The Starting Lineup: 4-3-3 and Lassana Diarra!

March 23rd, 2007 | by: Laurie |

Whoa!!! I’m kind of shocked by this. Domenech’s going with 4-3-3 and starting Lassana Diarra. (It’s funny, I was just writing on my LA Galaxy blog about how I have a completely irrational attachment to 4-3-3. So this makes me happy. Kind of. Except that I’m a little surprised by the front three. And by Diarra.)

The starting lineup: Coupet – Sagnol, Thuram, Gallas, Abidal – Makelele, Toulalan, L. Diarra – Govou, Malouda, Anelka.

The good news for me:
– Anelka and Malouda up front. I think they’ll be awesome together. But I think they’d be better with Benzema.
– I think it’s a good idea to play Makelele and Diarra in the midfield together, since they’re used to it at Chelsea.
– Thuram and Gallas are both back! **Happy sigh**
– Actually, that whole back line makes me smile.

The other news:
– I just don’t know that Govou is playing well enough to justify a starting position. Am I wrong here? Do you think this is leftover loyalty for his brace in France-Italy?
– Malouda and Abidal are no longer together on the left. They are brutally efficient together and I’m not sure either will be as effective working separately. Although Malouda plays up front for Lyon, right? So this worry is probably misplaced.
–No Karim Benzema. *Sigh*. (But I’ll bet he’s subbed in for Govou no later than 60′.)

So what do you think?

(And thanks to reader Patrick for the article link. OR Google translated article. I’ve been checking sites occasionally all day but hadn’t seen this.)

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http://www.lequipemoustache.blogspot.com L’Américain

I agree with you completely on the Govou sentiments, he seems to have been a streaky scorer in international appearances (25 games, 5 goals, 2 of which came against Italy as you mentioned), and he has never really been a first option striker with Lyon, although given that they are a g18 team they have a number of good options up front. I feel that Govou is best set up as a forward that you are forced to forget about but can come up with moments of glory. I am real excited to see Malouda play at his club striker position. This should be a win for France as they are playing Lithuania, but I guess after the first goal, I’ll be able to breath easy. Especially with all the untested names on the team this time around.

I can’t wait to see near lookalikes Diarra and Makelele to be in the same frame together, anyone else think they look as alike as I do?
Inara

Malouda and Abidal are always together!!! Even on TV: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8aYDht68wo

“Abidoula” is one of my favorite pairings. I’ll be really sad to see it broken up this summer.

As for Govou, for the longest time I used to wonder why Houllier keeps playing him despite the fact that he’s netted only one league goal this entire year. But he really stresses out the opposing team’s defenses by his runs inside the box, and he has a tremendous work rate.
http://france.worldcupblog.org Laurie

Inara, I LOVE this video. These guys clean up real good, don’t they? Abidal doing his Japanese impression is hysterical.

But I felt bad for Malouda. He SO did not want to talk about the World Cup. You can tell it was still an open wound for him. Kind of makes you want to take him home and feed him chicken soup, doesn’t it?

If purchasing teams have any brains at all, somebody will buy these guys together.

And that comment had odd, slavery overtones, didn’t it? Has anybody else thought about the similarities between the soccer transfer system and slavery? But I digress. Still light-headed over the victory.
Shahm

Wheres Thierry Henry!?!?! why isnt he playing, he is amazing. Does it have to do at all with his age?