Henry Out Injured

August 10th, 2009 | by: jeff |

Thierry Henry won’t play when France meet the Faroe Islands in a couple days, because, according to Barcelona, he has pain in both Achilles tendons.

Henry is still one of France’s best players, but given that he’s likely to be missing more games in the future due to injury at this stage in his career, it would be timely for another attacking player to step forward.

Domenech had been using Henry well recently, as a left forward, the same position he plays for Barcelona, and the position he essentially played for Arsenal. The whole look of the team was starting to come together, something like this:

Anelka
Henry Gourcuff Ribery
Toulalan L.Diarra
Evra Gallas Squillaci Sagna
Mandanda

For Wednesday, Ribery is coming off an injury and probably won’t start, and now Henry’s out. Playing against a relatively modest side in the Faroe Islands, we could probably line up with a simple 4-4-2 and get the victory we need:

Anelka Benzema
Malouda Toulalan L. Diarra Gourcuff
Evra Gallas Squillaci Sagna
Keeper

With our fragile confidence, though, any change seems like a risk. Asking Gourcuff to play wide instead of in the middle could be the talking point after the match, with calls for Domenech to be sacked, and a statement from the FFF that Domenech has their complete confidence, but if Gourcuff is going to be a big player for us, and himself keep in the side, he should be able to adapt to different formations and positions.

It’s ridiculous to have to be so worried about France putting in a decent performance, but that’s what’s it come to.

Anelka – Leading scoring last season in the Premier League winning the Golden Boot in the last match of the season with one of the top ten goals of the season.

Benzema – 30 million pound acquisition of Real Madrid over the summer.

Malouda – Frequent starter and reliable player for Chelsea.

Gourcuff – Player of the season in Ligue 1.

I could go on. League titles won by Toulalan with Lyon. L. Diarra playing for Real Madrid. Ever-present Evra’s trophy haul with Manchester United.

France have players who have never had a call up, Steed Malbranque-types, who might be the Captain for Faroe Islands, yet a couple days ahead of the match, the prospect of missing two of our players with the best track record for putting in decent performances has me fearing the worst.

I really shouldn’t have to be worried. A simple 4-4-2 should work like a charm. The idea of 11 players playing with passion and desire seems a little far-fetched, but if they did, France would stroll to victory. What’s more likely is that a few players will try to coast through the match, which might still be ok, but if there’s no spark at all, I hope Domenech will have the sense to make early substitutions before it gets too far out of hand.

Malouda, Benzema, and possibly Gourcuff are the ones I’m worried about. Gourcuff hasn’t done anything to deserve such doubt, but the pattern for so many players is to have a dip in form after a promising start (see Malouda and Benzema).

An early goal could help France tremendously, and get the players out of the mindset that they sometimes seem to get into, that playing for France is sort of a drag, and get them into the mindset of how much fun it is to score goals.

For the goalkeeper, it looks to me like Mandanda might not be the best choice for the number 1. I like him, and I’d keep him on as a backup, for now, at least, while somebody else, like Hugo Lloris, gets a chance. That said, a lot of our commenters are more knowledgeable on the respective merits of these Ligue 1 keepers than I am.

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lefutur

what about Gignac?
http://www.wickeddeflection.com jeff

Definitely, Gignac. Leading scoring in Ligue 1 last season. Great debut for France. I’d love to see him in there. Nico and Benzema are more established with the national team, so if their heads are straight, it makes sense that they’d get to start, but based on how they look in training, it might make sense to play Gignac from the start.

Of course, talking about what might make sense and what Domenech might do can be two very different discussions.
Michel-Olivier

Gignac
Malouda-Gourcuff-Anelka
Toulalan-????
Abidal-Gallas-Squillaci-????
Lloris
lefutur

I’m so sick of the 2 defensive mids already. Just play a 4-4-2.
http://thebeantownfrog.blogspot.com/ GFC

I agree we should not concern ourselves too much with the match on Weds, if France lose or draw they do not deserve to go to South Africa.

With regards to Gourcuff, I would caution that Zizou was once asked to play wide for Santini during the Euros in 2004 and was completely lost on the wing. I still think that Domenech needs to call up two replacements, not necessarily for the game on Wednesday. I agree with Jeff, Domenech needs to bring in some fresh, and younger blood at striker and soon. Henry and Anelka are getting long in the tooth. Benzema is young, but really has not taken off on the international stage. So Les Bleus must find other offensive resources. I mentioned some names on my blog post from today – http://tinyurl.com/nfe3gm
Frédéric

Do we really need to have 2 DMs against the Faroe Islands?
http://www.wickeddeflection.com jeff

I’m not opposed to two central midfielders if they actually play: 4-4-2 or 4-2-3-1. If it’s like Makalele and Viera as old boys, then it’s a disaster, but Toulalan has looked pretty useful setting up attacks, so I don’t really think of him as defensive midfielder; at least my expectation is that he should be providing offense, and even L.Diarra has an eye for a forward pass, I think, when he’s playing well.

We need deep-lying playmakers, is what we need.

