5 key take-aways: France vs England

Hodgson brings pragmatism with himself

Roy Hodgson has forever been a believer of pragmatism over adventure. His tendency to defend with 2 banks of 4 just outside the penalty area and attacking with quick counter attacks and set-pieces has reaped him dividends in all his coaching assignments. He seems to be replicating this with the English team. With the limited attacking options at his disposal, the ‘Hodgson way’ is the best way forward for England at the moment.

Malouda is a liability for the French

Except for his vast international experience, there is no way that Laurent Blanc can justify Florent Malouda’s inclusion in the starting 11. A player who was, at best, a bit part player for his club, Chelsea, should not be starting a game of this magnitude. One wonders why Youann Gourcuff wasn’t even selected in the 23-man squad for the tournament. His play-making ability in the midfield would have been an ideal foil to the skills of Nasri, Ribery and Benzema in attack.

Scared of a loss >> Willingness to win

There was a distinct lack of ambition from both sides on the pitch. While such an approach from the English is perhaps understandable, the French had the game for the taking. Coach Blanc should have taken off one of the defensive midfielders, Alou Diarra or Florent Malouda, for another attacking outlet a bit earlier.

Counter-attack is the way forward, this summer

There has been an overwhelming preference for even top European sides to play on the counter. Italy did that with reasonable success while Portugal were unlucky to not take anything from their game against the Germans. And we all knew already exactly how England would line up tactically.

Come the knockout stages of the tournament, and counter-attacking football would further be in vogue.

Substitutions need to be made earlier for greater impact

The 1^st substitution of the match was not until the 77^th minute. The 1^st French substitution was even later. Perhaps both managers missed a trick so as to salvage a result in the later stages. The substitutions were made too late in the day to make any sort of influence on the proceedings. It was a pity that substitutes Marvin Martin, Hatem Ben Arfa and Jermain Defoe barely had 5-10 touches of the ball after coming on.