France Injury, Transfer and Other Updates

Laurie,
Not seeing Makelele on the Chelsea squad ? I dont catch many games. What’s his playing time like?

Jean-Michel, would you believe I realized my omission as I was lying in bed last night? (In my defense, I was thinking just of offensive firepower.) Going in to add him now, though.

Thanks for the update! Much appreciated.

Words of wisdom to Lassana: Dig in, hunker down and work hard, or you run the risk of being Anelka’ed and ending up in Turkey.

See, I don’t blame Diarra’s reasonings for leaving: he believes it’s more important for him to get enough playing time before the Euros selections than to sit on the benches at Arsenal fighting for a starting spot, which you can’t really fault him for. I just wish he’d picked a club other than Portsmouth for his next destination (*cough*Lyon*cough*). I mean, look at Julien Faubert and West Ham: Domenech’s made it pretty clear that he considers the smaller English clubs beneath his notice.
And telling your new employers right off the bat that you plan on leaving them for greener pastures once the opportunity arises ain’t exactly a smart way to begin your partnership. Aiyiyi.

[...] Laurie wrote an interesting post today on France Injury, Transfer and Other UpdatesHere’s a quick excerptSpeaking strictly of soccer, understand. In my defense, I was thinking strictly of firepower when I wrote that.) And David Trezeguet is currently leading Serie A for scoring with 13 goals. And only one of those a penalty. … [...]

L. Diarra and Mavuba are in a similar situation: Desperate to get Domenech’s attention before Euros and making rash moves to try to make it happen. I think Diarra would have been a natural successor to Makelele at Chelsea, but he wanted it NOW. So he became a bench-warmer at Arsenal, and then rather than taking a little time and fighting for the starter’s spot, (because it might not have happened before Euros) he’s at Portsmouth. Ditto Mavuba, different teams.

And I agree that Domenech never looks beyond the Big 4 in the EPL for talent. Or more like Big 3, because French guys don’t seem to fit in Liverpool. Anelka at Bolton being the big exception.

What’s saddest about this is that the team really NEEDS future strength in the central midfielder role, so the spots will be available on the NT. Eventually. (As opposed to the striker role, or leftback, which are glutted for the next few years.)

The thing with Diarra and Lyon was that he didn’t want to return to France because of his salary. Lyon refused to match it, and also, he would still be sitting behind Toulalan on the bench. So coming to Lyon wouldn’t have really been worthwhile except for making Domenench happy.

Anyone see Faubert in EDF anytime soon? I know he’s bouncing back from an injury but like Laurie mentioned, we’re pretty deep at the striker position for sometime to come.

I’ve never figured out what happened with Faubert. He scores the game winner in his EDF debut and is rewarded by never being called up again. I wasn’t able to watch that game, and I’ll admit that I haven’t followed him that closely since then, but I always thought he warranted another chance.

Of course now he’ll be a victim of Domenech’s anti-smaller-EPL team bias. But he probably figured that if he’s not going to get called up from Bordeaux, he might as well not get called up from England.

Gorcuff seems to be warming the bench nicely as well in Milan. Young players should develop more where they are before jumping to the big leagues. Domenech seems to respect solid play in first division level more than being a sub on a superclub. They all can’t just show up and be the Zidane of the situation.

Lyon refused to match it, and also, he would still be sitting behind Toulalan on the bench. So coming to Lyon wouldn’t have really been worthwhile except for making Domenench happy.
True, but it’d still be better than at Arsenal, where he was battling it out with Gilberto Silva and Flamini and Diaby. He also gives you the option of playing him at right back, as he did in the two euro qualifiers for France. (Yeah, I know your defender problem has been more at the center and the left, but surely it can’t hurt to have another option back there?) Of course all of this is moot with the salary issue, unfortunately.

JM – I was watching a West Ham game a week ago and Faubert came on late. I think it might have been his first game back from injury. He looked ok, but he wasn’t on for very long.

The Diarra-leaving-situation has caused a stir with the Arsenal supporters. A common line is to say that he obviously has a hugely flawed character, and that if he’d stayed it would have been a disaster. Others are more honest, and just say that they’re disappointed that he left.

I really like the player, so I’m disappointed that he left my beloved Arsenal, but I’ll be happy for him and L’Equipe de France if he can find his best form and work his way into the first 11 this summer.

