France Call-Ups for Romania and Tunisia

yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeey ribeeeeeeeery is back!!!!!!!!!!!!:D

i wonder what the line up will be and whether gourcuff will be in it
no Nasri i want ribery, toulalan, nasri and gourcuff as lineup in the midfield but thats unrealistis with domnek as coach

Jean Pierre, have you given your speech yet? Just based on your comments here on this blog, you should do great — you obviously have a good grasp of the language.

Let us know if you’d like some more hints and help.

Govou is out injured for the next four to six weeks – he got injured in the Bayern game. Which is too bad because he seems to be France’s only regular scorer these days.

is nasri out because his injured or because there is better replacement for him

and what the hell is viera doing in the team, we all know what happened to makelele and thuram when entrusted them with defense.

mexes needs to work harder to get in the started 11 after messing against austria, i believe his own the team because of fan cry out

and wish Florent SINAMA-PONGOLLE good debut if he gets to play

Can’t wait for France Tunisia! Man, I wish Chikhaoui and Chermiti weren’t out injured though… We’ll see what we can do. If Ben Arfa plays I’ll be interested to see if he gets booed or not by the Tunisian contingent. I’m thinking he will but I don’t agree with it.

A match supporting my two favorite teams in the world, but im going to have to go with Tunisia in this one. Will be a really good match.

france should play with western african teams like cameroon, ivory coast, senegal, and maybe egypt

instead of tunisia, algeria, or Morocco all the time.

Boumsong out for Squillaci good call. Viera in for Flamini horrible decision. What the hell is going on here. Why aren’t the youth getting the time to play for their country. I mean get rid of one the diaras if your going to drop someone but Flamini? Are you serious? This is B.S. Also is Clerc still injured? If not bring him back. Glad to see Ribery is back and looking good. Don’t know a lot about Pongolle bit If he does play i hope he scores.

Eric, yes, Clerc is out for several months with a knee injury. I think till well after the first of the year?

by the time clerc has recovered from his injury and flamini plays in a match ill be retired`;;;;; and nasri looked good in Arsenal-fc porto so its stupid that domeneck doesnt call up nasri
nasri and flamini are going to join the zidane-pires-trezeguet-coupet Gang Bang, whats wrong with domenech?#@&(#???even ma grandma can do better

@ and no, i havent done ma speech yet and i havent written it yet cos da english teacher is currently having a exchange with a french class(lucky him) so it will be about 2 weeks that i have to write ma speech and of course hint and help is always welcome:D

Oh ok thanks Laurie. I mean I don’t want to place all the blame on domenech but his selections don’t help him at all. There is so much talent being wasted. I love Vieira he was a great player but quite frankly he is too old. Time to let the youngsters take his place. I prefer to see A. Diara play vs L. Diara. But if i could have my way it would be a no brainer, i would play Flamini. Also to me Mananda has not been convincing and I hope Lloris gets some playing time. This list has good players but its lacking. Most of these players played against Romania during the Euro and it was a poor showing. What is the logic in playing the same way with the same players especially if the game is in Romania? Domenech is setting everything up for a loss. He needs at least a new stradegy like a formation change. Well all I can do is pray for the best. When is the game against Tunisia?

i remember reading a post-euro 2004 edition of World Soccer 4 years ago, where they had a list of the 50 most exctiing young talents in the world. Three of them were French – Samir Nasri, Jeremy Menez and .. i can’t quite remember the last. It might have been le tallec or someone..

@ jamie

big benzema should be in it

where is willlllllllyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy! sagnol? i want willlyyy i know he is 31 but he seems 13 to me

WHere is Jeremy Brison!

Now that Anelka is out, hopefully Loic Remy will be called up.

if only jeremy mathieu was a right back

Diarra pulls out of France matches

Michel which Diarra?

Lassana Diarra has inflamation in his knee. He won’t be available for either of the matches.

i dont think domenech wud play diarra though if he wasnt forfait, since there is old uncle vieira
i think he is gonna play midfield like: ribéry – vieira – toulalan – malouda

boring, no nasri, no gourcuff only ribery n toulalan

I like Viera, probably my favorite player on the French team, his importance has definitely been underestimated. As evidence for what I’m saying, look no further than Euro 2008: the 4-4-2 with 2 DMs just doesn’t work without him and his ability to get forward. Flamini might be able to grow into the role, but he’s never going to get the chance with the Diarras ahead of him. Just one more reason for why Domenech should be fired on Oct 15 (the day the FFF meets again to decide his fate).

Welcome back, TiFranck; good to have you for your first Bleu game since that Italy nightmare.

