Allez Les Bleus! France 2010 World Cup Thread, sponsored by The Handball

[joe__the__man]

Diaby ahead of Gourcuff? The players are as mad as the manager!

[Samamatara]

i think it's saying they want henry ahead of gourcuff and diaby ahead of govou

[joe__the__man]

That wouldn't make sense. Gourcuff and Diaby are central midfielders, Henry and Govou are attacking wingers. I don't they're that mad that they want Henry at central mid and Diaby at right wing...

"...to include Henry ahead of Sidney Govou, and Abou Diaby in place of Yoann Gourcuff."

[Meitheisman]

Diaby ahead of Gourcuff? The players are as mad as the manager!

And the rest of the country. Good thing I left

[Demiant]

Basically they want a 433 with Henry ST and Anelka RW and they want Diaby in mid ahead of Gourcuff. And Ribery wants Gignac ST and Anelka RW.

While I much prefer Gourcuff to Diaby, I understand where they're coming from. In our friendlies, Diaby's made some very good sub appearances where he's looked more likely to do things in 10-15mn than the rest of the team in 90. Shame that Ribery's a whinging little git and doesn't wanna play on the right, otherwise I'd have him RW and Malouda LW, with Anelka ST and Diaby and Gourcuff both in mid.

[joe__the__man]

It doesn't matter what their reasoning is, it really shouldn't been known at all who the the players think should play - they shouldn't air their opinion. Alright the manager might be a dufus, but that really is no excuse.

Can't wait for France to crash and burn

[pop shot]

They probably wont this time.

[Meitheisman]

Domenech is so lucky that France will play terrible but Uruguay will score an own goal at the 93rd minute or something like that.

[sean_oc16]

What was the reaction to the draw with Uruguay like in France?

What will Blanc do differently in the future and will he include Mexes?

[Meitheisman]

Frenchies weren't too happy about the draw but still thought they were okay and would go through. It's fairly different now

Mexes is a weird one as rumor has it that he isn't being called up because Guy Roux has connections and is pressure the guys in charge to not pick Mexes. This dates from his lawsuits when he left Auxerre for Italy.

Can we close the thread now?

[UTT]

What was the reaction to the draw with Uruguay like in France?

What will Blanc do differently in the future and will he include Mexes?

Mexes is a weird one as rumor has it that he isn't being called up because Guy Roux has connections and is pressure the guys in charge to not pick Mexes. This dates from his lawsuits when he left Auxerre for Italy.

Might have agreed with you two years ago, but not now. Fact is, he has been poor this season. At the best of times, he has a tendency to do stupid things and hasn't got great positioning. If lined up with the correct kind of CB partner he can do well. Ranieri basically has no faith/trust in him, hence the fact Juan & Burdisso are the #1 Roma pairing, not Mexes.

Whether there are better alternatives however, I couldnt say...

[Meitheisman]

France is really thin at CB. That being said I was under the impression that Mexes had a good season, I guess not but he's most definitely still a better choice than Abidal, as today proved again.

[Razzler]

Doesn't depend on who his 'friends' are within the squad as to whether he gets picked though?

[Astafjevs]

That needs to be stopped. And they need a coach to take away influence from Ribéry, because he does nothing and yet gets to dictate his position.

[UTT]

France is really thin at CB. That being said I was under the impression that Mexes had a good season, I guess not but he's most definitely still a better choice than Abidal, as today proved again.

Well, I would think so but Domenech doesn't

I have no idea why Abidal is playing in the centre when he plays down the left for his club?

[el sid]

Ribery was good awful last night. And surely Mexes > Abidal

[TheRealMagpies]

So who's rumoured to be the next person in charge of the French National Team ??

[el sid]

Laurent Blanc is taking over after the WC

[Philip Rolfe]

Anelka's international career probably over, definitely WC after telling Domenech to "go **** yourself" amongst other things.

[Lisandro Lopez]

Fact is clownfance left a perfectly good CB at home in the shape of Rami, and left a good player in Mexès at 'home' as-well. Although there still remains questions over his concentration levels during some games.

Hell he could have even called up Boumsong.

[McMaster#28]

Sakho too?

[Klimowicz]

Update on this story, reports on SSN are suggesting that Anelka has been sent home. :/

[gunner4eva]

Yeah ITV just said that its likely Anelka has been sent home.

[Rio_V]

Yep.

http://g.sports.yahoo.com/soccer/world-cup/news/world-anelka-kicked-out-of-world-cup-for-insults--fbintl_reu-worldfranceanelka.html

[tdpatriots12]

Fitness coach walks out of French training

By JEROME PUGMIRE (AP) – 15 minutes ago

KNYSNA, South Africa — France team director Jean-Louis Valentin says the national team is refusing to train following a dispute on the practice field.

Valentin also says he has resigned from the French football federation, shouting that he was "ashamed" of the team.

