Ribery shines in dour victory

France defeated England 1-0 at the Stade de France in a stale game in which Franck Ribery was one of the few shining lights. The Bayern Munich man was a human dynamo and lit up the Stade de France with inspirational runs and good interplay that galvanised an otherwise pedestrian display. Ribery linked up particularly well with Nicolas Anelka, who also had a very good game, as the two took the match to the English.

It was these two who made the breakthrough, when on the half hour mark Anelka ran onto a deftly timed pass from Francois Clerc which split the defence and was then upended by David James. Up stepped Ribery and confidently put the penalty away. It was that kind of night, that kind of performance, that a miss was near unthinkable – Ribery was truly in inspired form.

That most of the French team were rather uninspired made Ribery stand out, and made his performance all the more important, as one shudders to think where the inspiration would’ve come from had he not played. Anelka aside, the French team only showed sporadic signs of what they are capable of: Malouda, as is his habit, briefly came alive and suddenly looked world class, and then couldn’t be bothered again; Makelele was quite excellent in the last third of the match, but it was rather late as by this time the wind was already out of England’s sails.

And then there was Trezeguet – or was there? To be honest, unless I’d seen his name on the teamsheet then I would’ve thought that the shots of him pulling those baby-face agonised expressions came from a Trezeguet in the stands. Last night he took inconspicuousness to a new level and really, amazingly, did nothing at all. Trezeguet was truly a waste of space and shouldn’t have been in the XI.

France would certainly have fared better for the inclusion of Govou instead, who immediately highlighted Trezeguet’s ineptitude (not that there was a need for it) by quickly making an impact when he came on as a substitute – darting about and linking up well.

There is, of course, an argument that he had no service – and in all the time that he was on the pitch only one cross came into the box – but if France were going to play a game that didn’t include providing crosses for centre forwards in its strategy then that is all the more reason why Trezeguet shouldn’t have played.

Anelka, of course, was another matter entirely and in fact is looking the best he has done in almost a decade. Last night he was constantly involved and showed a willingness collect the ball and to try to work with other players in order to create something. He seems to have settled into a role for France and is becoming a key figure in the build-up of our attacks.

Its hard to judge how well the defence performed, because if France were uninspired England didn’t even have a clue. England were chasing shadows for most of the game and although there were stretches where they had good possession they never managed nearly enough dangerous balls into the box. Barring a few alarming moments when Joe Cole Mary-Poppinsed his way into the box the defence were largely untroubled.

That said, with Ashley Cole sinking to new levels of ineptitude and Brown clearly out of his depth, Clerc and Abidal should certainly have done better going forward. Clerc made the odd run forward and while he did provide the through-ball that led to the penalty he wasn’t the dangerous dynamo we saw for Lyon against Manchester United.

Abidal was criminal in his apathy, as he once again treated us to his aloof amble, this time not even bothering to try to reach the final third of the field. One would never guess that Evra and Clichy were having impressive seasons and strengthening their arguments for a chance in the starting XI.

Toulalan, while he didn’t play badly, he unfortunately didn’t offer much. With him in the team we lacked combatitiveness and creativity in the midfield – especially with Malouda seemingly absolved from tackling duties.

It seems odd to say that we weren’t combatitive, but what happened in the match was that Toulalan and Makelele lay far too deeply and often let England have the possession. Also, at the times when he was right in the middle of the field it was evident that he lacked support and it is clear that him and Makelele together are too defensively minded.

It is the same problem that we often have when Makelele plays with zimmer-frame Vieira, who of late has struggled to get into the second-half of the field. Surely Domenech’s loyalty is misplaced here – we can’t accommodate two aging players in the defensive midfield role.

And as long as Domenech continues to favour both Makelele and Vieira together France remains a team on the wrong side of a transition, with a creaking midfield near to breaking point. Whether we’ll manage to continue to disguise our frailties in Euro 2008 or whether the group of death will be Vieira and Makelele’s funeral pyre we will soon see.

The next three friendlies against South American opposition will be very important for Domenech as he tries to (re-)animate his veterans and muster them for one final charge – again.

France

Goals: 1 – Franck Ribery (Pen)

Team: Coupet, Abidal, Thuram, Gallas, Clerc, Makelele, Toulalan, Ribery, Malouda, Anelka (D. Cisse 80), Trezeguet (Govou 64)

England

Goals: 0

Team: Robinson, A. Cole, Ferdinand, Terry (Lescott 46), Brown (Johnson 63), Hargreaves, Barry, J. Cole (Downing 46), Beckham (Bentley 63), Gerrard (Crouch 46), Rooney (Owen 46)