Tactical System

France opted to change the system in the defensive process, revealing a 1-4-4-2 for a better occupation of the center lane. This is due to the German offensive model that includes a lot of players between the lines.

France tried to keep this model but sometimes played with their usual 1-4-2-3-1, specially when Germany got closer to the area.

Midfield Sector

The midfield was outstanding controling the german offensive. Matuidi and Pogba worked a lot to cover the spaces and create numeric advantage for the defense and keep it balanced.

Payet and Sissoko also participate specially when the ball was in the crossing area, to liberate the full backs to create advantage in the middle.

Although their effort, most of the time they left space in the back. France closes the wing with a lot of players and the winger on the opposite side stays in the center. If Germany opted to give maximum width, France could struggle a bit.

The space behind of the full-back (when the winger wasn’t supporting as it should) was also another symptom of France’s main concern of closing the space in the middle.

Defensive Sector

The structure kept the first 2 lines, giving freedom to the players in the front to explore the counter attack.

Pogba and Matuidi got almost in the same line as the defenders to create numeric advantage. This left space for the late cross and Germany tried to take advantage of this with some highlights for Kimmich and Héctor who shot dangerously multiple times.

Stats

The stats confirm the urge of France to close the space in the middle and the 2 defensive midfielders supporting the defense.

Most of the shots for Germany were taken outside the box (10/17) and a precision of 6/17.

France was really agressive all the time, even when they were winning they didn’t stoped the intensity and the agressiveness that characterizes them.

This created some Free Kicks that could lead to dangerous set plays for Germany.