France

[maz]

(from another topic)

France became a joke...They can't win against any top team and they struggle with weaker teams...
They had a great generation that is just going away and the one that's coming isn't top quality (except Benzema, Ribery and maybe Lass)

Their problem is that they dont have a box to box midfielder. They have 2 great DM's in toulalan and diarra (im sure its 3 but i cant think of the third)..they have width in malouda and ribery (who fc barcelona have been interested in..but i dont know whether he would fit), and they have some great forwards such as henry from fc barcelona and benzema (and trez if dum dom would pick him).

However they havent got a player that carries the ball from defence to attack. People often called vieira a DM but he was not (and still isnt) a defensive midfielder. He was always a box to box midfielder who would track the whole length of the pitch. He played alongside some of the great DM's in makelele, emmanuel petit, deschamps and so on. Those DM's would win the ball, but they would then pass it to vieira who would carry it close to the final third. With zidane in the team they were spoilt because vieira could lay it off to zidane, however even without zidane they could still get somewhere if they had a box to box midfielder.

Dum dom has made some poor decisions over the last few years, but france's lack of a box to box midfielder probably isnt his fault.

Thoughts?

[Ono.]

Their biggest problem (besides Domenech) is that they didn't adjust well to the "generation exchange" (don't know how to say :biggrin...
World Cup 2006 was the breaking point of Zidanes generation which was amazing with Zidane, Makelele, Thuram, Vieira,...And after that they started to fall
I just don't see this France as one of the best football national teams.
First thing that they need to do is find someone like Capello, someone who can sort the team up...

[maz]

I know what u mean. There was no smooth transition. They tried to hold onto the old players for too long that there was no place for young players to come through.

[Bojan]

+ Domenech is.... I`m lost of words here! There`s really no way to describe this Nostradamus wannabe who proposes his fiancee on national TV immediately after the WC debacle
Gallas -out
Sagna - take a haircut
GK - what`s his name?
Mexes - picture Marcel Desailly or Lauren Blanc - those were the defenders
Abidal - probably most decent player they have in defence

As for their midfield - when you look at the names it`s all good but something is off and it`s Domenech failure to make it work

Attack lost a bit since they decided to drop Trezeguet, who btw. had an outstanding last season with Juve

They do lack a leader, like maz said, someone like Deschampes who wasn`t the greatest but knew how to add tone to his team

[Ono.]

And the sad thing is that they have some great talents coming up and with Domenech there is no way they can build on that

[maz]

+ Domenech is.... I`m lost of words here! There`s really no way to describe this Nostradamus wannabe who proposes his fiancee on national TV immediately after the WC debacle
Gallas -out
Sagna - take a haircut
GK - what`s his name?
Mexes - picture Marcel Desailly or Lauren Blanc - those were the defenders
Abidal - probably most decent player they have in defence

As for their midfield - when you look at the names it`s all good but something is off and it`s Domenech failure to make it work

Attack lost a bit since they decided to drop Trezeguet, who btw. had an outstanding last season with Juve

They do lack a leader, like maz said, someone like Deschampes who wasn`t the greatest but knew how to add tone to his team

They have some very good players:

ribery, evra, lloris, toulalan, diarra, benzema, henry, gourcuff. However there are some big gaps, particularly like u say in central defence. They've had thuram, blanc, desailly etc at the back, now they have gallas and mexes. Hardly fills u with confidence.

[Evil]

Domonech needs to get sacked. That's all there is to it, poor results, poor tactics, it's just not working for him. He ignores some really good players as well .. Tezeguet, Frey, Pires Etc. Etc.

Their squad can be a world cup winning team if managed properly IMO ..

---------------Frey----------------

Sagna---Gallas------Mexes---Abidal

---------Viera-------Diarra---------

--------Gourcuff------------------

------------------Ribery-----------

--------Benzema----Henry---------

Plus some other good players like Evra, Anelka Etc. definatley a great squad imo, they need a coach of the same quality.

[Barca_Ray_USA]

Where is Deschampes anyway? He did a good job with Monaco, leading them to CL final vs. Porto. He should be a good choice for a manager

[Benzema10]

Our problem is Henry, if Henry plays, ribery cant play in his best side( left side) so ribery is forced to play on right side and he play bad! and the fact that henry play that disturb benzema! and we got a very nice trainer -_- he don"t want Frey.

My Team:

---------------Frey----------------

Fanni-----Gallas------Mexes----Evra

--------------Toulalan--------------

-----Gourcuff-------Malouda--------

--BenArfa-------------------Ribery--

-------------Benzema--------------

BenArfa in a role like Messi, he made a big mistake he left lyon to go to Marseille, and he is not doing well. It's sad because I really like him.

[Evil]

I'm surprized no Lasana Diarra in your team, and you can't kick out the captain

[Barca_Ray_USA]

Malouda in the middle? Thats new

[Benzema10]

yeah in a role like seedorf, he can do it , Juventus want him to replace Nedved and AC Milan want him to replace Seedorf.

[Bojan]

Anelka deserved to be there. I know it`s passe, but why not 2 strikers

[Evil]

I'd go with:

------------Frey--------------
--Sagna, Mexes, Gallas, Evra--
-------------L.Diarra
-------Gourcuff---Toulalan
--------------Ribery
--------Benzema----Henry

[Benzema10]

Actually henry is not the real captain, the real captain is Vieira.