Paul Pogba during France-Finland, November 11, 2020. -

FRANCK FIFE / AFP

  • The France team lost Wednesday night against Finland at the Stade de France (0-2).

  • Currently in difficulty in their club, Pogba and Giroud were started by Didier Deschamps to regain rhythm and confidence before Portugal.

  • But the two players went through and worry (a little) before the final of the Nations League group on Saturday.

At the Stade de France,

They were, with Clément Lenglet, the only ones accustomed to having been aligned by Didier Deschamps at the kick-off Wednesday night against Finland.

And we can not say that they were reassured.

Paul Pogba and Olivier Giroud are going through a complicated period.

Rarely in the club, if ever for the second, they were supposed to warm up before the meeting which counts for the week, Saturday in Portugal.

Both had no impact in this sad game.

Their situation is not the same, of course.

The difficulties of the Chambéry control tower - let's start with him - do not date from yesterday.

At the end of his adventure at Arsenal, then now at Chelsea, he is not often better than a luxury joker.

We're not going to repeat history for you, but in general, that doesn't prevent him from crashing with the Blues, where Deschamps has blind faith in him.

Just last month, he surpassed Michel Platini's 41 selection goals to go alone in the hunt for Titi Henry's record.

Except that there, we did not recognize the fellow, often beaten in the air, not found in remittances and who did not try too much to pretend to be concerned by the defensive withdrawal.

While it is precisely his collective side that saves him.

His association with Ben Yedder raises questions.

Already in Albania last year, they had their chance together and it had not worked.

Yet one would think that they have everything for, given their profile.

Obviously, for the future we are more worried about the Monegasque, who is not installed.

But we will have to take care for Gire not to miss too many matches in Blues, because that's about all that remains.

And behind, it still grows strong.

Martial made an entry that will be described as interesting given the lethargy, and besides his association with Ben Yedder had been very pleasant against Croatia in September.

There is also of course Mbappé, who is just waiting to be able to settle permanently in the axis.

In the meantime, if all goes as usual, Giroud will slam his double on Saturday in Lisbon.

Difficult to forget the life of the club

Paul Pogba does not risk anything immediately.

His place in midfield is hot for the group final this weekend.

Maybe the stake will do him good, by the way.

Wednesday, against Finland, the boss of the Blues was unrecognizable, in line with his last performances with Manchester United where Ole Gunnar Solskjaer only grants him exits from the bench for more than a month.

Head in the bag, Paulo has missed just about everything he has undertaken - throws, dribbles, final passes - while it is in this kind of match that his partners really need his creative genius.

Morale seems a bit affected.

Didier Deschamps at the microphone:

He, like others, can arrive [in the France team] impacted by their daily lives.

They are not robots, it is not by snapping your fingers that you can sweep everything that happens before.

There is a psychological impact.

And when it comes down to a match where overall we are not well, it highlights these difficulties.

"

It is true that Pogba was not helped, in particular by Nzonzi, who definitely has no impact on the game and who on Wednesday did not want to go to the duel.

But still, it had been a long time since we had seen him so neutral.

Before the meeting, we had seen turn in England the words of Jamie Carragher, the former Liverpool midfielder and now consultant, who said that for him Pogba was "a great name but not a great player".

This somewhat sums up the history of the world champion at MU, where he has never been really indisputable over time since his return to the club in 2016. His adventure in Blue was not linear either, but he always got through.

He has that in common with Giroud, by the way.

The two men will be there on Saturday, in a different context and with other players around them.

For the moment, we remain with the thesis of the accident.

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