Match Focus: England on Alert as France Production Line Keeps Rolling
It has been an encouraging month or so for England's under-21s, following up qualification for Euro 2015 with Friday night's convincing win over Portugal. As an opponent that failed to make it to the Czech Republic comes into focus, it is important to retrain the thoughts on what the representative team is there for - to provide players ready and useful for senior service.
When they head for Brest's Stade Francis-Le Blé for tonight's friendly with their French counterparts, Gareth Southgate and company would do well to observe a still thriving production line, with - crucially - clear symbiosis between seniors and espoirs ('hopes', as France call their under-21s). It is something that England have long appeared to lack.
The path in France is clearly mapped, with Layvin Kurzawa absent from the original list after he was called up to replace the injured Benoît Trémoulinas in the original squad. Patrice Evra may be a great survivor of French football, but he will do well to start Les Bleus' opener in Euro 2016, with Didier Deschamps especially well-off at left-back. Besides Trémoulinas and Kurzawa, Paris Saint-Germain's Lucas Digne is firmly in the picture, with Marseille's Benjamin Mendy (3 assists already this season) positioning himself as a name for the future.
Kurzawa, despite the infamy gleaned from his ill-advised showboating in the recent Euro Under-21 play-off loss in Sweden, is perhaps the best placed. His call for the games against Albania and (ironically) Sweden may have been by default, but he is in fine form. With an average rating of 7.72 in Ligue 1 this season, he is by some distance Monaco's best performer in an underwhelming campaign thus far. Kurzawa's defensive reliability is rapidly improving - he's putting in an average of 2.9 tackles per game and an impressive 2.3 interceptions - to add to his acknowledged attacking gifts. The 22-year-old has 2 assists so far, to add to his 5 goals and 3 assists from last season.
The immediate beneficiary of Kurzawa's promotion is Nice youngster Jordan Amavi. Having made 9 starts last season, the 20-year-old has already bettered that this time around, playing all 13 Ligue 1 matches so far. Amavi has also been his side's standout, rating 7.58 (an exponential improvement from last term's 6.66). He is a more combative player than his neighbour on the Côte d'Azur, strong in the air despite standing 6cm shorter than Kurzawa at 176cm. Amavi combines this with real agility, averaging 3.8 tackles and 4 interceptions per match this season.
Midfield is the area in which France are the most wealthy at senior level, and the depth continues down to under-21 level. Giannelli Imbula, one of the outstanding performers in league leaders Marseille’s laudable season to date, is perhaps the most notable name, especially given the withdrawal of Monaco’s Geoffrey Kondogbia (who has already made a senior debut) from the squad for this round of games.
Imbula had been out of the picture after a dispute with coaching staff last year, but his recall for the Sweden play-off had been richly deserved. The 22-year-old, who was closely tracked by Arsenal before moving to the Vélodrome last year, is integral to the way Marcelo Bielsa’s men play. An ever-present in the campaign so far (rating 7.51), he sits in front of the defence but works in a very different capacity to the traditional defensive midfielder. In fact, the basics of defending are the area of Imbula’s game that need the most work. The way Yoann Gourcuff gave him the slip to score the winner in the two teams’ match at Stade de Gerland at the end of October underlined his capacity to switch off from time to time.
What makes Imbula so striking is his quality in dribbling the ball out, seamlessly making the join between defence and attack. He’s completed 48 dribbles this season – only Chelsea’s Eden Hazard and Leverkusen's Karim Bellarabi have managed more in Europe’s top leagues – while keeping the centre of the park ticking over with an 88.4% pass completion rate.
By his side in this young France side is Corentin Tolisso, who has become indispensible for Lyon in the past year. Perhaps underrated for his worth in midfield due to his ability to perform competently in a number of roles (he has also filled both full-back positions in the past six months), the 20-year-old may sometimes lack Imbula’s dazzle, but he is highly effective. His clearance rate of 1.6 per match (double Imbula’s 0.8) emphasises his sensible nature. Tolisso has also scored once (the winner against Monaco) and provided 2 assists this season. His versatility should be a considerable asset to France in the future.
There is quality in a versatile final third, too. Florian Thauvin has been more hit-and-miss than the majority of his Marseille teammates this season (rating 6.99), and can be infuriatingly inconsistent. His passing could do with some work (74.4% completion rate), but he is a good finisher and can build on this, having scored 8 times last season from just 2.6 shots per match. He has 3 so far this time around.
Though Jean-Christophe Bahebeck, one of a clutch of players from the Under-20 World Cup winners in the squad, is making increasingly decisive contributions for PSG – he has 2 goals and 2 assists from just 2 starts, plus 6 more appearances as substitute – the real prize for France could be Paul-Georges Ntep. Habitually starting in an advanced position on the left for Rennes, he is an explosive presence. His season so far shows his ability to score (4 in 8 starts), to supply (2 assists and 1.5 key passes per game) and to create danger (2.3 dribbles on average). It is Ntep, rather than Thauvin, who should be Deschamps’ next cab off the rank in attack.
The current depth of Deschamps' resources is such that few of Under-21 coach Pierre Mankowski's men are shoo-ins for immediate promotion to the seniors - and they must prove an ability to overcome the failure against Sweden. What they do represent, however, is the possibility of continuity in France's ranks as they set themselves to hit hard at Euro 2016, and beyond.
Who do you think is the star of this current France Under-21 squad? Let us know in the comments below
