Compare the way France played WITH Benzema and with Giroud. Giroud compliments and enables the surrounding team mates by dragging defenders to make space for the rest and combines well with fast interplay. That's the reason why Griezmann and Mbappe didn't manage to do much at all and France never looked anywhere near their best.

This isn't to say that Benzema isn't good or didn't play well - he did great - but he wasn't what France needed for the team

Who should've been up front for France?

.

I disagree, Benzema created as much spaces and attracted as much defender as Giroud at his best could. Giroud starting would be even easier for other team to mark Mbappe and Griezmann.

France's dressing room was a mess already, but they still looked decent. The lost against Switzerland was mostly due to dropping concentration and celeberated over the top, too early.

Benzema would constantly drop in to receive the ball deeper, that’s not creating space, giroud plays against the CB’s stretching the other team vertically creating space in between the lines (that’s creating space), he would also always go to the front post for crosses which always attracts two defenders in the most crucial moments whilst I only ever saw benzema go for the cut back.
Benzema created space for himself which is what a good striker does but not what this France team is built for. I think it’s pretty obvious the difference that France played between the World Cup and this euros

Benzema score 2 goals as a striker.

He clearly wasn't what France needed.

Nah but more seriously, there were problem with France against Switzerland but Benzema being the striker, if you even wanna consider this a problem, was very far down the list.

constantly drop in to receive the ball deeper, that’s not creating space, giroud plays against the CB’s stretching the other team vertically creating space in between the lines (that’s creating space)

That's a bizarre argument mate...

Virtical stretching defend doesnt just work that simple... Otherwise Arsenal would have been champ a few times more and Giroud would not have been just a sub in Chelsea

4 goals in 350 minutes, only player who scored more is Ronaldo and you say Benzema was the problem?

Let's be real Varane & Kimpembe was terrible pairing at their back, they looked so clumsy against Hungary and Portugal too. Taking Griezmann off was another dumb mistake. France tactics made Xhaka look like prime Makelele as they never pressed him.

From what I saw of Benzema, he played exactly how France needed him to play. Four goals in four matches! Yes, he dropped deeper to be an option, but that opens up space behind him for the wingers to take advantage of their pace. He also pressed the CB's higher up to force them into staying marked with him and not free to cover the overlapping wingers as easy.

France shot themselves in the foot on a few levels. One, they were not clinical in front of goal. Mbappe, Griezman, Pogba, Coman, Raboit, heck all of them had plenty of chances to score. Two, they should have killed off the game as already mentioned, but went to sleep and did not hold themselves accountable.

Not sure I put it on the coach because his team was in complete control at 3-1 and his substitutions made sense under those circumstances.

It was a shock loss but not Benz's fault at all.

A lot of you seem to be missing the point I'm making and dumbing down my argument by responding that Benzema did great therefore I'm wrong. No. I never said Benzema didn't do great, i actually said he did well, he did exactly what a striker is meant to do.
But when you watched France play (full 90 minutes, not just highlights) they weren't clicking in front of goal at all, there were wasted chances but France even when they won the WC were never scoring every single one of their chances, they were making a huge amount of chances to score.

There's different type of space created and I was summarizing, but basically Giroud is always an option up top, he stays up there so he can connect with high midfielders or wingers who are making runs on the inside with flicks, I strongly feel that is so beneficial for Griezmann and Mbappe since they thrive off of that. Benzema took up positions more to his benefit as a striker than positions to be ready to flick them on. The few times he picked up those positions France scored really easily and looked fluent again.

Once again, trying to dumb down someone else's argument doesn't make you correct. France had a lot of problems, this argument/question posed isn't to say that there aren't other problems that needed to be fixed. This problem is being analysed in isolation of choosing between Benzema or Giroud for the effectiveness of the entire team.

