France Blog Exclusive – Views from a Proper Reporter covering Les Bleus

The name I see more than any other when I’m searching out stories about L’Equipe de France is Patrick Vignal of Reuters. He has the beat covered, and I thought it would be interesting to see if he would tell us about his work and his thoughts about Les Bleus going into Euro 2008. He was completely gracious about answering questions. I started by asking him to tell us about his job and a typical workweek.

Patrick: I’m a Reuters sports correspondent based in Paris, in charge of a five-strong team covering sports both for the international wire and the French-language service. We cover all major sports. I cover mostly soccer but also rugby, tennis, athletics and other sports, including boxing at the Olympics. I staff all the soccer internationals staged in France as well as the Champions League matches but hardly ever Ligue 1 games. I follow the France team at major events (European championships and World Cups). I’ve been working exclusively for Reuters for 19 years. There is no such thing as a typical workweek and the number of stories varies. We do work long hours and are on duty most weekends.

Jeff: When you’re at a small Domenech press conference, obviously there are several French reporters there, but how big is the contingent of reporters writing in English? Do you also write stories in French?

Patrick: When I’m at a small Domenech presser, there are not many reporters writing in English, usually at least three, from the main news agencies (Reuters, AP and AFP) but rarely more. I occasionally write in French. I’m French but my mother’s English and I’m comfortable with both languages.

Jeff: How would you describe your writing style? Writing a fan site is terribly biased – we’re advocates for our team; and newspaper columnists feature their opinions in their writing. Your writing isn’t biased in the same way, but you still convey enthusiasm and opinion in your writing. France supporters are following Karim Benzema closely. After Lyon’s first leg against Manchester United in the Champions League Round of 16 you described Benzema as “an exceptional player” and wrote:

Now this is the kind of stuff we eat up. Coming from Reuters, not the first place to turn for hyperbole, it says something to see him described as an exceptional player.

Patrick: On writing style, at Reuters, we are asked to do exactly what you seem to like, which is not to be biased but not to be boring either. If a match is thrilling or a player truly exceptional, we can say so. Bits of colour, descriptive and relevant background are encouraged. We try not be too dull and dry. The blog [http://blogs.reuters.com/soccer/] is a place where we have even more freedom.

I asked for his personal opinions about the France team for this summer.

Patrick: France have an exciting new generation coming up and should be a major threat at the 2010 World Cup. Euro 2008 might come a bit too early for Benzema and company but they are so talented that you never know. I think Benzema has what it takes to become just as special as Ronaldo (the Brazilian one) when he was in his prime. Ben Arfa is different, not as complete and more of a winger. He’s not yet the finished article (Benzema almost is) but has great potential.

That will not happen. France won the 1998 World Cup playing Italian-style defensive football and have continued doing so since. So the days of the 4-2-2-2, 4-3-1-2, 4-2-3-1 or anything with plenty of defensive players and no more than two strikers are not numbered.

I told Patrick that I thought the Vieira-Makalele partnership should be saved for testimonial matches, but he differed.

Patrick: Patrick Vieira and Claude Makelele should both play at Euro 2008, providing both are fit. In the future, we could see a more attractive formation with a playmaker, who could be either Ribery or Nasri, playing behind two strikers (or maybe even three, but that may be too much to ask for).

A few nuggets in there from Mr. Vignal. We thank him very much for his contribution to the site, and look forward to reading his stories on Les Bleus in the buildup to Euro 2008 and during the tournament this summer.