Note: John tried to find that video again but to no avail.
But will football be coming home?
John's recommendation is to hold your horses and cavalry plus your beer. We've yet to come to that stage where the English will be celebrating and the Khaleesi will get her long-elusive love. So all you Jocks, Macs, Bales, and Manos can breath easy. At least for now.
France versus Belgium: Hold my French beer versus Hold my Belgian beer
In a few hours' time, the cruellest semi-final will start its kick-off. To the purists, it's a bummer. For the pragmatists, they'd just shrug it off like a dictator. Les Bleus and Les Diables Rouges have been nothing short of impressive thus far. The former needed time to peak while the latter had a smoother ride bar that moment where the Japanese nearly made Roberto "he's no Mancini" Martínez commit seppuku. This is a battle between blue and red, a clash pitting the red against the blue. John won't say it's like the politics in America, though.
Note: John isn't gonna do any prediction result wise. This post is strictly tactical.
One side of the coin: Hold my French beer
Les Bleus isn't exactly the kind of team we'd expect to see the likes of Zinedine "Le Professeur X" Zidane and Michel "not a Sablon" Platini to be in. More specifically, Les Bleus of now and not of the yore. Under Monsieur Deschampions, this is a team high on organisation and work rate with flair being placed at secondary priority. Against Les Diables Rouges, who are the key monsieurs involved?
Blaise "he will always protect your base" Matuidi isn't just the man. He is Deschampions' man. When you see the same guy starting in the same position, there's no need to over-analyse. But if the same guy can be deployed in two different midfield roles, then maybe it's time to ask why.
As a player, Matuidi is considered a defensive mid. However, such a statement would be an insult. Yes, he's defensive mid. But no, he's NOT just a defensive mid. Instead of calling him a defensive mid, it's far more accurate to call him a counter-offensive mid.
Against Belgium, it'd be interesting to see whether he will be deployed out wide in a 4-2-3-1 or part of the middle 3 in a 4-3-3. This is very important because the most effective way to knacker Belgium will be to force back their attacking players. If it's a 4-3-3, then Les Bleus need to play the ball forward fast in order to force back the opposition offence. If it's a 4-2-3-1, then Matuidi will most likely be deployed nearer to the holding 2. In other words, that'd be giving him the duty to shackle Eden "The Duke of Hazard" Hazard instead of a more direct "choose and take no prisoners" approach.
John gotta admit this lad above caught his eye. More specifically in the match against Denmark. Lucas "not another Leiva" Hernández impressed with his ball control and the danger he posed whenever he got himself forward. And he really did so quite a lot of times for a left-back. Assuming Matuidi will be playing out wide on the left as the counter-offensive fulcrum, will he pose a threat to Belgium? Once he got the ball, you can be very sure it'd be in the opponent's third.
Cloak and Dagger plus a Brass Knuckle
There's something seriously wrong whenever we saw Antoine "The Mann" Griezmann starting out wide. We all would know he's not gonna score. And as a striker, failure to score goals is tantamount to embarrassing yourself before your girlfriend's BFFs. Once deployed in the hole behind the main striker, however, that's when he becomes The Mann. In fact, it's very likely due to Matuidi's physical presence that he's afforded the freedom to move off-the-ball behind cover. In fact, Griezmann is at his deadliest when moving around without the ball. Yes, he's a born goal scorer. But he's no Filippo "born in an offside position" Inzaghi. He doesn't rely on predatory instinct within the 20-yard box. He relies on his brain to know where to run instead of just when to run. There are players thriving on freedom when it comes to covering the pitch. Then you have those like The Mann who thrives on freedom in movement within a limited range.
Then you have Olivier "Le Chevalier d'Londres" Giroud. Not exactly the sharpest 6 ft+ striker. However, his ability to hold up the ball means Deschampions would never attempt starting a specialist goalscorer up front. Without Karim "Le Benz" Benzema, Giroud becomes the main offensive ball anchor.
Kylian "he makes kimbap out of the opposition backline" Mbappé has to be the hottest topic in every French town now. Sheer power, sheer pace, and sheer physique. Against Argentina, he made more than just one kimbap out of the opponent backline, hence making Manodonna cry for Argentina. Against Belgium, will KiMbappé repeat history again?
Note: In case you've yet to understand the definition of Cloak and Dagger plus a Brass Knuckle, John was referring to Giroud, Griezmann, and Mbappé in this order.
Where the battle may be won:
Deschampions better not tell Giroud to hold up the ball too deep into the opponent's backline. The reason why being that Giroud would be zerged by five red shirts. 3 defenders and 2 holding mids. Once he got wedged in the middle, The Belgians can easily shut down the French while still allowing the attacking players to roam forward. That'd be playing into Belgium's hands.
To make sure this doesn't happen, Deschampions will have to tell Giroud to hold up the ball in front of Belgium's 4-man midfield. In this way, Giroud would be able to pass the ball with minimum pressure and it'd be easier for The Mann and KiMbappé to attack the gaps in the opponent's backline as well. However, this also requires another player to attack the other flank. In this case, that'd be Hernández. And in order to execute this plan to perfection, Deschampions needs his man to operate at his counter-offensive best. Not too far away from the back, but definitely not to far into the opponent's half.
Note: In case you've yet to understand the definition of Cloak and Dagger plus a Brass Knuckle, John was referring to Giroud, Griezmann, and Mbappé in this order.