@Greatone Yeah you right, sorry if it sounded like I was dumbing down your argument. Its just, I think its hard to compare what Giroud did for France when things were working for them (at World Cup for example) with how things went with Benz at this Euro cause there are a lot of other different element as well.

One thing you should note is the topic of Benzema being the scapegoat of a France elimination was very much a worry of us fans before the Euro when it was anounced he would join back the team, so thats propably part of the reason why some of us are kinda sensible toward this thread (even though I'm pretty sure you don't mean it like that). I know its why I reacted the way I did.

Anyway, don't worry about what I say too much, I still have much to learn in term of strategy and tactic.

Edit: After reading your argument more slowly, I kinda realized you raised some good point. Still wouldn't say I'm completely convinced though. XD

@Greatone I hear ya, man, and do see your point. I mistook your comment as a "blame Benz for France dropping out of the Euros", but that was not your intent, so thats my fault.

I don't watch France close enough to see if one has better positional value over the other. Based on what I see of MBappe and Griezmen, and knowing their pace and skill is most effective in open space, I would figure Benz dropping deep to open up what's behind him, as well as, staying pushed high to allow players wide that deeper run through all helped the team.

If Giroud playing his normal 9 role was what helps the team more, that is on the coach for not recognizing it. I saw a French team that would kill anyone at times, and that was with Benz doing what he does. I also saw a French team completely drop the ball so you have that as well. haha

Don't know how good your French is, but it translates okay into English as well: story here

Someone posted this on reddit and it's a good read from a highly reliable journalist who does deep dives into serious ethics issues in soccer (i.e. sexual abuse, human trafficking, etc), but the reason I'm sharing it here is just so that you guys are aware that pinning any failures on Benzema was a big part of how the French federation was approaching this Euros. If you're seeing anti-Benzema sentiment in the tabloids and whatnot, that could be why.

Regardless, he made it a lot more difficult by scoring so much, but that hasn't stopped the narrative, as we can even see here.

Easy to push ethics aside when you are winning, even easier to set a scapegoat when things come crashing down. If the FFF had any real backbone, they would have either put a stop to Benz's inclusion in the team, or looked at the "failure" in the loss from a team perspective and not an individual.

Collectively they put themselves in a great position to win that match, with Benz playing. As that team, they also collapsed. I guess the win as a team loss as a team means nothing.

Thanks for the article, Sun. Never ceases to amaze me, how politics play such a huge role in sports.

yeah thanks for acknowledging the misunderstanding, appreciate it and I understand it knowing the French sentiment with Algerians. I actually really admire Benzema's perseverance and tenacity as a footballer, pretty similar to Giroud in that he has and does receive a lot of blame unfairly quite often.

I get the feeling Deschamps kind've went against what he had already established tactically this Euros and it backfired. Dropping in might make space normally in behind for long balls up ahead, but unfortunately not against teams playing with the low block.

When teams play the low block there's not much space in behind, so one solution to this problem is someone up front who is an option to play to who can connect (in Giroud's case with flicks and one-twos) with the wingers or advanced midfielders in between the lines. You can also play it out wide to spread the low block and create more space in between lines but you do need a striker who is posing as a threat in the middle even if they don't get the ball. (WHY? because if there's no-one posing as a threat from a cross, then the defenders can defend in a different way.)

There's never just one solution in football but just the way I saw it.

Shouldn't "of"? English is your first language, speak it like it is

Giroud played 50 minutes with Mbappe and Griezmann, and results nothing... He scored when both were subbed. For me the problem were Griezmann/Mbappe both in poor form.
What Benz did under pressure goals aside is incredible, he is a ten and a nine and contributed to the build up effectively... Actually it's incredible to blame the best french of the euro for others underperformers, no debate here for me.

Probably he didn't have the time to find greats automatisms with Griezmann and Mbappe, the only problem is that he was isolated so many times. At some points only Griezmann and Benzema seemed to be trying. Taking Griezmann off was the worst decision of the coach, as well as not subbing mbappe at half time