France Faces Serious Problem
With players of the caliber of Kylian Mbappé, Antoine Griezmann, and Ousmane Dembélé, it's hard to believe that the French team struggles so much to score goals.
Only Serbia, eliminated with one point in Group C, has scored fewer goals in the group stage of Euro 2024 than France, who have found the net only once from their 49 attempts over three games, hindered by a lack of finishing prowess from their players and compounded by a draw that places further demands on them, alongside Portugal, Germany, Spain, and Denmark.
France's other goal, in their sole victory so far against Austria with a 0-1 scoreline over a week ago, wasn't even a shot on target but an own goal deflected from a cross by Kylian Mbappé that Maximiliam Wöber redirected into his own net, highlighting their inefficiency which has quickly raised doubts in France.
Simply generating chances, as emphasized in the lead-up days, isn't sufficient anymore; the draw against Poland has consequences for their group position, currently second, and their upcoming opponents. "Their goalkeeper played well, we had a good opponent, but we need to do much better in scoring. We still have this efficiency problem," expressed midfielder Adrien Rabiot after Tuesday's match.
The statistics tell the tale: France has had 49 shots, with fourteen on target, seventeen off target, and eighteen blocked by opponents. Only Germany, with 57 shots, has surpassed them in this group stage. Their only goal came from a penalty, scored by Mbappé, who individually has scored one goal from ten attempts.
Mbappé, a goal from ten shots
The new Real Madrid forward, absent in the 0-0 draw against the Netherlands due to a fractured nose suffered against Austria, and returned in the 1-1 draw against Poland, not only leads his team but also tops the Euro with ten attempts, alongside Germany's Kai Havertz, Serbia's Alexander Mitrovic, and Denmark's Christian Eriksen. He also leads the competition with six shots on target.
Thirteen other players from France have tried their luck in attack over the first three matches, all without scoring a goal.
Not even Antoine Griezmann, with nine attempts in the Euro, has scored, managing only two goals in his last 31 international appearances. He was a tactical substitution, not due to anger with Antoine, as Deschamps said: "I have many players, different cards in my hand. I want to have the most dangerous team for the opponent. We had Kylian, Barcola, and Dembélé, a very dangerous front line. There are no problems with Antoine. He played nearly two full games. I know what he can do and he took it like a professional."
Besides the all-time leading scorer for Atlético de Madrid, Marcus Thuram, the starting forward in the first two matches, also a substitute in the third, has taken seven shots without scoring. He has scored two goals in his 22 matches with France. Ousmane Dembélé has had five attempts. In his last 24 games for the national team, he has only scored two goals.
Aurélien Tchouameni has attempted five shots in this Euro. N'Golo Kanté, three; Theo Hernandez and Olivier Giroud, two each; and Bradley Barcola, William Saliba, Dayot Upamecano, Adrien Rabiot, Jules Koundé, and Yousouff Fofana, one each, for only two goals that contradict France's offensive numbers at the collective level.
The second team with the most attacks: 164
The 'Bleus' are the second-highest attacking team in Euro 2024, with 164 attacks. Only Germany has surpassed them with 207 attacks. The German team has scored eight goals. Four times more.
They are also the team with the most dribbles, with 67 (Dembele is the player with the most productive in all national teams in that regard, with 22), and the third-most corners taken, with 19, only surpassed by the host team, with 25, and Denmark, with 21.
"No, I'm not disappointed at all. We wanted to finish first, but we did what we had to do. We gave everything until the end. The team is united and creating opportunities. We are where we want to be, although we have a lot of room for improvement," Deschamps admitted, who also experienced two draws in the last two rounds of the previous Euro in 2021, before being eliminated in the round of 16 against Switzerland. A warning.
For now, they have progressed to the knockout stages, directed to a part of the draw they may not have anticipated, alongside Portugal - their potential quarter-final opponents if both advance from the round of 16 - Germany, and Spain - their possible opponents if they reach the semifinals - while reflecting and recovering at their base camp in Paderborn, Germany, before their next match on Monday in Dusseldorf, now with no margin for error and in need of goals.
With only two goals in their previous Euro final phases, France did not advance beyond the group stage. Not in 2008, when they only managed one goal (drawing 0-0 with Romania and losing 4-1 to the Netherlands and 0-2 to Italy), nor in 1992, when they scored two in their elimination from draws against Sweden (1-1) and England (0-0) and a 1-2 defeat against Denmark. Another warning for a favorite in question, despite Mbappé.