Where the battle may be won:
Deschampions better not tell Giroud to hold up the ball too deep into the opponent's backline. The reason why being that Giroud would be zerged by five red shirts. 3 defenders and 2 holding mids. Once he got wedged in the middle, The Belgians can easily shut down the French while still allowing the attacking players to roam forward. That'd be playing into Belgium's hands.
To make sure this doesn't happen, Deschampions will have to tell Giroud to hold up the ball in front of Belgium's 4-man midfield. In this way, Giroud would be able to pass the ball with minimum pressure and it'd be easier for The Mann and KiMbappé to attack the gaps in the opponent's backline as well. However, this also requires another player to attack the other flank. In this case, that'd be Hernández. And in order to execute this plan to perfection, Deschampions needs his man to operate at his counter-offensive best. Not too far away from the back, but definitely not to far into the opponent's half.
The other said of the coin: Hold my Belgian beer
Well, who'd expect it to happen? Two years ago, Belgium sank like the Titanic. Despite the hype, there were already worrying signs where the backline was concerned. As it turned out, Belgium was kicked out of the Euro room and a local talent got the sack as a result. Fast forward to now and we got a foreign talent bringing the team just one step away from the final and two steps away from glory.
When Rob Mart took over, one couldn't be blamed for wondering whether Belgium should have consulted another Michel also known as Sablon. After all, one doesn't need to take a plane to do an email. And besides, emails are free of charge unless it's some sort of scam from Nigeria orchestrated by Boko Haram.
The reason behind Rob Mart's downfall at Everton was due to his score-and-leak style. His son-of-a-gun style was already evident while he's at Swansea. Once he moved to Wigan, critics were most likely left perplexed as to why Wigan never got relegated much earlier, if not at least earlier. It's quite interesting to see that his formation we see in Belgium right now is the same thing as pundits and fans alike saw during his days at Wigan. Namely, 3-4-3. Although granted 3-4-2-1 isn't literally 3-4-3. But still, it technically is.
No one gave Belgium a chance in Dante's hell to progress beyond the last 16 or quarter-final. In this sense, the Belgians ain't that crazy. That's apart from a Belgian model doing nude shots at West Jerusalem. Now that's another level of insanity compared to the crazy optimism in every English George right now.
Let's be honest here: Compared to the English, the Belgians have more reasons to be optimistic. Because the team actually overperformed instead of underperforming like two years ago. Who'd have imagined Rob Mart fixing the one thing which cost him his job last time around? There's nothing much to be fixed when it came to the offence. Les Diables Rouges has always been a team combining the best of Man Utd and the Spanish national team when it comes to attack and technique. However, the backline needed to be fixed. Because if it's broken, just fix it. Suffice to say, Rob Mart had to deal with a problem he's not known to be good at.
By adopting a 3-4-3/3-4-2-1, Belgium can afford to defend deeper. With a 3-man backline, the pressure to defend is greater. More specifically the wingbacks. Any formation involving a 3-man defence is bound to place heavy defensive emphasis on the wingbacks. In fact, it's very likely that all Rob Mart did was to change the way the Belgian team play when it comes to the width. He didn't have to fix anything apart from the two guys out wide. In other words, he's making the most out of whatever little he chose to work on (note that he could have tried fixing more than just the attacking width since he's now the boss).
John's focus is running low right now. So he might as well finish this asap. John is not gonna talk about Eden "The Duke of Hazard" Hazard because many will be those doing it on his behalf. Neither is he gonna talk about Romelu "the black Romulus" Lukaku, racist song or no racist song. This is about Kevin "Der Bruyne" De Bruyne.
Football can be very quirky at times. From Darren "not Marcus" Bent and his beach ball to the now infamous Pito Vilanova moment, from Le Professeur X using his head against the Juggernaut in the worst possible manner to a naked bloke invading the pitch. Then you have Pep "not a Clotet" Guardiola becoming bald because something went wrong with his job. If there's such a thing called the crowning moment of justification where Pep is concerned, people would remember how Man City won the league title in the most stunning fashion at J.Mou's expense. Yet, John sees another crowning moment of justification. More specifically the awesome crowning moment of justification.
In the world of modern football, seeing players capable of operating in 3 possible roles is a rarity. To see an attacking mid capable of playing as the holding mid has to be the most awesome of them all. Isco did it before, but Der Bruyne is able to make it his territory. For an attacking mid of De Bruyne's type, saying his mind was too weak for Chelsea is no different from saying he'd do a crap job of being a holding mid. And that's where Pep scored his greatest revenge.
In Man City, Der Bruyne has already proven how absurdly versatile he can be. In the Belgian team, Rob Mart did the same. Der Bruyne did have to go through a lot, however. Wolfsburg resuscitated his career, Man City decided to take a risk by signing him. If this sounds familiar, that's because Mohamed "the fastest Mohamed in the world" Salah went through the same process. John won't be surprised if Pep was the reason why Rob Mart could afford to deploy Der Bruyne in the holding mid position.
Where the battle may be won:
Der Bruyne's tactical awareness means one thing: Will Rob Mart start him along with Hazard as the two attacking players behind Lukaku? This is important because Der Bruyne's passing range can work in Belgium's favour if he's constantly somewhere between Lukaku and the midfield instead of in the holding mid area. In Lukaku and Hazard, Belgium got two strong and fast players capable of attacking the space between Matuidi and the opponent's backline. At the same time, it'd be easier for Der Bruyne to move up further via passes and crosses coming from the wingbacks. At the end of the day, Der Bruyne is no Scholes or Xavi. But is he a Modrić? The answer is yes.
P.S: The term "hold my beer" was actually a product of human stupidity. Somewhere down the road, the internet dictionary redefined the phrase.
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