Comments on: Post-Match Thoughts From Laurie

By: j

Mon, 02 Jun 2008 15:04:53 +0000

While France looks brilliant at times they seem to lack the leadership to pull together and that is quite obviously the loss of Zizou. They don’t seem to have the type of person who can really unify the squad. It seems Portugal is suffering the same problem as although they have tremendous talent, without Luis Figo they seem to be lacking the maturity, experience and leadership needed.

By: sandrahn

sandrahn — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 14:46:58 +0000

Critical comments like the one from Intan are welcomed. Wish all the idiot trolls could be censored.

By: Aditya

Aditya — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 02:34:23 +0000

lol Intan. but it is true.

By: Laurie

Laurie — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 18:32:40 +0000

Intan, you have made me smile.

By: ian

ian — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 18:22:04 +0000

one thing i would like to see after watching the game is the pairing of makelele and toulalan in the “real” games. i believe those 2 will give ribery and whoever the other winger is the chance to roam more. i am starting to think malouda can be replaced. anyone have any ideas. govou is not bad but can dissapear, i was thinking nasri could sub in at that posision. just some thoughts. oh and up top it needs to be benzema and henry to start. they had some good connections in limited time. I really also would like to see gomis given a shot over anelka. we all know what anelka can do, it seems like gomis’s potential outweighs that.

By: Intan

Intan — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 17:41:35 +0000

I’m sorry, I just have to add this:

Patient’s Name: France, National Soccer Team of

Patient suffers from a rare ailment known as the Post Zidane Trauma. Patient exhibits lack of coordination of limbs and does not make full use of his true potential. A potential cure still in clinical trials may come in the form of the FranckRibery and it is noted that in order for this cure to work perfectly, continuous dosage of the FranckRibery is to be administered. Meanwhile, temporary treatment includes the Makelele, the Vieira, the Benzema, the Gomis, therapy to help patient to restore defensive instincts and therapy to help patient aim to reach his goals.

Physician-in-Charge: Domenech, Raymond

By: Laurie

Laurie — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 17:24:42 +0000

I think I was unclear in what I meant when I talked about substituting Nasri for Toulalan. What I meant was with the lineup that was on the field, we needed the defensive cover of a second DM. Nasri adds a lot, but without more defensive cover from the midfield, our defense was frightening. It’s hard to get creative up front when you’re leaking at the back. (But the team still managed a few burts of pretty-yet-unlucky creativity, which was fun.)

Would this be true with some combination of Thuram, Gallas and Makelele (and possibly Vieira) on the field instead of the players we had? I have no idea. All I know is that the last part of the game felt defensively scary to me.

And FrenchNetherlandsFan, Vieira is a big question mark for me. I have no idea what he offers to the team at the moment because he’s played with them so rarely recently. That’s why I was hoping he would be healthy for these last friendlies — so we could see if he still deserves to be one of the untouchables.

By: intan

intan — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 16:30:45 +0000

i so agree about the ribery point; he is the glue that seems to be keeping the front together. i don’t know about this, but to me he has the potential to be the next zidane? (and if he does, i really hope he steps into those big shoes before the euros start).

it was a pretty frustrating game seeing that we have so many talents upfront–kinda like the germany vs serbia game, but at least neuville and ballack managed to set things right there at the eleventh hour.

i think gomis + benzema will be an awesome striking pairing if given the chance.

but meanwhile, i’m still kinda worried for france; domenech doesn’t have time to “watch” his players play–he better solidifies his XI to have a chance of getting out of the Group of Death for the quarters. beside, winning a friendly is always good as a confidence booster for players and fans alike (;

By: Mohamed

Mohamed — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 16:20:22 +0000

Will nasri get a place in the first 11, what do you think guys (and girls)

By: lefutur

lefutur — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 15:03:59 +0000

laurie, i disagree with your assertion that bringing nasri into the game was a bad thing. it took him a few minutes to get into the match but the end of the second half was much better, offensively, than the rest of game following the break. france actually came close to, you know, scoring.