From the moment that France was eliminated from the 2014 World Cup by Germany, any progress from les Bleus was going to be difficult to gauge.

Since that day in Rio de Janeiro, Didier Deschamps’ team have not played a competitive fixture. Monday’s friendly fixture against Cameroon in Nantes’ Stade de la Beaujoire again asked more questions than it answered, especially with regard to the defence.

France were dealt a huge blow when Deschamps had to remove Raphael Varane from the 23-man squad. It was a body blow that would have knocked out most teams, but DD took the controversial decision to call up Adil Rami rather than Samuel Umtiti – who would later get his place when Barcelona’s Jeremy Mathieu also bowed out.

On Monday, Rami was partnered in defence by Laurent Koscielny, with Patrice Evra and Bacary Sagna on the flanks.

There has to be some blame pointed towards Evra for the first goal. It was Dimitri Payet that was exposed by Allan Nyom, but the Juventus man was slow coming out to pressure the pass, leaving him in no-man’s land.

The Old Lady and Max Allegri trust Evra enough to give him a new contract, but Juventus is a different beast . His duties have been split with Alex Sandro this season, plus playing in Allegri’s 3-5-2 gives “Uncle Pat” the extra cover and protection he needs.

Help comes from the left centre-back and the midfield. Payet is never going to be rushing to pick up his defensive duties – Anthony Martial will be the same – it will come down to Blaise Matuidi to help protect him.

Don’t expect the former Manchester United defender to play every game: Deschamps will be hoping six points from six puts them through and Lucas Digne will play the third game.

The biggest decision that Deschamps needs to make is what central duo starts against Romania on June 10th.

Speaking to Canal Plus after the game, Rami accepted a lot of the blame.

“I thought I was timid. I know that I made mistakes. It’s better to do it now than later,” he told the French TV station.

“I’m getting to know the group. It’s been a super difficult week for me at the end of a long season.

“I’m calm in my head as, thanks to the team, we’ve won. It’s a really positive point. Sometimes, I play big games and I lose. I learn from that and look at the bright side of things.”

He was caught out by Vincent Aboubakar’s run for the equalising goal, looking off the pace, then for the second, he completely misjudged a header. That allowed Cameroon to get in on goal and Eric Maxim Chupo-Moting briefly silenced the Beaujoire.

However, he was not alone: Koscielny was outmuscled for the second and it was sloppy midfield play from both Paul Pogba and Lassana Diarra that caused the first.

Deschamps has three players who can all play at the left centre-back position and now two who play on the right – both of them played on Monday and it would be a surprise to see them both on June 10th.

Expect Koscielny to move to the right, with Eliaquim Mangala or Samuel Umtiti coming in on the left. The Arsenal player is actually naturally right-footed, but plays in the position for club and country. His natural right-footedness will allow him to move without, hopefully, too much fuss.

The popular choice would be Umtiti as his partner, but don’t expect DD to start someone with no senior tournament experience. Mangala then becomes the wild card.

Opinion over him is split. Yet, a great performance over two legs against PSG has given the French audience more confidence in the Manchester City defender.

Stark reality suggests that no matter who plays, this back four is a long way from the France 98 / Euro 2000 quartet…nowhere near, but it is the only defence Deschamps has, and he has to pull them together with the hope that the attack can outweigh their defensive mistakes.

Deschamps now has 10 days to work out the kinks and figure out his best options. He may not stumble across a world class back-line, but he just needs to make it less calamitous. No matter the test they face against Romania, Albania and Switzerland, it will be in the knockout stages that we find out the truth about les Bleus’ defence.