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That In-Form Thing. Just one of the Challenges Faced by France for Euros

May 4th, 2008 | By: Laurie | 12 Comments »

I was thinking about club form today, and I have to say I’m a little concerned. Let’s take a look:

Thierry Henry at Barcelona: not starting regularly, frequently played out of position.
Nicolas Anelka at Chelsea: ditto
Florent Malouda at Chelsea: anybody thinking that Malouda and Abidal splitting apart was one of the worst breakups since the Beatles? (Okay, not quite. But it’s the best analogy I can come up with on short notice.)
Eric Abidal at Barcelona: See: Malouda, Florent.
Lilian Thuram: When was the last time the man started for Barcelona?
Willy Sagnol is still probably not 100% after last year’s injury. And he’s made everybody at Bayern Munich angry by criticizing the management.
Samir Nasri. Here’s what interested me: When Inara wrote about a possible trade of Hatem Ben Arfa (Lyon) for Nasri (OM), the Lyon fans weren’t just against it, they were incensed by the possibility. Plus he seems to have the injury bug this season.

One could argue that most of the Lyon and Arsenal players aren’t looking too bad, form-wise. But both teams are limping toward the end of the season after an explosive start. It would be nice if it had been the other way around.

At least Franck Ribéry is looking good. (And let’s ignore that little Zenit St. Petersburg UEFA Cup thing from Thursday, shall we?) And Makélélé still looks solid every time I see him. And Patrick Vieira seems to be ending the season better than he started it, if he can stay healthy. (Although I’m still not comfortable with Vieira and Makélélé together in the central midfield.)

I have to say, I’m not full of confidence going into the group o’death. Am I wrong here? Or will Domenech be willing to sacrifice the players that got him this far to include players who are playing well. (Do we want to see Djibril Cissé? What about Trezeguet?)

Feel free to point out flaws in my player analysis. Actually, I’ll be happy if you do.

Tags: Claude Makelele, Eric Abidal, Euro 2008, Florent Malouda, France, Franck Ribery, Lilian Thuram, Nicolas Anelka, Patrick Vieira, Samir Nasri, Thierry Henry, Willy Sagnol

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Comments

By glenn | May 4th, 2008 at 4:21 pm

can you please take a look at this story?

Zidane entraîneur de QPR (Queenspark Rangers)?

04/05/2008 – 22:05

Dans sa version dominicale, le journal britannique The People indique que le nom de Zinedine Zidane circulerait à Londres pour prendre les rênes de l’équipe des Queens Park Rangers, pensionnaire de Championship, équivalent de la Ligue 2 en Angleterre. Flavio Briatore, copropriétaire du club aux côtés des milliardaires Bernie Ecclestone et Lakshmi Mittal rêverait d’enrôler l’ancien meneur de jeu des Bleus. Affaire à suive même si la piste menant à l’ancienne gloire du football tricolore semble très improbable.

By Laurie | May 4th, 2008 at 4:53 pm

I was just reading this on a QPR blog. One of the English rags is saying Zidane’s going to QPR to manage. I’m not seeing it. Why would he uproot his family to go to a smaller England team?

I dream of getting Zidane for my local team too. That doesn’t make it reality.

Posted from United States

By Inara | May 4th, 2008 at 7:39 pm

I don’t know how much club form really matters when it comes to Domenech. Or with the NT. Malouda I thought played really well against England but he’s been terrible with Chelsea. Same goes for Abidal. But that’s because Domenech knows what they’re capable of. It’s different for the not quite established players like Nasri and Ben Arfa.

You’ll be happy to know that Toulalan played his first game since his injury against Marseille, and he had a really terrific game. I hate seeing Makelele or Vieira benched, but Toulalan should be starting over one of them. I honestly believe he could walk into any club side in the entire world, he’s that good.

And have you heard that Sagnol is currently being punished at Bayern? He wasn’t even on the bench for their very disastrous game against Zenit.

By alex | May 5th, 2008 at 5:02 am

Evra looked amazing in the man u / Barca game.

Posted from United States

By Laurie | May 5th, 2008 at 10:21 am

Alex, I thought so too. And I can’t imagine Domenech switching horses midstream. If Abidal isn’t the starting leftback, I’ll be amazed.

Posted from United States

By Eric | May 5th, 2008 at 3:03 pm

can someone remind when the official roster will be released?

