Raymond Domenech Loves Franck and Djibril

Apparently I’m not the only one who goes a little weak in the knees at the thought of a long-term Djibril Cissé-Franck Ribéry pairing. Now that they’ve been instrumental in bumping Marseille up into third place in Ligue 1, the duo has (surprise, surprise!) captured the attention of Bleus coach Raymond Domenech.

Says Raymond: “The synchronization between the two can be interesting, that’s a plus. That’s not to say it is bad for the others, but two players [who play close to each other], who play in the same club, it is…an advantage. I see it with the Lyon players. There are [things] which we do not always have time to work on with the France national team.” And then Domenech continues: “There would be adjustments to make on the remainder of the team.”

Hmmm… Interesting thought. Wonder where Henry fits into all this? And what about the fact that every club in the universe wants to take Ribéry off Marseille’s hands? At which point he and Cissé would no longer be “in the same club”? I wonder if Ribéry’s apparent decision to stay at Marseille till the end of the season was in any way related to his hopes for creating at least a semi-permanent spot on the National team with the Cissé pairing.

Domenech is also very pleased that Cissé is back in Marseille, as opposed to “waxing the bench” at Liverpool.

That makes two of us.