Halftime Lithuania 0-0 France

Who are these guys and what have they done with my team?!?!

This isn’t the game I’d envisioned. Only luck has prevented France from going down by a goal on a couple of occasions, and they’re just not putting together their own attacks. And I’m thinking Anelka should just set up a tent in front of the goal. Maybe if he stood real still, the ref would forget he was there and not call offsides. As it is, he’s had what, three offsides calls? Not what I expected from him today.

And I think I like Malouda better in midfield playing together with Abidal. He’s not bad up front, but he’s not dominating either, and neither is Abidal.

Before the game I was thinking a formation switch to 4-3-3 would be a good thing. Now I’m thinking they haven’t had the time to get used to it. They played so much better against Argentina.

To their credit, Lithuania is playing a strong game, keeping it in the air where they like it. Their long balls are much more accurate than ours. (Except, blessedly, for the several that have headed toward the goal.) For the first ten-fifteen minutes Lithuania applied unrelenting pressure, not giving our guys an inch of space. They haven’t been able to keep that up, but they’re still playing strongly and well. France isn’t even close to dominating posession the way they’re used to. I’d guess it’s about 50-50.

My guess? Govou and Toulalan coming out for the second half, replaced by Benzema and Mavuba. But who knows?

Come on, guys!! We need this win!