The names being touted

Je suis d’accord avec le commentaire d’haarlem, il n’arrete pas de faire des choix plus que discutable mais là la demande en marriage juste après avoir perdu et être éliminé c’est la honte ça veut juste dire qu’il en a rien a foutre des joueurs et de ceux qui croyaient encore un peu en eux…
Et sur la base c’est pas mieux ya qu’a voir la liste des 23, gomis n’a rien foutus a part glisser et passer le ballon a l’adversaire tout comme sagnol et malouda.
Par contre il prefere ne pas prendre pires parce que c’est l’ex de sa pouf, un autre(dsl je me souviens pas du nom) parce qu’il a envoyé un sms à sa pouf et pour valbuena???on s’est pas alors qu’il a fait une putain de saison….
alors n’importe qui(ou presque) mais pas lui

Posted from  France

Bienvenue, Charlene.

Rough translation of the sentiments from Haarlem and Charlene (if your French is even worse than mine): the marriage proposal fiasco was the last straw, and if they ever see Domenech again it will be too soon.

Posted from  United States

After this tournament the BIG question mark is definitely our DEFENSE!
So let’s say we’ve got EVRA and MEXES then who else?
Clerc did play but not impressive at all, we all know Abidal won’t be there
ever again (I HOPE!). Squillaci? not proven. Sagna? Fragile. Clichy? Yes.
Gallas is getting up there with the rest of the retirees!
Ladies and Gentlemen we’ve got two spots on the auction block, place your bids please!

Deschamps. No brainer. Anelka for Trezeguet, and leaving Mexes off were the last straws for me. Get him out, right now so that we have enough time to get ready for Cup qualifiers. I don’t think the lads are fit enough, either.

Haarlem and Charlene’s comments are funny, and so true.

Posted from  United States

Haarlem’s comment made me laugh out loud. English-speaking ladies and gentlemen, behold all the words and phrases your French teacher didn’t want you to know!

(Welcome, Haarlem and Charlene. And Jeff, thanks for the G-rated translation.) Heehee.

Posted from  United States

Charlene was also alluding to Giuly’s non selections in ‘06 because he sent Estelle “pouf” <—lol a few text messages, the Pires non selection because he dated her, and she’s also upset about the Valbuena non selection.

T’inquiete Charlene. On est sur la bonne voie. Il sera degage le mois prochain.

Posted from  United States

Laurie — did I not tell you it was so last week? Will you at last agree with me that Domenech does indeed suck?

I have a question: you saw the French football team all over the cover of the Paris newspapers after the Euro Cup win a few years ago, but I saw nothing of the sort after losing to Italy. Not one single picture of one single French player or game scene. What is the reason for this inconsistency?

My question is, where were all these people when this man got the job? did he sleep with some one at the FFF to get this job?
I dont know his recored prior to the french national team (can some one fill me in)am just curious how can some one with such poor judgement and bad timing be entrusted with a job of such magnitude?

….and out of the four possible candidates, my money is on Blanc.

Posted from  United States

I remember after the ‘98 World Cup victory, you could buy photo albums of the whole thing – it was a marketing bonanza.

Posted from  United States

Eliminate Wenger from any consideration, Arsene disdains int’l football. He only goes to these tournaments with checkbook in hand to scout players. If it were up to him, there would be no world cup, Euros, Africa Nations Cups, Copa Americas and ONLY club football. Hell, if it were up to Arsene there’d be a European super league TODAY! He has said time and time again that he finds int’l football boring, that these tournaments no longer reward attractive, attacking football. Even after Arsene leaves Arsenal, I can’t see him ever going to int’l management.

How the HELL can anyone say with a straight face that Arsene Wenger reminds him of Raymond Domenech? How much alcohol have you taken today???

For me, the best choice is Deschamps, followed by Blanc. I wouldn’t mind Tigana, but he has less experience. None of them is perfect of course but I certainly think all 3 would be improvements on Ray Ray.

The whole marriage proposal on French TV story has been all over the net, plus his later “apology” and explanation (something like “I’m only human”). A truly strange fellow.

Posted from  United States

outa control,
You might be able to find his record somewhere on the FFF website with Les Bleuets which was his previous gig before getting promoted to the senior side. My guess was that it was decent because he had some of the golden era players.

Posted from  United States

Thnx jean-michel

i made it to fff site fine but there was a little,slight, tiny problem i dont read french….

Posted from  United States

Cool. I’ll try on my end later and see what I can find and let you know.

Posted from  United States

IMO the top coach right now is Marcello Lippi and I believe FFF should make a bid for his services.

I think he would be a good fit for France, particularly because quite a few players play in Italy. Also France and Italy play a very similiar style of football.

john, no point in trying. Lippi is either returning to the Azzurri or Juventus.

Deschamps is a good option, I liked him and was very disappointed when he left. I like Ranieri, but I think DD could do good things. A smart coach.

Plus, as mentioned, with DD no more Anelka, but Trez, and Mexes+Flamini in. DD not only coached Juve but spent many years here with Del Piero/Zidane/etc. and is very familiar with the setup.

Posted from  United States

guys it may sound sarcastic, i swear it’s not, as an italian supporter i will miss domenech’s jokes and weird decisions. Well deschamps is a good choice, maybe not the most attacking football i have seen but he knows about tactics and most of all he’s a winner.

Pao, thanks for stopping by. I love it when nice Italy fans come to visit this site. No joke.

Believe it or not, I’ll miss Domenech too. I thought he was hysterically funny and alway interesting. The problem was his inflexibility — his inability to say, “This isn’t working” and make incremental changes till he found something that did work. And it all blew up in his face rather spectacularly.

