Who Do You Think Will Start Against Ukraine?

My guess for the lineup. (And yes, I’m mentally stuck in 4-4-2.)

———————————-Nicolas Anelka — Djibril Cisse———————————-
———Florent Malouda —- Claude Makelele —- Lassana Diarra— Franck Ribery—————
———–Eric Abidal––William Gallas — Lilian Thuram — Francois Clerc —-
——————————————–Gregory Coupet————————————

So no, I’m not seeing anything hugely creative, at least for this game. Maybe against Georgia. (I’m wondering if Frey might not get the start against Georgia. Otherwise why call him up?)

But I could be wrong about creativity. Maybe Raymond will try his luck with Nasri in the #10 position, either with or without Cisse as the second striker? (Nasri with Cisse and Anelka would require some creative rejiggering of the midfield, and I don’t have time to rethink that part of it… But I can’t imagine he’d leave off Malouda and/or Ribery. So I’m sticking with the above lineup as my best guess.

Okay, this is me, officially giving up on trying to read Domenech’s mind.

One of the concerns I’ve read in several places is the fact that the EPL finished its season three weeks ago, so there could be a mental letdown from players like Makelele, Anelka and L. Diarra. I’ll be curious to see what Raymond does. Maybe Toulalan instead of L. Diarra?

Oh, also, Shevchenko is out injured for Ukraine, so let’s cross our fingers. The Ukraine game is, of course, the one I’m most worried about.

On a personal note, I’m leaving town tomorrow and will be gone through Tuesday. So yes, I will miss the Ukraine game. (You have no idea how much this breaks my heart. Thank God for Setanta archives!!)

I’ll be checking in here periodically while I’m gone but won’t have the computer with all of my bookmarks. So if you come across something interesting, including and especially the starting lineup, post a link! And if you’re going to be at the game… Well, I hate you. But enjoy and give us a review when it’s over!

Allez les Bleus!

Oh, if you speak French, I liked the following analysis of the upcoming games. (Actually, I haven’t had time to watch the whole thing yet, but I enjoyed the first few minutes and plan to watch it later.)