Wake me when it’s over…
Don’t you just hate it when they do that?
France’s penchant for playing down to lesser opponents levels reared its ugly head again tonight in Zurich. A match that was tipped as “must win” looked anything but for our boys. They gave one of the most uninspiring performances I’ve seen from them. No player looked interested enough to take the game by the throat. Where was the ruthless Ribéry? The clinical Benzema? The deadly Anelka?
They were sorely missed…replaced by pedestrian versions of themselves. The entire game can really be summed up by the chance Malouda had in the first half, off a brilliant Makelele pass. Upon beating the defender to it, Malouda pulled up as the onrushing keeper sprang out, seemingly intent on avoiding contact. It’s something he should be embarrassed about as a competitor. By following through the ball could easily have ricocheted off his shins goal ward bounds. It’s this kind of performance the team should be embarrassed about. It simply appeared they did not want this game badly enough.
Some might point to Domenech’s tactics of having two defensive midfielders. Yet, for once, I saw Toulalan bounding forward and getting involved. I don’t think that was really the problem (sure Diarra or Nasri might be better suited to bound forward, but that tactic wasn’t really the issue), but more a contributing factor or a symptom of something greater. The total lack of intensity and commitment was astounding. There was no pressure on the Romanian defense. Malouda and Ribéry seemed to constantly avoid having a go at the Romanian defense, instead preferring Benzema to continually drop to midfield to collect passes. If we’re going to play 4-4-2 with 2 defensive mids, we’ve got to have more width. Things improved a bit in the second half as we managed a shot on target.
I do think Doms failed in his subs. He should have brought them on 10mins sooner, no doubt. I liked the idea of Gomis as a long striker and Nasri supporting him, but nothing was really going to work the way the team was playing.
Defensively, I thought we were very comfortable, rarely troubled. It’s a solid partnership in the middle. Again, as in the Colombia game, we seemed to avoid using our fullbacks much. I’d like to see Evra, purely because of how he gets forward, but Abidal certainly was good in defense. Evra’s not going to help if we don’t let them get forward! Sagnol was a bit slow here and there and his crosses not too sharp, yet he still made some excellent tackles, was well positioned and rarely beaten. Really those two are the least of our problems when we play the way we did. Makelele was good as usual (minus a couple frustratingly errant passes) and Toulalan had some good tackles won as well. I won’t fault him too much for his lack of spark, as it’s not really his game.
His post match with LEquipe comments were interesting. He pointed the “heat” as a debilitating factor as well as the Romanians non-approach to the game. Well i should think the #7 side in the world could break a lower ranked side down…
Malouda surely has played his last game for France. Complete lack of energy, very lethargic. Why do we stick with him?! That breakaway was unacceptable for me. He continues to backpass the ball, instead of trying to create. And he still shows a total lack of poise in the final third.
Still thanks to Holland’s demolition of Italy, things aren’t so bad. Hopefully we’ll have learned a lot by watching that game and will be prepared for the counterattack. I’m going to be positive about it. Yes, it was 3-0, but the first goal was obviously offsides and the other 2 occurred seconds after near Italian goals. They’ve got issues at the back we can exploit if we raise our game. A win Friday puts us in great position to qualify. Italy won’t find Romania easy to beat either.
Toulalan echoes in those same post match comments what we already know, that we usually find it easier to play vs top teams. Perhaps those matches tend to be more open, allowing us to use our speed. Well Friday’s game is going to be as open as it gets!!!
But how will Doms approach that game? It’s so easy to imagine him watching the Holland-Italy game and thinking that sticking with 2 defensive mids is the way to go in order to stifle the Dutch: “we can do it better than the Italians”. I’d hope he would take a page out of the Dutch book and play some more creative players, like Diarra and Nasri. I feel though that we have a “system” and for him to change that would be to admit things are going badly, which I don’t think he’ll do. Vieira will probably be fit and Henry as well, so I expect we’ll see them in the squad (Toulalan admitted after the game that “if Patrick is fit, he’ll play”). Will that be enough to change things? Well we’ve seen France play uninspired football with them in the side before…then again I’ve seen then romp Italy 3-1. Doms will prob feel that with them in the side (if fit), that will suffice in terms of changes (though it will still be the same system!). Hopefully we see Malouda on the bench.
