France and Switzerland played out a scoreless draw in their third and final group stage encounter in Euro 2016 at Lille to ensure both teams’ safe passage into the round of 16. Paul Pogba and substitute Dimitri Payet hit the woodwork for the tournament hosts, while Yann Sommer made three impressive saves to keep his side’s clean sheet intact.
Both teams knew that avoiding defeat was the most important result as they look ahead to the next round of fixtures. Switzerland, thanks to the draw, made it through to the knockout stage of the competition for the first tie in their history.
Here are some of the talking points of the game at Lille:
1) Paul Pogba takes centre-stage
One man who really had the incentive to play in top gear was France’s starlet Paul Pogba. He has been the subject of criticism from the French media following a poor display in their opening game against Romania – a performance which saw him subsequently dropped from the starting lineup in the game against the Albanians.
He silenced all his critics with a devastating display in midfield, covering every blade of grass and making the Swiss sweat in an attempt to dispossess him. He also contributed defensively by making a goal-line clearance early in the game. It was a performance typical of the Paul Pogba at Juventus.
He had three good opportunities to score in the first half. Two were saved by Yann Sommer, while a third – an unstoppable shot – rattled the crossbar. He may have hit his best form at just the right time for Didier Deschamps’ side.
2) France start with real intent unlike in previous games
After cautious starts in each of their opening two games, France started this game in fifth gear, much to the excitement of the fans. They kept haring at the Swiss defence, opening up with shots on goal and winning a plethora of corners.
Pogba went closest for the tournament hosts - firing a thunderous shot onto the woodwork. Within the first 25 minutes they eight goal attempts, three of which were on target. 20-year-old Kingsley Coman was a busy figure on either wing, using his pace and dribbling ability to skip past opponents and creating chances.
One reason they may have employed this tactic was because they had already assured themselves of a last 16 spot. Will they be as adventurous as they were on Sunday when they play in the knockout round?
3) Yann Sommer once again stands tall
Following up from a man of the match display against Albania and a reasonably confident performance against Romania, Swiss custodian Yann Sommer once again bailed his defence out with a string of great saves to keep his side’s clean sheet intact.
He saved twice from Pogba in the first half, before making yet another impressive save from an Antoine Griezmann shot early in the second half. His form will be crucial in deciding Switzerland’s fate in this tournament.
4) Game peters away in the second half
After an attacking first half, the game understandably lost its tempo in the latter 45 minutes. A draw suited both teams – France topped the group while their opponents made it to the knockout stages of the Euros for the first time in their history.
Dimitri Payet’s introduction temporarily restored some of the first half energy as he hit the crossbar from a Moussa Sissoko cross, but there was very little going on apart from that. Switzerland would predictably have come off the pitch the happier of the two teams, as they managed to hold one of the tournament’s favourites to a draw.
5) How was France’s bench strength?
With Dimitri Payet, Olivier Giroud and N’Golo Kante rested, the focus was on some of France’s benchwarmers to see how capable they were of performing on the competitive stage.
Yohan Cabaye, Andre-Pierre Gignac, Moussa Sissoko and Kingsley Coman were given starts by Deschamps for what was, in some ways, a dead rubber for them.
Cabaye and Sissoko were solid and confident moving the ball around in midfield, while Kingsley Coman had a busy 60 minutes, looking to exploit his fleet-footedness to waltz past the Swiss defenders.
Andre-Pierre Gignac, however, couldn’t get himself involved in the game much as he was well marshalled by Fabian Schar. Deschamps can feel reasonably pleased and assured that he has a strong bench to look up to in the event of any injuries or suspensions to his first-team personnel.