I hope Estelle marries him.

Posted from  United States

I thought Domenech was funny too. People took his comments too seriously, he’d make outrageous comments just to wind them up, play games, protect his players. But tactically and in team selection he just doesn’t cut it.

Posted from  United States

Thank you, Laurie and I hope Estelle marries him too

outa control,

Domenech’s accomplishments with Les Bleuets:
-Winner of the Toulon tournament ‘97 & ‘04
-co-champion of Europe ‘02
-Winner of the Casablanca tournament ‘99
-quarterfinalist @ the Olympic Games ‘96
-3rd place in the Euro championship ‘94 & ‘96
-4th place in the Euro championship ‘92 & ‘94
-coach of the 20 year olds 2000-2001: quarterfinalist in the World Cup Argentina
-promoted to the senior side 7/12/04

I could not find a record but this gives you a rough idea.

Posted from  United States

Laurie, C’pas grave..Ce que je me dis surtout depuis 2006, quand Domenech sera remplacé, c’est là que vous vous rendrez compte des années foutues en l’air… Et que 2006 c’était vraiment pas grâce à lui mais à la rage et la classe des joueurs présent sur le terrain. Domenech qui sait plus quoi dire…j’espere de tout coeur qu’il soit humilié dans la presse et qu’on ne revois plus jamais sa face de caniche battu sur un banc

Anyway I am a hardcore gooner and naturally my second team has to be Oranje. Lets all just let FFF handle matters and most importantly head to your local pub, order a pitcher of Heineken or better yet ORANJEBOOM and watch Total Football at its best.

Posted from  United States

Sadly… I doubt that -any- of these “candidates” will end up even coming close. Not only is the salary low compared to club management gigs, but becoming manager of the French national team is more a political move than a sporting move.

Since the 90s (and the Platini fiasco), the French National team manager is chosen by the DTN (National Technical Direction)… Who tend to be corporatist. Houllier, Jacquet, Lemerre, Domenech… They all went through at least two years of being either the assistant of the French manager or part of the manager training setup. Houllier was Platini’s assistant between 1988 and 1992, and was instrumental in setting up the DTN. Jacquet was chosen by Houllier in 1992 to become his assistant, and took over in 1994 when Houlier resigned. Lemerre managed the French military team (I kid you not) for ten years, and was Jacquet’s assistant in 1998. When He crashed the team in 2002, they couldn’t go for his assistant (it was just too bad), so they snapped up Santini who had worked from 1995 to 1997 as trainer for the French National team and part of the DTN manager training setup… Alongside Domenech! Domenech took over after the slightly dissapointing 2004 Euro, and he had been the U-21 manager for eleven years…

I doubt the DTN will chose Blanc or Deschamps, who both chose to not undergo the DTN’s training courses… And who criticised the DTN both in 2002 and in 2004… Wenger is out of the question since he’s always said he didn’t like international football, and also criticised the DTN… So I think Mombaerts or Tigana are more likely choices. Mombaerts was the director of the (old version) DTN in Auvergne between 1984 and 1986, was involved in setting up the DTN in the early 90s, took a stint at Cannes where he nurtured Zidane and Vieira amongst others, then became director of the Castelmaurou National Detection Center between 1994 and 1999. He had been working at Toulouse between 2000 and 2006, but he’s still liked in the DTN, as his nomination (by the DTN) at the head of the U-18s in 2007, and was scheduled to take the U-21s in August 2008… An insane progression rate in the French National Youth setup where most managers spend the best part of ten years before changing position… Tigana was one of the first managers to come through the DTN’s manager training courses, and although he’s been outside France a lot recently, he has good connections, as his stints working for the DTN in 2004 and early 2008 showed. However, I’d put Mombaerts as most likely prospect… Not only because Tigana was involved in a very unclear case that ended up in his condemnation for “faux et usage de faux, abus de bien sociaux et malversations financières” (trickery, abuse of social benefits and money laundering), but also because the head of the DTN, Jean-Pierre Escalettes said in an interview with “Sport” (myfreesport.com) on the 13th of June that the DTN was proud of the managers it trained, of the “continuity” of management at the head of the French NT, and although he avoided saying Blanc or Deschamps’ names, he did mention Mombaerts as “a possible successor of Domenech’s if Domenech chooses to leave”…

Posted from  France

A good post, Shazback. I have always understood that the FFF prefers it that way, although after disasters, they’ve looked elsewhere (Santini is an example). Mombaerts is among the better managers at the FFF, I think, and he’s had control of a very skilled U-18 team (Sakho, even though he’s now U-19, Saivet, D. Le Tallec, etc.), so he wouldn’t be the worst sélectionneur, although I think the reason why we’re so open to Deschamps and Blanc is that they’ve been winners, both as players, as well as managers. I think leaving Mombaerts as U-21 manager is a decent choice, though, even if at the moment it’s more of a “let’s see who can make the jump to the senior team” type job.

Something just struck me as funny, as part of the debate about Blanc’s managerial success. I’m a quasi-citizen of Bordeaux, a region I dearly love, so I feel like I have sufficient cover to share the joke:

Blanc only led his team to 2nd in the league, but; because it was Bordeaux, and they finished so close to Lyon – he looks like a genius.

Every year I ask my father-in-law, a Bordeaux supporter, if they might win the league, and he almost scolds me for asking such a silly question. His exact response to exhale/pooof while shaking his head and saying “non, non, non, non, non, non, non. Lyon va gagner,” and explaining that Lyon is a rich club.

Posted from  United States