“Go on, feel free to find the issues,” Didier Deschamps challenged journalists after his team sliced Sweden apart to qualify for the last 16. “Not everything should be rose-tinted, we shouldn’t get carried away,” he said. A day on from the match, though, there have been few convincing responses to the France manager’s plea for criticism. If anything, fans have been unanimous in their praise.
The flaws in this France team are difficult to spot. Aside from a few defensive lapses, none of which the Sweden attack could exploit, France turned in a performance that consolidated their status as tournament favourites. Even if there had been problems at the back, the overriding sentiment is that France’s free-flowing attacking quartet more than make up for any of their teammates’ shortcomings.
