Didier Deschamps was expected to innovate tactically this Monday to challenge Belgium at the Groupama Stadium, three days after the defeat at the Parc des Princes against Italy (1-3), in the opening of the 2024-2025 Nations League. With disappointing Kylian Mbappé and Antoine Griezmann sent to the bench (a first since France-Tunisia at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar), the probable starting eleven of Les Bleus was very uncertain on the morning of the reunion with the Red Devils.
While The Team announced a 4-2-3-1 with Michael Olise as number 10 behind Marcus Thuram and that The Parisian imagined a 4-4-2 diamond with Ousmane Dembélé in the axis behind Randal Kolo Muani and Marcus Thuram, it is a rather classic 4-3-3 that “La Dèche” has put in place. Kolo Muani and not Thuram has taken over the number 9 position from Mbappé, with “Dembouz” on the right and Thuram on the left.
The Blues first defended
That was without counting on a small innovation from the French staff. The Blues were indeed dominated at the start of the match by the team led by Kevin De Bruyne and they then fell back to a 4-4-1-1 with Dembélé and Thuram very low forming the midfield line with N’Golo Kanté and Manu Koné. It was Mattéo Guendouzi who played higher up, around Amadou Onana, the Belgian number 6. The Lazio player was responsible for pressing, as he did during his season under Igor Tudor at OM. It was therefore more of a 4-2-3-1 than a 4-3-3.
Guendouzi stood out in the first half of this France-Belgium, as he really hampered the opponent’s recovery with a Kolo Muani also invested. Which was a big change from a French team with a virtually immobile Mbappé and a slightly tired Griezmann. In the game, Guendouzi offered solutions everywhere, in his characteristic style, and he tried his luck twice from afar. He even found himself alone in the opponent’s area on a cross from Jules Koundé, for a control that was too long in front of Koen Casteels (23rd). The revelation of the match.
