The 4-2-3-1 from France Manager Raymond Domenech was really a breath of fresh air, with Bordeaux's Yoann Gourcuff featuring in the Zidane spot, and Thierry Henry playing wide left. France had a great shape and looked like a healthy side, even in the first half that finished 0-0.
Benzema - Had a quiet first half, which is the polar opposite of how he played when he broke into the France team in the qualifiers for Euro 2008. Back then, he would drop back into defense from his center forward spot to get onto the ball, and he'd run with it menacingly toward goal like a bull set loose in a China shop. In the first half today, he did a passable impression of Trezeguet, with few touches, and was replaced by Anelka for the 2nd half (5).
Thierry Henry - Domenech was up against it. A loss today, and he would have been sacked, more than likely. The sight of Thierry Henry playing wide left, rather than his normal center-forward position, lent the game a sense that the tide had turned. Domenech so often plays the under-achieving Florent Malouda wide left, but today, for whatever reason, Domenech made a better choice. A much better choice. The combination of Henry and Clichy down the left side was quite good, and Gourcuff was nearly always on hand to help link up, and often Toulalan as well. It wasn't Arsenal's Henry of 2003, but it was so much better than Malouda, and enough to keep Domenech in a job. Henry was on the right, inside the box, to score a peach of a goal for the opener, receiving the ball from a rare, but very nice, Govou contribution, and curling it with the outside of his boot inside the near post. A really nice goal (8).
Clichy played like he plays for Arsenal, which means he looks quite a bit faster than anyone else, except for Theo Walcott, who elsewhere scored a hat trick for England tonight. I'm curious what France supporters who haven't seen Clichy play for Arsenal thought of him. Once I saw him slip and fall, and it looked like a Serbia player might have some joy down the right flank, but Clichy got up and closed him down so quickly, it was puzzling. Another time, Clichy took a long throw in, but a Serbia played jumped highest and won it. Clichy was there to take it back, having followed the flight of the ball and arrived just behind it (8).
Abidal - There were a couple jittery moments from Abidal and Clichy early on, and Abidal looked like being the weak link that was going to concede a goal or a penalty. After about 15 minutes of the game, he became superb, and was everywhere across the backline, clearing stuff with some nice bits of skill. I'd never seen him play nearly that well, and it fed into the feeling of the night that maybe Domenech had figured out what he's doing (7).
Gallas - Didn't get a lot of touches, but after the Henry goal, when France could have had a lapse, he didn't mess about with the short passing game, opting rather to punt the ball clear. I was grateful (7).
Sagna - Another Arsenal fullback who is a favorite for a lot of Gooners, and he played well for France tonight like he almost always does for Arsenal. Like with Clichy, I'll be very curious to see what other France supporters thought, which means I'll have to hop over to the France World Cup blog, because commenting here is preciously rare (8).
Mandanda - I'm a bit out of my depth, at times, judging a goalkeeper's performance. Serbia scored form a corner kick, and it had the look of inevitablity about it, a mad scramble, and a wicked, unstoppable header, but maybe Mandanda could have come out earlier, organized his defense better; I don't know. In the first half though, when the France defense was still jittery, he made a nice save, diving to collect the ball one-handed before the Serbia player could get the touch to score (7).
Govou - Pretty quiet, and the one player who had me thinking, "This side would look brilliant with Ribery in his place," but then he popped up to lay on a deft touch to Henry to open the scoring. Following his goal against Austria, he's showing some nice skill when he gets the ball in the box, and he's repaid some of that Domenech confidence (7).
Anelka came on in a straight swap for Benzema to start the second half, and scored a fantastic goal to put France up 2-0. He had another stinging shot that the keeper could only parry, and it looked like a third goal might come from that. Then he had a series of offside violations and I knocked his 8 down to 7.
Lassana Diarra - Repaid some of the faith that Domenech and your humble blogger have shown in him. If he can push on a little bit, and play his game, he looks like he could be an upgrade from Makalele, with a little bit more of a push forward (7).
Toulalan - Played well again. Gourcuff stole his thunder a bit, but Toulalan is looking like a sure thing to keep a spot in the first 11 (7).
Yoann Gourcuff - This was his first start from France, and it begged the question, "Why?" He looked like a top quality player, and almost had a goal to put France up 3-0 when he hit the bar. He deserved a goal. He was in the thick of everything, helping out in defense, and leading raids forward. It was fantastic stuff, so even though the first half ended 0-0, I was still buzzing from the great football (8).
Alou Diarra came on for a short while, so there were amazingly two Bordeaux players on at the same time, but Alou looked a little off the pace, and he could have conceded a penalty to cost France two points when he led for a would-be header with his hand. Lassana Diarra played right midfield when Alou came on for Govou.
Flamini got a cap, coming on about 5 seconds before the final whistle.
50 minutes ago
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