FRANCE - Summer 2012 thread

Napoléon wrote:Romania 2 France 2
Petre 6'
Goian 17'
Ribery 36'
Groucuff 69'

We should have won this game.
Our defence is $h!t.
The duo Ribery-Gourcuff seems very promising.

Been saying it here over and again that your defence is the problem - see this post of mine a few pages back:

The Professor wrote:I suggest some of u watch the games before coming up here with line-ups that don't address the problem(s) or won't ever be played.

As someone who has actually watched their matches post euro 08 I can tell u that apart from the defence both the midfield and attack have functioned very well; they are dominating matches, creating chances and scoring goals..even the goalkeeper who has conceded 5 in 2 has been very good(especially against sweden), but when u have a defence that can't get the basics right(such as defend simple long balls) then u have got a problem. Their inability to defend set pieces remind me of Arsenal and Domenech is of course to blame for that coz he sees practising set plays as a waste of time. When will he learn though that set plays have become an important part of the game? think of the goals they conceded in the world cup final, the one V scotland in the qualifiers or Holland at the euros....

and they have conceded set piece goals in every game they've played since I wrote that post...

This defence is very un-French like; all the great French teams in the past that I have seen relied on a very solid base at the back(that has always been one of their main strengths). That was also the case under Domenech(even though they conceded the odd set piece goal) till that match against Holland at the recent euros. Yes they struggled to qualify for the world cup in Germany but they hardly conceded goals and they had the best defence(along with Italy) in the world cup. Again qualification for the euros wasn't easy but the defence was great. I still can't understand how the defence turned Cr@p all of a sudden since that Holland match. A possible explanation is that they now have a completely different personnel there to the ones they had before the euros and It might take some time for them to gel into a strong defensive unit. This was their 1st choice back 5 before the euros:

-------------------Coupet
Sagnol-----Thuram----Gallas-----Abidal

Now they have

----------------Mandanda
Sagna-----Gallas---Mexes/Abidal/Boumsong-----Evra/Clichy

Domenech should persist with those in bold coz I believe that's the best they've got. I'm sure we'll see considerable improvements after few more games.

So who is better then; Mandanda or Lloris?

Haven't seen much of Lloris, but I can say Mandanda is a good goalkeeper with great potential.

Both very good to be honest because are playing well with their clubs, maybe Mandanda has a little advantage over Lloris because he was recognise first at the highest level, Lloris just signing for Lyon this year, whereas Mandanda started last year to play for Marseille.

Sorry for the mistakes I'm quite stoned.

The defense looks terrible... you wonder why? Must be because of Boumsong. Mexes is a hundred times better than Boumsong. He is one of the best defenders of Roma and Boumsong is always on the bench. Domenech is blind and stupid.

do you know what team will Domenech start today?

Sex Machine wrote:do you know what team will Domenech start today?

Mandanda - Fanni, Boumsong, Abidal, Clichy - Toulalan, A. Diarra - Gourcuff, Ribéry, Henry - Benzema.

Boumsong and Abidal

Benzema as lone striker

French anthem extremly booed at home.

No surprise

30' France 0 Tunisia 1

BIG BIG mistake of Boumsong
Mandanda too.

Henry equalize

Nice goal, nice pass of Gourcuff

Good goal by Henry..

a good 1-2 between Henry and Gourcuff, the move started from the other half. Good football there..

2nd goal of Henry
2nd assist of Gourcuff

Beautiful goal of Benzema

FT France 3 Tunisia 1
Jemaa
Henry
Henry
Benzema

Yeah, another "unimportant" goal by Benzema. The guy did zilch apart from the goal, and remains an epitome of selfishness. I truly wonder why he is hyped as he is. Of course, he's a good player in club football. But he consistently fails for Les blues. A bit like young Anelka. I hope he doesn't disappoint as much as Anelka for the NT. Besides, Teary tried to join Ben Arfa and Benzema for celebration, the prats refused it.

