Without Mbappe, he is showing his true colors?

In the past few years, the French team has been able to maintain a first-line level in the World Series for a long time, largely due to the strength of the forward line to maintain the influence of the midfield: In the 2021 European Cup, the French team was able to let Pogba lead the French midfielder. As for Benzema's influence on the French team's locker room, it has nothing to do with tactics. By the 2022 World Cup, the French team was severely lacking in creativity in the midfield. Deschamps' idea was to position the midfield in an inverted triangle, fixing Griezmann, the striker's strong point, directly in the midfield position. In the 2024 European Cup, the French team was severely short of manpower in the midfield, and Deschamps was forced to bring in the old Kante to save the game. As a result, the team's offensive creativity in the midfield was not compensated, and the frontcourt was unable to score for a long time. In the end, it relied on defense to make it to the semi-finals.

In the European qualifiers of this World Cup, Deschamps still sticks to his previous thinking, letting the ball-holding attacker lead the team's offense and relying on a single point to maintain the team's lower limit on the offensive end. Fortunately, Paris Saint-Germain has really done well in the past year. Dembele, Barcola and Douai are all good personal threats on the offensive end. Coupled with Mbappe, the French team's striker strength is still good. In the previous UEFA Nations League, they also made it all the way to the semi-finals.

However, in the World Cup preliminaries against Iceland, the French team led by Deschamps encountered Waterloo. In the first half, the team's offense failed to start. On the contrary, the opponent's Parson took the lead in scoring in the 39th minute. In the second half, the French team did not make any first substitutions. Relying on the strength of the starting lineup, Nkunku and Mateta scored two goals in a short period of time. After a wave of flow, the team slowed down and began to make substitutions. Young players like Akliusz also got a lot of playing time, but the French team still paid the price for their laxity. At the last moment of the game, Iceland's Hellinson tenaciously equalized the score. The French team's three-game winning streak was interrupted, and the lead in Group D was only three points.

However, for fans of the French team, it is not a surprising result that the team has been unable to open up the situation on the offensive end for a long time. In the past few games, even when facing opponents of average strength, the French team's performance in breaking through dense defenses was hardly outstanding. After entering September, Dembélé, Douai and Barkola suffered injuries one after another. Against a loser like Azerbaijan, Deschamps had to pull out the injured Mbappe to save the game in order to break the iron barrel formation.

Due to previous successful experience, defensive counterattack has become the magic weapon of this French team. However, while harvesting honors in the past few years, Deschamps' team has also developed some path dependence. After all, in the past, defensive counterattacks could help the French team achieve stable results. In addition to the defensive line being able to cover the bottom, the front line having instant combat ability and thickness, efficient backcourt play, and Giroud's pulling and influence in the penalty area during the positional battle phase, they are also a major signature of this French team.

However, judging from the composition of the French team in recent years, the team has been unable to cultivate top strikers for a long time, and its exploration of first-class midfielders is relatively limited. The team's existing personnel composition can no longer support the team's rapid counterattack system. In this case, instead of sticking to the previous routine, it is better to copy the work of Paris and drive the offense by releasing the talents of multiple ball-holding attackers. This may be the future of this French team.