Posted from United States

By Laurie | May 5th, 2008 at 7:21 pm

Eric, May 18 is The Day for both France and Italy.

Posted from United States

By Seb | May 8th, 2008 at 3:18 pm

I have to agree with Inara about Toulalan. Though Maké will start in a Champions League final in a couple of weeks, Toulalan actually should be selected over him as I’ve been following him and don’t think he’s had a bad match all year (Vieira gets into the lineup as he’s captain and improving form).

Anyway back to the original topic, I do believe that our players are improving and are not doing as badly as has been suggested. Abidal, though not as consistent, has had some terrific matches this year that I’ve seen at Barca, and I do remain of the belief he’s the best left back in the world when he’s on (though Evra and Clichy make the top 5 too). Malouda’s been better in the past month, and even Henry had his best game at Barca in the drubbing of Valencia.

I think the big concerns, though, should be Thuram, Willi Sagnol and Anelka. Thuram’s game is much on his reading and anticipation of plays these days, as his once blistering speed is a bit nonexistent these days. However, how can you be that sharp in reading/anticipating if you haven’t been playing? Despite having been injured and barely having had a match all season, I’m less concerned with Sagnol as his position isn’t as critical (as Thuram’s). Though of course, even though I’m definitely not a Bayern fan, it is sad to see it all end like this for a guy so liked by the fans there not so long ago.

Anelka is a concern as he hasn’t been playing much/well, so one would think he would be low on confidence, but the good thing about us is that well, there’s a certain Benzema who is more than capable, if not superior. Thus, I’m not that worried about the front line, especially as keep in mind tournaments where our strikers had actually been in awesome form, they did badly (don’t want to remind anyone of 2002, though yeah).

Sorry about the very long post, folks. I’m in the midst of finals, though yes, they do end before the tournament begins. Enjoying the discussion as always.

By Laurie | May 8th, 2008 at 7:25 pm

Seb, you never have to apologize for long comments. I always love reading what all of you have to say.

Anelka is a concern for me too, and if you know me, you know how hard it is for me to say that! I would love nothing more than for him to come in and have a blistering Euros so he can go back to Chelsea with confidence for next season.

Oh, and Barcelona got slaughtered by Real Madrid yesterday, 4-1, but Titi scored the only goal. So he seems to be coming back into form at just the right time.

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By Benjamin | May 9th, 2008 at 6:52 pm

i have to disagree with the nasri part.
although he was injured and sik at the begining of the season
he has been very influential in marseilles climb from 19th to now 4th in ligue 1.

anelka wont start the euro anyways so i wouldnt be worried about him.
titi is gonna be great, he is out of form since stupid riijkard doesnt play him centre forward, what an idiot!

Our defence is worrysome, but really, they have the experience to get the job done.
and thuram must start, hes old, but ive never seen someone so dedicated to the team!
watch him after the win over portugal and the loss to italy, he was in tears the whole time.
Anyways we have clichy, evra and mexes in case (sagna is injured and may not be called up).

in the midfield, toulalan and flamini are great replacements for viera and make if they get tired and injured, although at least viera should play the euro. for more creativity, play nasri and ben arfa with ribery, that would a very gambling like change tho

By Laurie | May 9th, 2008 at 7:38 pm

Benjamin, I don’t disagree with anything you’re saying (except I’d really like to see Anelka get some playing time.) But is Flamini ready to leap into Euros after hardly playing with the team?

And do you think Domenech will go for more creativity (like Nasri and Ben Arfa) in high-stakes games like these? Not that I wouldn’t love to see it myself. I’m just not seeing Domenech as that kind of gambler.

Posted from United States

By Benjamin | May 10th, 2008 at 1:15 am

he played nasri 7 times last year, the kid scored 2 goals…
this year, so far, he played witht he B french team just to play in the “zizou” role.
i watched the france mali game, and nasri was like a magnet to the ball the whole time.
Domenech is one weird dude, he could do just about anything. In wc2006, he completely gambled by changing tactics for the spain and brasil game and it workd, he put ribery as cam/support striker and had zizou stay a bit back and distribute

toulalan is my favorite to start in the absence of viera or make. flamini would be next for cdm cuz he works so hard in midfield, its ridiculous, i wonder if he would work as hard with the coq than with the arsenal shirt…

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