I thought the whole attack was passive and static apart from Teary. Benzema's pathetic faint-hearted passes/ Gourcuff showed some poor touches and tried too much to be a Zidane (seriously flopped except for couple of good controls, the roulettes, and other Zizouesque turn failed), but he got assists (second one was a failed shot which was rolled in by henry), I think he should forget the comparisons and play to his ability than trying too much. Ribery showed some promise, but he too seemed so selfish and didn't contribute to the team. Toulalan is hardworking, unrelenting, and master of midfield!

Overall, there is lot to improve by the whole team. Looked vulnerable against a poor side! If Domenech plays Boumsong again, shoot the c**t point blank! I hope he is sacked by the next game.

Yes, Domenech really $h!t in his eyes or he wants to continue annoying Italy by not putting/choosing any players playing in Italy (Mexes, Frey). I really think he should pick an experience goal keeper rather than Mandanda. This latter is clearly to blame on the Tunisian goal. I'm sure that this year this team has conceded more goals than the great team of 1998 in 6 years.

This mistake from Boumsong reminds me the funny video I saw on you tube about him during his Newcastle spell.
http://www.tuxboard.com/?video-france-tunisie-3-1-buts-henry-benzema
Boumsong you are a joke

Boumsong

Superb first goal by Henry
Especially thanks to the great touch by Gourcuff, hopefully he can play to his true potential now that he's escaped the subs bench of the San Siro.

can't believe Boumsong even plays professional football.

Domenech to stay on as France coach:

http://sports.yahoo.com/sow/news?slug=reu-francedomenech&prov=reuters&type=lgns

Domenech is not that bad.

Please tell me you're kidding!

BrianS wrote:Domenech is not that bad.

The only good thing that can be said about him is that he's starting to use the array of talent that France has, rather than sticking to his dull lineups of the recent past. But any manager that continues to pick Boumsong, and that too because of astrological reasons, needs his head checking.

No, I'm not kidding. France have a better centrebacks than Boumsong? I don't rate Mexes.

Squillaci, Mexes are far better than Boumsong. I don't rate them both as high as Gallas, but I think they can play with Gallas. Not Boumsong or makeshift CB, Abidal. Abidal's tackling is one of its kind. The very purpose of tackling is to win the possession of the ball. But Abidal tackles the ball from one player to another opposition player, and worst part being in and around the box. He does that consistently ffs! At least with Boumsong, we are sure he will never win the ball, and more than likely to concede free kicks and penalties.

BrianS wrote:No, I'm not kidding. France have a better centrebacks than Boumsong? I don't rate Mexes.

Tell me u didn't really mean that question.

Mexes, Squillaci, Escude(I know he's injured), Distin(why is he never considered) etc are all light years better than that clown.

I agree with u though that Domenech is not as bad as people make out. His problem is he's too loyal to certain players(Abidal, Malouda, Boumsong etc ) whilst ignoring others that are clearly better than those.

He's also very negative, but most French coaches are. Tactically I think he's al right. He should definitely be producing better results with the quality of players at his disposal though.

No, I was asking that question because I don't really watch players like Squillaci, Escude, or Distin, so I don't know how good they are.

God has spoken

He says Benzema hasn't done anything remotely "great" for France, and has disappointed so far. So, Karim is "disappointed" to hear that from the holy guardian, but not ready to listen and improve. This attitude really sucks. I'd expect a bit more class from benzema, in stead of "defending" himself. He has been remarkably $h!t for France, and selfish enough to deserve rebuke.

But Zidane has defended Mexes. mm....

France Uruguay

Teams :

France : Lloris - Fanni, Mexès, Gallas, Evra - Vieira, Toulalan - Ribéry, Gourcuff, Henry - Anelka.

Uruguay : Carini - Silva, Godin, Lugano, Caceres - M. Pereira, Gargano, A. Pereira, Rodriguez - Suarez, Forlan

Anelka sucks.

Looked shaky in the back.

Gourcuff is no Zidane.