This would’ve been Pires’ last World Cup. He deserved to be a part of that squad and could’ve added a lot more than someone like Zidane. Zizou might be the symbol of France but honestly, he can hardly move as we found out over the Arsenal-Madrid games. Pires was lively and nearly scored from 70 yards. France are overly reliant on Zidane and this will be a telling factor in this tournament. If you shut down Zidane the ball will not move forward to the strikers. Its not all that hard to stop a him. A shame really. He should’ve bowed out gracefully.

I’m surprised Domenech was handed this job. It is ridiculous. The team is a mess. The players don’t seem to have faith in the coach. A good performance might get you benched and a poorer one can see you picked. Domenech’s criteria for team selection and omission has been big match experience. Something a Champion’s League final did not provide Robert Pires and Giuly.

I hope Domenech is sacked during rather than after the World Cup is over. I feel gutted because of this theatre loving, superstitious astrologist pretending to be a coach. Jackass!

His presence will certainly be missed in the France-Mexico “friendly” encounter tonight.

I hear you on Ferguson. He has a history of getting rid of players (quickly) who speak their mind (Becks, Stam, Keane) or who he did not want in the first place (Bosnich). What he is doing with rvn is just disgraceful. Ruud is quality and much better than Rooney and all the other fowards at United.

On France, Pires should have been in the World Cup squad. If calamity Boumsong could make it, then why not add another midfield in Pires instead of a defender?

Also, I don’t know why Wenger has the policy of 1 year contract for over 30 year olds. Would he do the same to Henry? Pires deserved his 2 year contract with Arsenal.

I too would like to see France do well as they have Henry (the best in the world), Zidane (a true legend) and other great players. I think they will do better than expected.

Can we say the same about Domenech? He left out two of the best players France has, Giuly and Pires. And he chose a player that has been disasterous for his team and are desperate to get rid of him (i’m talking about Boumsong here). I don’t know if Giuly said something about Domenech at some point before the selection (could it be a Ferguson/Ruud scenario?) but grown men should be able to sit down and work through these things.

And what about poor Pires? The guy apologised for his criticism of Domenech after Euro 2004, but apparently it was not enough for Domenech. I’m not saying Pires was right to speak out, but at least he was man enough to realise his mistake and apologise.

On one hand i want France to do well because of players like Henry and Zidane, but on the other hand i want to see them fail miserably cause Domenech just has to leave.

I’m a neutral (Cyprus) so maybe i shouldn’t get so upset about thse things, but i just can’t help it. I just hate stupidity in general, but especially in the case of dictatorial managers like Domenech (or even Ferguson, to mention the coach of a team i support, who has got rid of every player who had the nerve to speak out: Beckham, Keane, Stam, RVN).

Speaking of Ferguson, i just don’t understand why the Glaziers tolerate his behaviour. It’s definitely not good for business, that’s for sure. I have a lot of respect for the man for everything that he’s done for the club, but he has clearly lost the plot and he has to go. Even if he wins the Premiership next year (sounds like i’m a dictatorial fool now, doesn’t it? ).

Giuly’s a cherry-picker who’s never exactly lit a match on fire. Even if he’d kept his mouth shut, he probably wouldn’t have made the final cut.