I’m not sure if this Vieira move is only coming from Domenech at this stage of things; I would guess he had the advice or suggestion from others too. Other than experience and leadership, the only reason I see is to address the cruel lack of defense on corner-kicks and free-kicks that allowed Austria to get ahead in the score. He is tall. It is safe to say, if it was he instead of Flo Malouda covering Kuyt in that corner kick, Holland would not have scored this one. Offensively also, he could be a credible threat on corner kicks. Other than that, I’m not sure about his shape, and is it fair to other players? As long as La Toule is there, well who knows?

So with L.Diarra out does that mean that Flamini could possibly take his place?

Eric, according to Sport365, Domenech would like to call up Flamini, but he’s also not at 100% fitness, with douleurs à la cheville droite.

http://www.football365.fr/coupe_confederation/groupe_a/article_268979_Bleus-Domenech-veut-rappeler-Flamini.shtml

Darn. Maybe he will be better before its too late. Oh well. So what do you think guys, how do you feel the game with Romania will turn out?

Domenech has called up Boumsong (sigh) and Briand because he’s worried about the fitness of Gallas and Anelka, respectively.

Here’s the list from l’Equipe

GARDIENS : Steve Mandanda (Marseille), Hugo Lloris (Lyon).

DÉFENSEURS : Jean-Alain Boumsong (Lyon), Eric Abidal (FC Barcelone/ESP), Bacary Sagna (Arsenal/ANG), William Gallas (Arsenal/ANG), Patrice Evra (Manchester United/ANG), Philippe Mexès (AS Rome/ITA), Gaël Clichy (Arsenal/ANG), Sébastien Squillaci (FC Séville/ESP), Rod Fanni (Rennes)

MILIEUX : Patrick Vieira (Inter Milan/ITA), Jérémy Toulalan (Lyon), Florent Malouda (Chelsea/ANG), Alou Diarra (Bordeaux), Yoann Gourcuff (Bordeaux), Franck Ribéry (Bayern Munich/ALL), Hatem Ben Arfa (Marseille)

ATTAQUANTS : Thierry Henry (Barcelone/ESP), Nicolas Anelka (Chelsea/ANG), Karim Benzema (Lyon), Florent Sinama-Pongolle (Atletico Madrid/ESP), Jimmy Briand (Rennes)

What strikes me about this list is that we don’t have a true right sided mid now that Govou is out. Ribery will probably be on the right but he has said that he doesn’t like to play there.

I am wondering if Benzema gets a start in the Romania game. If so, I’d like to see him leading the line with Henry on the left in a 4-5-1.

By Anelka, I meant Ben Arfa in the previous post.

Gallas is out for the match against Romania. (Does this mean Mexes & Abidal starting in the center?)

Gerard Houllier is the latest rumoured to replace Domenech. The job of the Romania coach, Victor Piturca, may also be on the line.

The Romanians were awful in their first two games, against Lithuania and the Faroes (whom they barely managed to defeat). Although they have Chivu & Mutu back, they look weaker defensively than when France last played them, in June.

Prediction: Romania 1 (Mutu) France 2 (Benzema, Gourcuff)

Wild guess: anything less than a complete France humilitation of Romania will cause Escalettes to throw Domenech to the wolves in the period before his own “re-election.”

Some musings from Robert Pires:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1075591/Put-class-act-Wenger-charge-French-team-urges-Pires.html

There are really many players with “not enough fitness”

i agree with that meta-prediction, although maybe domenech wont and wont let gourcuff play. i really hope gourcuff scores and get a fixed position

so ben arfa nasri gallas flamini Ldiarra (sagnol) r out? wow that is half of a full ine up

My preference, with a couple of caveats …

Mandanda
Sagna Mexes Abidal Clichy
Toulalan Vieira
Ribery Gourcuff Henry
Anelka

Aside from the defensive aspect Doume touched on, Vieira has always provided that link between defense and offense, a la Deschamps, which was so badly missed at the Euro. While he might not be able to put in the full 90, he could, over 60 minutes or so, be the catalyst. Give him the armband. While Henry and Ribery don’t prefer the left and right wing, respectively, they can wreak havoc with their runs, passing and vision from those spots. They’ll mix it up. To not start Gourcuff would be absurd. Finally, Benzema hasn’t yet shown he can play well with others. Plant him on the bench for this one and give him and Ben Arfa a good run against Tunisia. A quick score, albeit not the Bleus’ strength, could deflate a flailing Romania. So, just for fun: 3-0, Ribery, Vieira, Henry, all in the first hour.

princedesparcs,

nice … perhaps an in-form Anelka should start up front, he’s looked pretty good for Chelsea, hasn’t he? Maybe we’ll see the first-half-Benzema, second-half-Anelka scheme used in the Serbia game….