I think that Anelka at Bolton is the example that proves that Domenech will select players from non-champions-league, non-French teams. I do remember his rant about Faubert going to West Ham, and he obviously loves the Champions League, but I think he’ll watch Diarra play at Portsmouth.

if u can’t start for ur team than u should not play for france, as far as french players playing in italy don’t really think they will be called Domenech has a message to pass to the italians YOU ARE NOT WORTHY, yes david is a great juve player but he sucks for France, Vierra i love him but he just does not have to play for his country.Mexes is great but out principle for what he said i think the coach would rather die than call him up. Though he plays for Barcelona Thuram is done but i thank him for being a trooper,Sagnol has to be brought back but as a sub, Sagna is laways playing well and with his captain close to him MR GALLAS he will do well

Vierra is just about the only player Domenech has stood by through thick and thin and who plays in Italy. Whats funny about Trezeguet sucking (which he has for a few years) for France is that his goal/game ratio is better than Henry’s. But anywho, Domenech will definitely send the worthiness message when he snubs Mexes for the Euro selection. On the FFF website he insisted that he will be calling up a ton of players and testing them out in the A & A’ teams for the upcoming games.

Have to comment on the Diarra situation, being a gooner.

A lot of us gooners are royally pissed off at losing Diarra because he’s a very good player, he was critical for our Carling Cup squad. If he’d played in the two legs against Tottenham, I think we would’ve won it or at least not have lost so badly. Others are saying it’s better for him to go, even tho we need him, because his attitude was so poor.

I understand his desire to play and that he wants to stay in the French NT but the fact is that he was not very far behind Flamini. Glatisant is wrong to say that he had a lot of players in front of him, he didn’t. If he’d stayed, he really would’ve made it at Arsenal. He was beginning to impress everyone in the CC games. As a defensive midfielder, he was fast becoming closer and closer to first team action, and by this time, he’d be behind only Flamini. So if Flamini gets injured (heaven forbid!), he was becoming Wenger’s first choice to replace him. Gilberto is used by Wenger from desperation more and more, he doesn’t have many choices left for DMs. Diaby is more of a creative midfielder than Diarra, tho there is so much midfield congestion right now that Wenger uses him on the flanks, where he’s having a hard time.

What’s worse, however, is Diarra’s comments immediately after arriving at Pompey. He said that the club knows he’s not there for the long haul, he’s just there to get first team action until a big club buys him. Great way to endear himself to his new management and fans. Now I know that may be better than when a new player pretends to declare loyalty to his new club but it’s a pretty crass, undiplomatic, stupid thing to say. Not the kind of thing to engender respect or interest from managers from big clubs.

He’s now left two of England’s top 4 clubs. That’s not a good reputation to have. No way are Man United or Liverpool interested in him after the bad press he’s got in England. So he’ll have to hope that a big club from Italy or Spain show some interest. And frankly, while he is a terrific player, I just don’t see Real Madrid, Barca, Milan or Inter sniffing around him any time soon, esp. when they’ve got even more impressive young players to look at who don’t make the same salary demands.

Diarra’s attitude generated a very rare thing: a Wenger outburst in the press against one of his players, something he never does. He didn’t name Diarra directly but everyone knew who he was talking about. He said that football is a man’s game, and that you have to fight for your place; that no one should assume that they can just walk into the first team without showing the manager what he’s made of. He wasn’t impressed by Diarra’s unwillingness to fight.

The comparison with Flamini is commonly cited by gooners. Last season Flamini was in Diarra’s position — very frustrated at not being in the first team. He was quoted in the press saying that he was going to leave the club. Unlike Diarra, however, Flamini did everything that Wenger asked him to, playing in all positions, rarely in his preferred one. (Diarra, meanwhile, told Wenger in December that he didn’t want to play in any more games). We all expected Flamini to leave–until he decided to buckle down, work hard and prove to Wenger that he should be in the first team.

And that’s exactly what happened. Flamini has displaced Gilberto, Brazil’s former captain and a world cup winner. Out of all Arsenal’s players this season, it isn’t Fabregas, Hleb or Adebayor who’s impressed gooners the most (tho they have as well). It is FLAMINI who is our #1 revelation this season, he is absolutely essential to our success this season.

Goes to show that EQ is as important as IQ when it comes to making it as a footballer. Flamini reminds me of Mexès a bit, in that they’d both left their respective French clubs under acrimonious conditions, but have then managed to stay loyal to and become indispensable at their new homes.
Thanks for the correction, Sandra.