Yohan Cabaye has admitted that France were slow out of the blocks in their Euro 2012 opener against England.
Les Bleus saw plenty of the ball in the opening stages of the game but failed to do anything with it, as England grew in confidence as the half played out.
Laurent Blanc's men found themselves a goal down when Joleon Lescott headed in on the half-hour mark, but Samir Nasri struck to draw France level before the break.
Cabaye said that they were surprised by how Roy Hodgson lined his team up and admitted that they found it hard to play against.
"We took some time to enter the game," said Cabaye. "It took us a while to get our game flowing.
"We will need to keep this good circulation of the ball for what is to come. We love to have the ball, that is our trademark.
"We expected England to field two lines of four players, but we had a hard time to play in depth."
France face Ukraine next on Friday.
Michael Penkman