The team arrived at training Sunday but a few minutes after taking the field, fitness coach Robert Duverne stormed away from an argument with coach Raymond Domenech. Duverne threw his accreditation badge to the ground after the heated discussion and walked away.

The players then boarded the team bus.

The French team is in disarray after striker Nicolas Anelka was sent home for insulting Domenech, whose tactics and management skills have been called into question.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5isPNP4bqOGXuKi6aaOat9InZGzSAD9GF2BPG0

[Philip Rolfe]

L'Equipe claim an altercation between Duverne and Evra?

[Care Free]

Oh dear, absolutely falling apart.

[DJ]

Not to overreact, but I honestly think the FFF should ban all players from ever appearing for the national side again, restart with a completly new team.

[Philip Rolfe]

Another site claims that Duverne was the 'mole' who leaked Anelka's outburst to the media and Evra led the rest of the squad in walking out as a protest once he discovered it.

[finneys13]

Fantastic, outdoing the Dutch at their worst

[Bud The Weiser]

Haha Itv getting Marcel and Patrick on the case, Evra arguing with the fitness coach over training methods he quits as the sqaud refuse to train utter shambles

[Razzler]

Another site claims that Duverne was the 'mole' who leaked Anelka's outburst to the media and Evra led the rest of the squad in walking out as a protest once he discovered it.

I did enjoy Evra's "we must find the mole" comments the other day, that's it, you get your priorities right

[Raith Revival]

Not to overreact, but I honestly think the FFF should ban all players from ever appearing for the national side again, restart with a completly new team.

I think Blanc should come in and drop everyone who has played a minute of the world cup except for Diaby (only midfielder looking likely to create and want to play), Lloris and Sagna. The rest should be dropped and not picked again until they grow up. Regardless of how much the manager is disliked, you do not publicly criticise or choose to under perform on that basis.

I'd choose the following squad for the first qualifyer or friendly after the world cup (Maybe add 1 or 2 more depending on next seasons start)

Lloris,

Mandanda,

Clichy,

Aly Cissokho,

Sagna,

Fanni,

S. Marveaux,

Nasri,

M'Vila,

Diaby,

Sissoko,

Ben Arfa,

Briand,

Benzema,

Planus,

Koscielny,

Flamini,

Bocaly,

Gonalons,

All of the rest should go to the bottom of the pecking order in terms of national call up again. The over opinionated ones, like Anelka, Evra, Gallas etc should be told they're dropped for good.

Gourcuff should be told to start performing as he does for his club, the last games i've seen him play in, twice v Ireland and against Uruguay he was shocking, doesn't look like he can pass a ball and Ribery should be told the same.

[tdpatriots12]

I like that plan. You missed the "fire Domenench" part, but I figure that's just an obvious assumption at this point.

[Raith Revival]

I like that plan. You missed the "fire Domenench" part, but I figure that's just an obvious assumption at this point.

Its already been confirmed he's away after the World Cup and Blanc comes in.

[McMaster#28]

His contract is up in a few weeks anyway.

[tdpatriots12]

Forgot about that. Still, would seem more symbolically appropriate to sack him.

[bigmarsh]

I like that plan. You missed the "fire Domenench" part, but I figure that's just an obvious assumption at this point.

he's already quiting after the world cup anyway, so 2 days to go

[Care Free]

Domenechs already gone.

[DanGLiverpool]

Call up David NGog

[georginho_juventusygr]

I did enjoy Evra's "we must find the mole" comments the other day, that's it, you get your priorities right

I agree. Nice, Evra.

[Razzler]

He obviously forgot how when that player went past him he just stopped moving and let him run into the box to be brought down, no tracking back or anything ... what a leader! Hey, at least he found the mole though!

[neutral]

their team director resigned too i think

[Eoghan_M]

Such a joke of a team, at least make it worth your while to rob Ireland ffs. Bunch of twats.

[Razzler]

That just makes it funnier, robbed them a draw and potential extra time and penalty shoot out

[John Smith]

There's never a dull day with the French. This could make an interesting drama.

[Face2Fate]

What a sad state of affairs in the French team, should have gotten rid of Domenech after the Euro 2008 debacle now they're paying the price for their stubborness and stupidity, what a waste of a World Cup for a team with so much talent.

[Jason the Yank]

Wonder if Domenech saw this in his astrological charts.

[Chongtom]

Tbf Evra is actually quite a good leader and different to Gallas, Ribery etc. He's a bit of a joker (mad pat) and he's quite well liked in the dressing room.

But overall france really are a disgrace.

[charlo116]

Gourcuff should be told to start performing as he does for his club, the last games i've seen him play in, twice v Ireland and against Uruguay he was shocking, doesn't look like he can pass a ball and Ribery should be told the same.

tbf it seems now as though Gourcuff has been bullied by a few of the players, namely Ribery, due to some of the field incidents which has been affecting his performances. Not sure how true it all is but this really needs to get sorted out. Luckily i think Blanc is the right man to do it for the French.