Why Benzema is already indispensable to France’s attacking drive?

 Why Benzema is already indispensable to France’s  attacking drive?

Presumably, the best no10 after Lionel Messi, and certainly   the most underrated player in the modern day football. Karim Benzema was undoubtedly a great addition in France squad. 

Within a few min, i will try to evaluate his influence in France’s attack, not just as a no9(that people think),but as an attacker, who would fit in various role.  

In a positional attack, specifically against a low and compact block, having technical players in the midfield is essential to progress on the ground.

And that's good because Benzema lives in these areas, and his availability as well as his ability to conserve is very valuable.

Via a lateral relay, the 3-man defence (with Pavard) can find Benzema in the heart of the game. He picks up the ball, plays it back to Griezmann. Pogba meanwhile attacks the space created by Benzema to be served as a 3rd man on the move.

A phase of sterile possession, Rabiot comes to look for the ball rather low, Benzema takes advantage of his displacement to come and create a direct corridor of play with Presko in the left half-space.

His movement has broken the first two lines, but he will stay in the space because the shift is far from complete. He stays in this undefendable space to combine with Digne who will find Mbappé alone in the box.

Here we find the good Digne-Benzema relationship on the left side: Varane reverses the ball thanks to the Everton player's sharp appeal. Benzema stays back in the middle of the pitch to keep the game going. He will pass to Mbappé in the centre in one touch.

10min later he changed half-space, went to the right, but obviously remains in the line. This time his presence will be that of a fixer and not a relay. He creates uncertainty on the defensive line which offers space for Mbappé to make his appeal.

Mbappé is served by Griezmann, takes with him a defensive line behind, and can serve Benzema who has obviously followed the action and arrives in the second blade. His shot went narrowly wide.

And it is necessary to dwell on the complementarity of the KM-KB pair and the regular synchronisation of their movements. Up to now we have seen Mbappé fix the def line and Benzema play in the interline.

 Here we see the opposite. The counter-movements help to blur the lines.

Mbappé is able to receive from Pogba in the middle. Benzema doesn't stop there and goes up immediately after his call to propose the one-two to his teammate (who will prefer to play this action alone).

Mbappé is able to receive from Pogba in the middle. Benzema doesn't stop there and goes up immediately after his call to propose the one-two to his teammate (who will prefer to play this action alone).In

We know that Benzema is a complete 9, capable of being a relay player between the lines, a fixer, but obviously a finisher. Here on Pogba's dribble Benzema is locked between the centre halves, but will make that call/counter-call that creates the space needed to finish.

In the 433 without ball Benzema finds himself exceptionally on the left, and will keep this position to bring width, fix his defender, and find the only possible pass: Mbappé in the interval who will try to hand over to AG in 3rd man.

Finally, on the goal, if the call, the dribble and the conservation are obviously signed by Mbappé, Benzema is not totally unrelated to the space that Griezmann enjoys to finish. His call on the second and the pressure on the def line gives him time and space to score.

Against Portugal, his second goal was a result of a brilliant diagonal run, which cannot be performed by anyone in France’s team with this kind of perfection and solid finishing.           

Comparing Benzema and Giroud doesn't make much sense to me because they bring very different things to their team

1/ Benzema is a facilitator, the intelligence of his movements, his play under pressure, his ability to direct in few touches allows to progress in the block.

2/ Giroud is going to be a target-man, precious on the long game to win aerial duels, and jump the first lines. He puts permanent pressure on the defensive line and his micro-movements to get out of marking on crosses are incredible.

Once you've said that, you realise that choosing between Giroud and Benzema is not an arbitration between two 9s, it's deciding how the team will play.

Do we want to advance down the field through long play, then overuse the centres in a set attack?

Or do we want to move forward on the floor, find passing lines inside the block and combine on the perimeter?

There are no wrong answers, but you have to make a choice.

Now comes the famous question: why not combine them since they do not play in the same areas?

This would probably be the choice of many teams, teams that would not have Kylian Mbappé.

KB's stalls attract defenders, who can take more advantage of these spaces created to attack the depth? Mbappé or Giroud?

Benzema often looks for a relay in the axis after receiving in the half-space, who can combine better? Mbappé or Giroud?

Moreover, playing with Giroud means admitting that the centre of the field is for him. He doesn't have the mobility to get out wide to confuse things. It was perfect when Mbappé was playing on the right and Griezmann 10. But it makes our game more restrictive and therefore predictable, that's obvious.