The Good:
- Holland was very good, how else can you explain FOUR GOALS...there I go again. Van Basten, at least for the first 2 games, has found the right formula. Being able to bring in Van Persie and Robben for the last 30 minutes is huge. Both players barely played this season so they are the freshest players at the Euros! I hope Wenger sells Van Persie because I cannot stand seeing him under the Arsenal colors after what he did to Les Bleus. Van Nistelidiot is playing like a young Cruyff, the ball he saved on the touch line which led to goal #2 was spectacular, the stuff of playground lore.
- Hmmm where to start.....Domenech is a good place to begin. The French manager continues to baffle me. I have made it clear that I was not keen on some of the players he selected, but that is not the point for this match. Here are some areas I think Domenech
was exposed for during this 4-1 drubbing. First his substitution of Gomis for Malouda. I know that Gomis has wowed everyone with his two wonder strikes for his first cap, however Domenech has constantly had Henry-Benzema-Ribery playing together during the tune up games....the first game he has a chance to run out this trio and instead he leaves the young Lyon prodigy on the bench?? After Benzema had been warming up for an hour. Not sure that makes any sense from a game standpoint and from the psyche of the players. Second he decision to bring on Anelka for Govou...um at that point you were down by 2 goals, the only chance you have is to throw on more offensive players for either Toulalan or Makelele...maybe even go with 3 at the back. But substituting offense for offense, when you already were not generating the offense needed makes no sense. One thing if the game is even or if you are only down a goal. Finally, okay I said I would not, but the fact he left a player like Ben Afra or even Rothen at home did not give Domenech the flexibility of bringing in a true left wing player to allow his team width and to change the game. Anelka has bags of pace and ability, but he is not a true left winger. Domenech was fortunate in 2006 that Zidane took over and willed Les Bleus to the finals, he was fortunate that Scotland inexplicably lost to Georgia in Euro qualifiers, yet with all these chances he always appeared too smug for his own good and that is coming back to haunt him. - Thuram - Gallas, these two players have over 200 caps between them and have been the anchor for the French back line the past few years, so how is it that all of a sudden they look like the could not even play for my O30 footie league? They both seemed out of sorts, took bad angles and did not seem to know what to do against the waves of Oranje descending on their goal.
- Maybe it is me, but I felt Coupet looked terrible. You cannot place too much blame on him for the first goal, although the ball was struck near post within his 5 yard box....maybe he needs to attack that ball. But he looked disinterested and defeated on the other goals. Granted he was not getting too much help from his defense but something tells me that Cech, Buffon, or Iker would have made better showings.
- I think Ribery looks tired, he still has flashes of brilliance and makes some great runs but overall he appears to be lacking a gear that he had 2 years ago and all season with Bayern. Even earlier this season in a friendly against England he looking much fresher, much more assertive. Maybe it is the pressure, he is seen as the focal point for Les Bleus. During the World Cup he was a piece of the puzzle, this time he is the fulcrum for the team.
- The entire French team....FOUR GOALS??? I mean please....I gave up four goals earlier this season and I was EMBARRASSED, but when you are a national team who has won 2 European cups and a World Cup, whose players are sought after by ever major club team, who leaves players such as Mexes, Escude, Sagna, Clichy, Trezeguet, Flamini, Ben Afra, Cisse at home because you have outrageous talent and you take 4 GOALS in a major tournament in a game you must get points from...that is not just ugly but down right EMBARRASSING. This could go down as one of the worst tournaments for Les Bleus, rivaling the 2002 world cup where they did not even register a goal.
- France's heart, I am sure some readers will snicker and make jokes about France surrendering again etc etc, but Les Bleus have always had heart. Whether it was Platini's teams of the 80s battling Germany in two world cup semi finals, or Zidane's teams never giving up until the final minute, or even the teams that rose from the ashes of not going to USA 1994 France always showed heart and a fighting spirit. Unfortunately I do not see the same in this team.
What I think will happen - France and Italy will play a game for the ages with Les Bleus winning on a last minute tap in from Gallas to win 3-2, unfortunately Van Basten will pull a Germany 1982 and loose a "friendly" game 1-0 seeing both Holland and Romania through.
At least I have already starting thinking about my postmortem for Les Bleus, I should have plenty of time after Tuesday to write it.....
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