I doubt Doms would replace Toulalan with Nasri.

It’s going to be the two Diarras.

As I said, Nasri has definitely improved his defensive awareness and skills lately (mostly in the 2009 half of the season). In fact, he’s become far better at it than some of our other attacking players (like RVP) have ever been. It’s great to see. My point was that Nasri, however, can’t be relied upon yet to act principally as a DM–that’s how I was reading some of the comments here. He’s never done that in any game. As he said, he’s done it in spurts in the course of very difficult games. Now if he feels comfortable in trying out as France’s principal holding player based on those minutes he’s played that way at Arsenal, than maybe I’m wrong and he might be able to do it. I just feel nervous about giving him the job at such a high int’l level after such limited experience in the role.

“Which is exactly why he should be using Nasri to take up one of those 2 midfield spots and not use 2 purely defensive players like he usually does” — agreed, of course! If you’re saying that Nasri should be put in CM as the creative player who can also perform defensive duties when needed, then I’d agree completely.

Nasri has been at his most effective at Arsenal as the player in the hole. When he’s put out wide he has less influence in the game, tho he can still be dangerous. It’s extraordinary to watch what happens to our game the moment Wenger moves him in the hole. We change from a hapless, ponderous, easily controlled team to one that is suddenly transformed into a dangerous, unpredictable threat.

“Il est arrivé qu’on me repositionne comme ça en cours de match quand il fallait décanter un 0-0. Je ne rechigne pas à faire l’effort défensif. C’est un poste où on part de plus loin, on a le jeu face à soi, ça me plaît. Est-ce que c’est épuisant de travailler dans les deux sens ? Ça dépend d’avec qui on est associé. Flamini – Fabregas, l’an passé à Arsenal, c’état très complémentaire, il faut que le deuxième ne monte pas souvent ”

*****

“Sometimes I get repositioned into that spot during the course of the game when we needed to unlock a 0-0. I don’t mind doing defensive duties. Its a position when you start from farther back and have the game in front of you…I like it. Is it tiring to have to work in both directions? It depends who you are teamed up with. Flamini – Fabregas, last year with Arsenal it worked really well, one of the two can’t move up as often.”

Will research this and get back.

Which is exactly why he should be using Nasri to take up one of those 2 midfield spots and not use 2 purely defensive players like he usually does. nasri actually talked to the french press about how he would feel comfortable in that role based on his playing time at Arsenal, and said he likes picking up the ball deep and having the players in front of him.

It’s Flamini who should be called up by Domenech for the DM role if Toulie and Diaby are out.

And OF COURSE Diaby’s injured! That’s his normal state. I expect him to be injured every two or three games. Only this time it happened in training, right? The day that we see Diaby get a consistent run of games (say, more than 5) will be the day that Arsene Wenger becomes a good loser.

We may well get another rant from Wenger, rightly — and not just because of Diaby, he’s got two more important injuries due to this international break: RVP and Bendtner. Both are regular starters, whereas Diaby is not.

It boggles the mind why Domenech insists on using 2 DMs against a team like Lithuania. Against the likes of Spain or Russia, ok, but park-the-bus Lithuania??? Until he changes that mindset France will continue to struggle.

That said, Domenech will instead probably be overly defensive as usual and opt to use a less talented but inherently more defensive player by the name of Rio Mavuba or Alou Diarra, which would be a total mistake since, given France are playing at home, and given the lack of offense Lithuania showed in the away leg, France should be looking to making scoring goals a priority.