I have no real problems playing as french. The longbowmen are ace and the arbalétriers are really not so good. But you can compensate a lot with cavalry in field battles, as said before. In my battles they trampled down every englishman, assisted by arbalétriers and foot soldiers.
But sieges I still find quite hard. After you get hold of some english villages, go recruiting many longbowmen. I play as rebel, helping Charles de Navarre. Now I got all english lords capured in my prison towers in Poitiers and Tours, haha.