Bert van Marwijk's boys restricted their superior opponents to few clear-cut opportunities in Kazan on Saturday night, but were undone late on with Pogba's deflected shot looping over Mat Ryan and clipping the bar on its way over the line.

"I respect our opponents, Australia, they played well. Now we understand how difficult playing at the World Cup can be," said the 25-year-old.

"The Australians knew what we were going to do, they stopped us, and we needed to do something else. Now we realise what we need to improve against teams with a strong defence."



The Manchester United midfielder says Les Bleus will need to work harder off the ball if they're to avoid further scares in Group C.

"We need better movement. We could have performed better in terms of psychology," he said, but added, "victory is the most important thing."

Next up for France, it's Peru on 22 June at 01:00am AEST, just after the conclusion of Australia's pivotal clash with Denmark.