Kylian Mbappe: How England and Kyle Walker can stop him

Gareth Southgate’s side have, so far at least, lived up to the tag of serious contenders and breezed past opponents to set up a quarter-final tie against Les Bleus.

As for Didier Deschamps and his France side, it has been smooth sailing for the most part. A final group-stage match defeat against Tunisia aside, they have been near perfect in their results and with each match, look closer to retaining the holy grail of international football.

A lot has been made of Kylian Mbappe’s form leading up to this match and rightly so, the PSG forward has five goals and two assists to his name. Safe to say he will be a key focus of England’s preparations ahead of the game.

With Kyle Walker returning from a spell on the sidelines, his battle against Mbappe on the flanks is certainly going to be something to keep an eye on.

But can he keep a lid on Mbappe’s talents or is that too much of an ask from him?

And if not him, then what else can England do to stop the best player in the world right now?

Lessons from the past

The last time Walker and Mbappe faced off against each other was in the group stages of the Champions last season, though it is worth mentioning that it wasn’t as much of a direct match-up because of how PSG were set up under Mauricio Pochettino.

They were a lot more reactive and Mbappe was primarily used as PSG’s threat on the counter-attack in transition.

A quick look at the average positions of players from both sides shows a stark contrast in styles and how Mbappe in particular was used as an outlet in transitions and rarely dropped deep to support defensive work.

This gives us some context to his role overall. As much as he is a supernova on the ball, Mbappe does less work than most when out of possession and to a certain degree, you can adjust for that at club level and international level which is what we’re seeing this season and more recently at this World Cup.

Mbappe has the most goal contributions so far at the World Cup and alongside the likes of Antoine Griezmann, Ousmane Dembele and the experienced Olivier Giroud, he forms a formidable quarter of attackers who fulfil their roles better than most.

There have been a few stumbling blocks along the way though, defeats to Denmark and Croatia in the UEFA Nations League threw some doubts over France’s ability to retain their title as World Champions.

A quick look at Mbappe’s touches in France’s 2-0 defeat in the Nations League to Denmark throws further focus on how the Danes were able to keep his influence limited.

Starting up top alongside Giroud, Mbappe often drifted out wide to receive in space but rarely drifted into dangerous areas as his touch-map depicts.

Denmark were able to achieve this with a really disciplined block out of possession where there was very little space between the lines for the likes of Griezmann and Giroud to linkup with Mbappe, and in this particular instance here, Mbappe attempts to invert more centrally but is forced to turn and make a square pass as France continued to search for gaps in Denmark’s defence.

France’s defeat against Croatia was a similar story in that Zlatko Dalic’s side were able to limit Mbappe’s chances to the outside of their penalty area and ultimately ground out a 1-0 victory against a fairly rotated, albeit talented French XI.

The graphic below shows Mbappe’s touches during the game and the trajectory of his shots from range, rarely testing Ivica Ivusic in Croatia’s goal.

So what can Southgate learn from these case studies? Well, for one thing, it is near impossible to stop Mbappe altogether. There is a limit to which you can hinder his influence and limit his involvement in attacking phases. And even if you do manage to do that, he will still have his moments during matches and shine through his sheer outlandish levels of talent.

Some defences in Ligue 1 have managed to keep Mbappe quiet over the past couple of seasons but of course these have been outliers rather than part of a larger trend of teams that have had success against him.

Having said that, systems with three defenders at the back and combative central midfielders willing to overload Mbappe have seemed to have had success against Mbappe and no doubt, getting the win will be more important than on-pitch aesthetics tomorrow for Southgate and co.

So what about England? Is Walker alone enough?

“We will give respect but I'm not going to roll out a red carpet for him to score. It's do or die as if we lose we go home.

“I do understand what I need to do and that's to stop him. It's probably easier said than done but I don't underestimate myself.” said Walker, whilst speaking to the media ahead of the game.

It is clear that the City fullback backs himself but he would be unwise to imagine that he alone would be enough to stop the world’s best player.

Bearing that in mind, it is highly likely that Southgate goes with a back five and uses Trippier as the first line of defence against not just Mbappe but also the dangerous Theo Hernandez. Lucas Hernandez’s injury has seen his brother step into the role and he has brought further attacking impetus down the left alongside Mbappe.

In all of France’s games so far, they haven’t really had to get out of first gear to put away their opponents but against England, it will likely be their toughest test of the tournament so far and the same can be said for Southgate’s charges.

But even beyond simply defending, it will be important for England to exploit France’s defensive frailties on the left where Hernandez can be caught out at times but escapes due to his incredible physique and speed to recover in time. This is where Bukayo Saka will be critical to England’s cause on the right.

That combination of Hernandez and Mbappe is crucial to France’s attacking plans and if given space on the break, they are near unstoppable. Against Denmark in the group stages, those two combined for the highest percentage of their team’s passes between themselves, 4.6%. Which further underlines how important it is for England to have bodies around them to stifle their threat on and off the ball.

In theory, Trippier and Walker should work well together, the former is an excellent crosser of the ball and will be useful in providing service to England’s attack, whereas Walker will be left to focus on defending the space behind Trippier.

That may just be England’s best play in an effort to hinder Mbappe’s influence whilst managing to have enough to do some damage of their own when they get their chances.

Marcus Rashford will likely play a key role off the bench if England are to secure a surprise win in this fixture. The Manchester United forward has enjoyed a return to top form under new coach Erik ten Hag at club level and that momentum and form has translated into his displays for England.

Can England really stop Mbappe and beat France?

The answer to that question is tricky and the ultimate reality is that this French team is more than just Mbappe. Griezmann has successfully managed to plug a Paul Pogba-shaped hole in that France starting XI and Dembele looks back to his best. There are several factors at play here beyond the influence of the brilliant Mbappe.

Griezmann looks to be back to his absolute best in that number 10 role behind Giroud but has done more than just be a creative spark. He has tracked back when necessary and helped France’s defence get out of tight situations often.

Whilst England will need to remain defensively disciplined and resolute to absorb any pressure that comes their way, their efforts in winning this match may be better served if they look to exploit Mbappe’s defensive gaps rather than looking to stop him altogether, which on his current form looks to be too big an ask for anybody.

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