I’m sure there’s plenty more to say…so don’t hold back, comment away!
–Stephane F.
“Malouda surely has played his last game for France.”
That made me laugh. I’m right there with you.
f*ck, sh*t and bugger
something else also struck me afterwards, and that was how far forward makelele was playing. how involved he was (trying to be). and how crap his passes were.
he often found himself in such advanced positions, almost playing central midfield. and it was terrible. what on earth is domenech up to? why is he playing makelele and toulalan in such advanced roles when they clearly don’t have the skill for it?
i mean, i appreciate that he wants that element of creativity from the team, but he’s surely using the wrong players for that. its such a specialist requirement – to be a defensive mid that goes forward – and very few have been able to do it well at international level. it was like he was asking them both to be vieira – and, well, not even vieira is vieira anymore…
It was so bad I could’ve cried, my ten year old nephew would have done better…and he doesn’t even play football!
Why play with 2 defensive midfield players when Romania’s game is to defend, defend and defend. They play with 10 men behind the ball. Benzema wasn’t playing up front with Anelka but in midfield!
Wrong team, wrong tactics….and why is Malouda still in the team? And Abidal? Here’s the team Domenech should’ve played:
Clerc Thuram Gallas Evra
Nasri Makelele
Govou Ribery
Benzema Anelka
obviously not that formation: Govou and Ribery on the wings and in front of Nasri and Makelele
Interesting article Stephane
I have to say though, for me there were two problems with Domench’s team selection for this game. I think the selection of Toulalan was tactically naive. We were playing against Romania, in a group that included Holland and Italy!…(ie we needed to score goals)…as I said on the other thread, I think Domenech looked at his available players before the competition and saw that he had to involved both Makelele and Vieira in his team. So his team setup was based around having two primarily defensive midfielders. When Vieira got injured, he just slotted in Toulalan. You say rightly that he got forward, but he never created a goal threat, and his distribution was based on giving it to the ‘flair players’ rather than doing something himself. The worst thing was that Domenech did not change things, either Makelele or Toulalan should have been substituted in the second half!!!
The other main thing I had a problem with was Sagnol and Abidal. As an Arsenal fan, all season I have seen Clichy and Sagna play what I think is called offensive-defending – basically getting really tight on their opposite number to win the ball off them and set up an attack. This puts huge pressure on the opposition, as they know they will be open to a counter attack even when they have the ball. Clichy and Sagna knew they could go tight, as they knew if they got beaten, they had the pace to get back. For me, it was this which France missed, fullbacks who could actually drive forward. Picking Sagnol who is clearly off the pace after not playing much this season is a big risk, and I have to say, I have yet to be impressed by Abidal. He must have some use, Barca saw something in him, but for me, he fails to look world class in any aspect of his game. This is the last I will say about Clichy and Sagna while Euro 2008 is on, as I’m sure noone wants to hear me repeating myself.
Also, was the ‘joi de vivre’ chant that could be heard for most of the second half coming from the French or Romanians?
I think France will beat Holland, BUT it’s going to come down to the game against the Italians! On one hand it was nice to see Materazzi, with an ice pack on his knee in the second half of yesterdays game, but I would like to see him play against France, as long as we stuff them!
yeah, agreed about the whole Toulalan thing Ethan, but then we shouldnt be surprised, cause that’s the way we’ve played for years now, which is why i kinda alluded to the fact that im not sure things will change too much vs Holland. Yeah Toodles wasnt a goal threat…i liked that he got forward, but i realise he isnt the player we need going forward (if that makes sense).
as far as the fullbacks, i really think theres been a change of tactics here, because ive seen these guys go forward in the past, especially Abidal. It seems as though the whole team is playing cautiously. I too would like to see Evra but if Doms is telling them “dont get forward too much, be cautious” well Evra isnt going to make an impact! I’d welcome Clerc coming in for Sagnol tho as i said i think Sagnol defensively has been fine, it’s his crosses that seem off, prob due to lack of games played. If Clerc can be more positive in that dept then im all for it. yeah i live in England and have seem Clichy/Sagna all season too. I dont mind Clichy not being in the squad because Evra has had a better season, but Sagna should have been a no-brainer.
