France 2-0 Albania : Hosts leave it late again

For the second game running, France had to wait until the last few minutes to release the pressure valve that had slowly been tightening on the hosts at Euro 2016.

Antoine Griezmann came off the bench to head in the opener before Dimitri Payet added a second goal deep in injury time to make a 2-0 win over Albania look a lot more routine on the surface than it was in reality.

France coach Didier Deschamps responded to the below-par performance in a 2-1 victory against Romania on the opening night of the tournament by dropping Paul Pogba and Griezmann.

Kingsley Coman and Anthony Martial came into the side to add youth and exuberance, but both players struggled to work clear attacking openings against the resilient Albanian defence.

Deschamps turned back to Pogba and Griezmann and it was the latter who broke the deadlock, finding a pocket of space in the box to glance in a header to put his team into the lead. 

Of all the people to create the chance, it was centre-back Adil Rami, who was not even in the initial France squad and was called up as a late replacement for the injured Raphael Varane.

And with Albania committing men forward in search of an equaliser, France picked the minnows off on the break, Payet helping himself to his second goal of the tournament with a fine finish.

France still below-par

Many of the pre-tournament favourites have struggled to find their best form in the opening week of the tournament, with holders Spain notably scrapping their way to a 1-0 win against Czech Republic in their first game of the group stage.

There is nothing wrong with taking a while to warm up - it is a long tournament and teams do not want to hit top form too early and then tail off - but France look to have something missing.

Olivier Giroud has done a decent job of filling in for the unavailable Karim Benzema, but he does not look likely to score the goals that will fire his side to glory in the July 10 final.

The midfield double-pivot of Blaise Matuidi and N'Golo Kante also appears to be overly defensive, especially against sides like Albania and Romania who have sat incredibly deep, right in front of their own penalty box, in a bid to deny the France attack space.

France's full-backs have failed to impress too, with neither Bacary Sagna nor Patrice Evra having the energy or willingness required to get up and down the pitch and join in with attacks.

Albania on the brink

As brave as Albania have been defensively at Euro 2016, it looks as though Gianni De Biasi's side will be exiting the tournament at the first hurdle. 

With two defeats out of their two games, Albania are rock bottom of Group A and they have to beat Romania in their last match, in Lyon on Sunday night, to have any chance of going through.

Albania already cannot finish in the top two of the section, but if they take three points against Romania - who also need a win to boost their qualification hopes - they will have a chance of heading into the next round as one of the best third-placed sides.

However, De Biasi's side have not scored a single goal at Euro 2016 and their lack of attacking threat looks likely to be their downfall.