If Ribery is disjointed by switching from the left to the right, then France probably don’t deserve to play in the next world cup.

I like the look of Domenech’s midfield and forwards recently:

Anelka or Benzema
Henry Gourcuff Ribery
Toulalan L. Diarra

This is an exciting lineup with a very good chance of doing well.

Benzema could be key. I still have to believe that the promise from his early appearances for France is still there. Otherwise, Anelka can get the odd goal.

Henry really is key. He can switch from wide left to up front, alone or in a 4-4-2, and he still looks top class.

I’m not a big fan of Domenech (I think the average spectator could usually pick a better side than he does), but I think he’s stumbled onto a system that might work and produce goals.

The safest back five would probably be:

Evra Gallas Mexes? Sagna
Lloris?

The real question marks are central defense and goalkeeper for me. Is Mexes the best we have? Maybe. Maybe he’s even very good, but I’ve caught him on some bad days. Somebody should be able to step in and do a decent job. Hopefully Domenech can figure this one out (or get lucky).

Mandanda – I don’t get to see him play often, but based on his performances for France, I’d say he’s had his chance, hasn’t really taken full advantage, and it’s time to give another young keeper a chance, such as Lloris. This is another one that Domenech should be able to handle.

So while on the one hand, I agree with Bobeto: we both think France will qualify, I’m much more optimistic about the midfield and forwards that Domenech has been selecting.

“I think we can qualify, but I doubt we’ll win or play very nice football

For a start, we have defensive problems:

Both Goalkeepers are talented, but young, and not imposing enough, which leads to problems, especially from set pieces

Full backs are good, but Boumsong and Mexes, while very good technical defenders are prone to shocking lapses in concentration. Gallas is good but certainly not word class, and Domenech doesn’t trust Escude-Squillaci, for whatever reason.

Midfield is awful. Lassana Diarra is brilliant defensively, Diaby should be given a chance, but Toulalan is stifling us. He was one of the few plus points from 2008, but that only shows you how bad France were as opposed to how good he is. Sadly, as Pierre Menes pointed out last week on 100%Foot, Toulalan is Domenech’s man, the only player he’s played every time. But he doesn’t bring superb defence like Lassana Diarra nor does he attack like we need our no.8 to. Vieira doesn’t have the power of old, and Alou Diarra doesn’t have the precision of the old Vieira.

In attack we’re disjointed. Ribery plays on the left for Bayern but on the right for us, Henry often plays out wide, but doing so for Barca and doing so for France are quite different things. Benzema rarely impresses in Blue and our one true winger, Malouda, is horribly out of form. Gourcuff is good, but was anonymous against Argentina one pass to Anelka aside. Yes he was playing against Mascherano, but you have to be able to play against guys like that to progress at the World Cup.

So as things stand we’re something of a mush, unorganised in defense and unco-ordinated in attack, and lacking a midfield to properly link the two. One can’t help but think that Domenech has to take responsibility for the majority of that.”

“Also Clichy over Evra, absolutely no question about it.” — are you kidding? Clichy and Evra are two of the best LB’s in Europe, no question, both have weaknesses and strengths. Right now, despite United’s stumbling form (and even tho Clichy had a good game on Saturday), I’d pick Evra over Clichy for Lithuania simply because Clichy has been in very patchy form this season. He’s not the same player he was last season, tho he’s showing signs of improving. He’s still unpredictable while Evra has been more consistent.

who will start up top?

I’m a Gooner, and I like the look of Diaby at times, but I could see him being a flop for the National Team if his head is not in the right place when he plays. He can disappear, and he plays a lot of long balls to the other team.

When he’s playing really well, he doesn’t attempt any long balls, and he stays involved from central midfield. When he’s playing well, he will push forward. If he’s not on the ball pushing forward, he’s not involved enough.