Yea i think we can take Holland, but Doms really needs to lift this team and replace a player or 2. Can he do that…
ANNABELLE:
i totally agree with you. and i also like that formation. thats definitely what we should’ve gone with.
as steph said, of course, the fullbacks issue is a difficult one, and they weren’t necessarily the problem. we’ve played well and been dynamic with abidal and sagnol before. and in fact, abidal played comparitively well. comparitively of course.
but evra and clerc would be my prefered fullback pairing – and definitely against romania who weren’t exactly going to terrify our fullbacks with their attacking wings…
Maybe it would have been better for France if they had not got to the final in the last World Cup. Domenech would have been sacked and by now there would have been a coach in charge that does not waste the tons of talent and class France has with tactical mindfucks like two defensive midfielders against Romania (in a group containing Italy and Netherlands) and Abidal and Malouda wasting the left side.
Ethan,
Hold on. Don’t stop going on about Sagna and Clichy. Those are two top, top players. At the end of this thing, if France don’t win it, if they continue to under-perform, it won’t be because there aren’t French players who are good enough, it will be because Domenech bottled things badly. I’m going to keep bringing it up again and again: where are Clichy and Sagna, and what else do they have to do to get into the side? Maybe Sagna is too injured to play, I think it’s hard to know. I suspect he would have been fine to play by this time. Sagna, himself, described his exclusion as bizarre, and I’m inclined to agree.
All of that said, if Domenech pulls out the victory, which I think is still a distinct possibility, I won’t beat up on him too badly.
what worries me ths most is that Doms wont make any real changes. that he’ll feel we’re already too far down the line to change things too much. i mean we’re all sitting here saying the same thing, why are we playing with such a cautious approach??? but we’ve been playing like that for years now…so is he reallygoing to change now? i can see him just replacing Toulalan with Vieira and Anelka with Henry. I don’t know if that’s going to be enough.
I dont know im in a bit of a down mood today, probably cause now that all the teams I feel we clearly disappointed the most. I know Italy got crushed but that’s almost due to the Dutch playing so well. And Italy had good chances too.
Don’t let us down Friday!!!
I can understand why we have had two ‘defensive’ midfielders in the team, we have had some pretty substantial candidates there, Deschamps, Makelele and Vieira…we were always likely to try and play them…but to play two defensive players when we were playing in a group with Italy and Holland, AND against a team such as Romania who were clearly overjoyed with a draw, just to me seems crazy! Toulalan has scored 1 goal in his whole professional career!
As for Abidal, can someone tell me why he is in the team? Evra is 10 times as good as him, Abidal just seems awkward, he is tall, but does he really add much to the defence? Look at how Van Bronkhorst played for Holland, getting forward, and thus, creating space for the teams more creative players. If you have two defensive midfielders, you HAVE to have attacking fullbacks, unless you have a massive creative force such as Zidane, which sadly France do not longer have. The problem we had against Romania was that there was no momentum going forward, Romania’s defensive players could afford to maintain their positions, our players were static, their wingers could afford to drop back and help out fullbacks as they knew that our fullbacks were not a real attacking threat. Hopefully, miraculously, Domenech will change things for the Holland game. Allez les bleus!
Abidal…sigh. Side by side, Evra is certainly better. But, Evra doesnt have one thing Abidal does: he hasnt played for Doms the last year and a half! This is another classic example of Doms favouritism. He’s so stubborn sometimes. It’s a shame. Abidal’s not bad, he’s great athletically and he when he gets forward, Ive seen him be effective. But if Doms is reigning in our fullbacks well it wont matter much who we have. That being said, Evra is better going forward, he would add that little bit extra we were missing.