France Poll: Which Player(s) Do You Wish Domenech Hadn’t Dropped

June 1st, 2008 | by: Laurie |

I read an interview with Mickaël Landreau the other day that said he was devastated at being dropped from the team. He hadn’t expected it at all. And the night after I read it, I woke up at 3:00 in the morning and couldn’t go back to sleep because I kept thinking about it, and it gave me a ferocious pain in my maternal area.

Is this warped or what? It’s not as if we’re buddies and I’m going to invite the guy over for tea tomorrow.

But that’s the way it goes when you write about players week in and week out. They’re almost like family. You start to care what happens to them. (If you’re not a footy blogger, you’re thinking I’m insane. If you are, you’re nodding your head in agreement.)

And yet I don’t think Domenech made a bad choice where Landreau is concerned. Philippe Mexes, though? I think maybe he did.

How about you? Which of the seven dropped players do you wish were still on the team? I’ve created the poll so you can vote for multiple players. But keep in mind that every addition means a subtraction of somebody else.

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http://ghana.worldcupblog.org Inara

I think that we’ll have a better idea after the game against Columbia. They still have one more game to show us how well they work together. TBH, I don’t miss anyone besides Ben Arfa. Mexes only if he was going to start, but he wouldn’t have, so I can’t say I miss him.
Patrick

Laurie,
Would you mind posting a link to the interview with Landreau?

Thanks,
Patrick
http://france.worldcupblog.org Laurie

Patrick, I’ll see if I can find it. All I can remember is that it was in French. So l’Equipe, maybe? I’ll see if I can’t search it out.
http://france.worldcupblog.org Laurie

Found it. Prepare for your heart to be broken.

http://www.lequipe.fr/Football/20080529_183739_landreau-mon-plus-gros-echec_Dev.html
http://senegal.worldcupblog.org Magnusson

No matter what people say, I still believe Cissé should have been in that team. Just because this guy has a strong mental doesn’t mean you can play with his feelings like that.
As for the defense, I really hope there’s no problem with Thuram and Gallas because the Lyon boys are not what we need.
Aditya

Mexes was injured, yea right. He could have easily be fit by the Italy game, I’m sure. And would have been a very valuable asset in later stages of the tournament as well. Now apart from Thuram and Gallas we have no good option in central defense.
Storm

Well Flamini’s now back in.
Yaz

The Middle Law change… I hope Flamini will work in the right way.
Jeff

Had to say Ben Arfa. The guy’s got moves. I’d much rather have Ben Arfa than Govou.
Doumé

Thanks Laurie
>>Prepare for your heart to be broken.<<

Something that was a bit sad is that the 23 chosen were not in the hotel lobby as the 7 discarded guys were going out and home, just “a few of them” were there to sympathize, the only one named being Toulalan.
Apparently Domenech announced the decision individually to the guys in their room.
sandrahn

For me, it’s Ben Arfa, with Flamini in 2nd place.
Storm

Yes it was not smart of Domenech to talk about how ‘all’ the players were there to say goodbye to the departing seven. Now that Landreau has told the truth about what happened with their departure it seems even crueler. But I still think Domenech was right to drop Landreau:)
Julian

Flamini is back, I must have seen it in a dream. Mark my words he will take us to the end!
Jean-Michel

Ben Arfa>Malouda & Mexes > Boumsong. Mexes only if he would’ve had a 2-3 week healing period. Govou gets a pass because he’s a right winger and more of a Ribery back up then anything.
Seb

Mexès wasn’t actually injured that badly, it only happens that, according to my girlfriend, Ray is likely jealous that Philippe is better-looking, or if we assume there’s no Domenech trend when it comes to Mexès/Pires/Giuly, then they simply don’t get along.
Julien

Another player I thought deserved a chance was Valbuena… he would have been another great option at wing for us…more consistent than Ben Arfa or Govou

Bodmer physically best resembles Vieira’s style too, I understand that he did not start enough to really make an impression at club level, but hell, neither did Vieira at Inter!
http://france.worldcupblog.org Laurie

I wouldn’t be susprised to see Valbuena at WC 2010. (And I just wiki’ed him to check his age. Is he really only 5′4″? I guess it’s not something you notice when somebody’s playing on the field with the likes of Nasri.
Julien

Yup, 5′4, even shorter than Giuly… but i seriously think that low center of gravity helps him win some of those duals!

In the long run i see a great partnership with valbuena, nasri, and Ribery… and Benzema/gomis up front… coming back to the 4-2-3-1 that worked so well in 2006