Most or all of the formations that are likely to be used can provide some good football if the players don’t play like they’re completely drained, as they often do.
Gaston

anything less than 3 to nothing, france is in serious trouble. its time to start thinking about henry , anelkas,govou replacements. and use them effectively so that they dont get lost early on in their careers for NT. gignac and benzema would be good choice to play up front.
Terry from Florida

I can’t beleive we are talking about this team lol, if we don’t win 5 to 0 than we suck point blanc and we don’t deserve the wc,though i think france has the players to win the wc,the other opposition haSe a great advantage…..DOMENECH
Michel-Olivier

benz, gignac, and higuain/hoarau can replace henry, anelka, and govou
Smile

You are worried about Faroe Islands? I mean, really?
Jao

Domenech must be really concerned with the Faroe Islands to call up all the “big shots”. Oh wait……he’s trying to install stability in the squad smh. How long’s it been now, exactly three years since the 06 World Cup and he’s still trying to develop stability in the squad. Gotta love this guy, he might be an incompetent manager, but he sure keeps you interested. He could of called up 5…6….7….maybe 8 new players. Probably could have called up only a French-based squad and we’d still pummel the Faroes. I’m actually starting to feel sorry for the 2004-2008 generation of under-21 players.
http://www.wickeddeflection.com jeff

Setanta US is carrying the match. My schedule shows it playing a couple times tomorrow: 4 p.m. and around 7:30 p.m. Eastern. I’m someone who always opts for watching a good feed on tape delay instead of a dodgy stream live, and with work, that evening rebroadcast is going to work nicely for me.

With Domenech in charge, I’ll probably never be confident going into any match, including Faroe Islands. I could say the same for Lemerre.

It’s football. There’s always a chance for a bad surprise.
Doumé

L’Equipe is saying Lloris is getting called.
Here’s their (usually good) lineup prediction:

FRANCE : Lloris – Sagna, Squillaci, Gallas (cap.), Abidal – Toulalan, L. Diarra – Rémy, Gourcuff, Malouda – Anelka.

Not so many big guns, but some experience at the back; and who knows, these might be the most in shape at the moment…
Captain Gallas!
http://theoffside.com laurie

8 minutes in, and I just realized that Escude is playing alongside Gallas. Faroes are playing eleven in the box, so the ball’s not getting back into the France half all that much. Which probably means they’ll score on a counter. (And as I was typing this, they almost did.)
http://theoffside.com laurie

Wait, was that Escude, or Squillaci? The TV is not showing the back all that much.
http://theoffside.com laurie

Okay, yeah, Escude. He just got slammed in the face with an elbow. And France aren’t playing that well — they’re having an exceptionally hard time breaching the wall. They really need that first goal to open things up.
http://theoffside.com laurie

Faroes playing ten behind the ball every time France enters the final third. This is the kind of team France ALWAYS struggles with.
http://theoffside.com laurie

How many missed sitters for France so far? Anelka just bobbled another.
http://theoffside.com laurie

And the English announcer’s pronunciation of Gignac is driving me insane.
http://theoffside.com laurie

up the left, cross into the box, cleared away. Up the left, cross into the box, cleared away. Because it’s worked so well the other 500 times they’ve done it in the first half hour.
Michel-Olivier

yes dede
http://theoffside.com laurie

GIGNAC!!!!!!
Michel-Olivier

gignac is the french adriano
http://theoffside.com laurie

First goal! I knew he’d do it today!
http://theoffside.com laurie

I think we should swap out Gallas for either Squillaci or Mexes. Preferably Squillaci, because he’s so low-drama.
http://theoffside.com laurie

How has Benzema been doing in the preseason? Is he worth bringing in second half?
Alex T

Benz has 2 goals and an assist under his preseason belt. Not bad not great
Alex T

I need to see gourcuff score!!….
Lekarlokin

i m from Bangladesh. How i will see this match. I m a die heart France football supporter
Lekarlokin

Is there any French football website in English Language???
Michel-Olivier

http://www.justin.tv/sebz33
live
Michel-Olivier

it’s in french
http://theoffside.com laurie

Ooh, hell to pay with Bayern. Ribery is on.
http://theoffside.com laurie

I’m on a pay site, but you can try some of these:

http://www.myp2p.eu/broadcast.php?matchid=45717&part=sports
Gaston

very physical game.
Alex T

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/tvkeeper
Gaston

frances loses the ball too much. and they dont have someone who can control the ball well once in or near thebox except gignac
Gaston

also there attacking pattern are nearly the same
Jao

Wow. We beat the Faroe Islands 1-0. I was clapping for the Faroe Islands. Great effort (defensively) by them.

Anyway, Gignac was a boss from the 30th minute on. Anelka was pretty much useless. Called up 21, used only 12. What was the point in having guys like Abidal (who traveled from California, I think) and Benzema come all the way here for nothing. These two DMs has got to stop. We haven’t scored 1+ goals in over a year. Ugh!
Ryan

I felt like France was just toying with them sometimes, they should have scored at least 3 goals.
Lekarlokin

France won……….But it is shame.. only one goal….If France finished 2nd in this group then it will very tough to France for qualify in WC. Play-of Like Ti-Breaker . Anything could Happen. Romania Serbia Austria 3 big match. i hope France will qualify Automatically otherwise Who knows 90 94 …. will come. Without France WC become boring for me
lefutur

well, france won 6-0 against them last time and today they squeeked by with a measly 1-0 win.

domenech sure is making huge strides with this team.
Gaston

does anyone have link to the goal
Jean-Michel

This looked like a pre-season MLS intra-squad warm up game. Instead of looking like they were expecting to score, they looked more relieved than anything when Gignac did. Oh well..I’m not getting warm and fuzzies but the season is still young.