literally no tactical approach and communication seem to be out and also they easily gave away balls and predictable at times.Knowing this,France decided to get another go at it with Valbuena And Gourcaff having a combination between each other but the defence did well this time around.

The next Move was unusually England Time to shine but again they used the same move which i think they used practically for much of the game.Which was feeding a long ball up front with this time Henderson pushing it forward to Milner who volley flew over the bar.A very rare chance for England.

England gave some cheers though as they finally look to be settling as they were passing around more cleanly and using their Pace to more use with Walcott coming closes but his final pass To Carrol On the outside of the opposing box was poor.First half ended,And Cappelo had to do something to change this team's approach.

And off came Walcott with Adam Johnson Replacing him And Ferdinand being replaced By Richards.For France they gave Upcoming star Mamodou Sakho who has indeed caught the eyes of several premier league clubs on for Mexes to make his first debut start.England also i think made some Technical changes with Gerrard moving to more central role and Milner looked to have drop back abit.

Hoping it was a good move soon disintegrated when another lovely move by France Made it 2 when Malouda again playing a nice one two in the middle of the pitch before finding Abidal who was striding down the right flank who sent a lovely ball into the path of Valbuena who was lurking down the left to side foot into goal.

Fabio Cappelo seemed to be hapless but just to admit France were better although England had another close Chance when a freekick by Gerrard was connected By Milner but it hit the top of the bar which perhaps was the only main treat in the aerial department for England.To make it worst,Soon Aerial Predator Andy Carrol came off and was replaced by Former Arsenal Trainee Jay Bothroyd who showed some decent play to have chances at goal.

England continued to push on which i loved to see from the team,And Milner came close with a shot at goal which was cleared by the defender for A corner and from the Corner a cross by the man to Adam Johnson was superb but just didn't have ample amount of time to control it before being cleared away.

It seemed that Cappelo's plan to put Milner for Centrally was paying dividends and it almost paid off when a smart low cross from Gerrard was split by the keeper and Milner late arrival into the box to knock it on just when inches wide to frustrate the crowd even more.With the lack of experience Hurting England up front.Cappelo decided to bring on Crouch who has an amazing rate of goals for England with only five minutes remaining and what a return he made to the team with just seconds gone he connected to A cross which was a rare treat for France on that day to side foot it home for a lifeline for England.It was 22nd goal for England

And Suddenly,They were a different team as the continued to push France time after time but reality was it was too late and France will be delighted to continue their unbeaten run against England since 1997...



MAN OF THE MATCH:Florent Malouda