L’Equipe didn’t make for great reading for Ireland or France fans on Tuesday morning.
French outlet L’Equipe are notoriously rough with their player ratings. They didn’t buck this trend for their coverage of the international friendly that went down in Stade de France on Monday evening.
40 minutes in, Olivier Giroud grabbed the game’s opener. After his initial header was blocked, he managed to bundle in a scrappy rebound. Three minutes later, a howler from Colin Doyle saw Liverpool-linked Nabil Fekir double the advantage. The Bradford goalkeeper got his hands to the curled shot, but only managed to comically lift the ball into the air behind him where it bounced into the net. Unsurprisingly, L’Equipe gave Doyle a 3 for his performance.
It was 4s all round for the Boys In Green, including manager Martin O’Neill. Alan Browne, Derrick Williams and James McClean received a 3 apiece for their efforts in the 2-0 loss. Kevin Long, who was arguably Ireland’s best performer on the night, bagged himself a relatively decent 5.
If there is an argument to be made it is that L’Equipe were a little too harsh on their own players. Their central defenders and goalkeeper were given 5’s, despite keeping a comfortable clean sheet, while their attacking three of Giroud, Fekir and Kylian Mbappe scored mediocre 6’s.
Bayern Munich youngster Corentin Tolisso received the highest mark of 7 while Didier Deschamps got a 6.
Check out L’Equipe’s player ratings in full below.
L'Equipe's ratings for France v Ireland pic.twitter.com/AoV7N2hnnz
— Mark Rodden (@MRodden) May 29, 2018
