World Cup 2010, the next 9 months for Les Bleus.

An interesting blog post from one of the France Football blogs. I think many of the points are well made and hold some truth. The team has played with little perceived passion during the entire qualifying campaign. Should the French manager bear all the responsibility for the poor form for Les Bleus? Yes....a bit harsh...maybe. However let us look at the body of work and why to me, he is the main problem.

As I have stated on many occasions, Domenech does not do well in the following categories - tactics, player selection, game management and intangibles...there might be more...but let us look at each category:

I will start with Tactics because the players one selects and the way one manages a game. Every manager has their style - do they want to have 2 strikers? 4 midfielders? a sweeper? etc etc. However most managers worth their weight are adaptable based on their opponents and players to pull from...Domemech seems oblivious to this concept. Look at Aragones and Spain, they recognized that they had depth and strength in the midfield and adjusted their formations accordingly. They were the class of the Euros by playing a 4-1-4-1 formation. They recognized that Senna could provide the cover for the Iniesta - Xavi axis in the middle with Cesc, Silva and Alonso bolstering the middle and Torres acting as the point of the spear. Clearly Aragones identified that his strength were the Barcelona duo of Iniesta - Xavi with Torres up front and he developed his tactics around these players.

Contrast this to Domenech, he decided to go with a 4-2-3-1 when he had Zizou pulling the strings in the midfield and a healthy Pat Vieira as one of the holding players. Very different now when there is no Zidane and still depth at holding midfield but no one that brings the offensive side that Vieira did. If you did an audit of Les Bleus here is what you would have - lots of holding midfielders, few traditional #10s (When Zizou was playing you also had Micoud and Pires would could slot in at that position), few wingers and depth at striker. But rather than adapt his tactics, Domenech continues to play as if he had Zidane and Vieira and then forces two of his strikers to play deeper as wingers - Henry and Anelka. Having two holding midfield players works...if one of them is a "box to box" player, a player that can carry the ball, make the final pass and score goals...neither Toulalan nor Lass fit this mold. Without a Vieira type, you start getting big spaces between the offense and defense. Without traditional wide player who are accustomed to play in the midfield those gaps only get worse, you do not have players who are used to being wide on the pitch, understand when they need to track back and have a good relationship with the backs that are on their side. Maybe a 4-3-3...get your strength on the pitch - your strikers. Let a Gourcuff play deeper with players such as Malouda, LDiarra, Toulalan, Diaby or ADiarra to shoulder him. This would be especially good when you are playing teams that are going to defend with 10 players behind the ball!! Like Lithuania, Faroe Islands...the inability of Domenech to adapt his tactics to the situation and opponent is concerning.

This leads to Player Selection. France have such a deep pool of players to pick from, yet Domenech seems to have the vision of a gnat when it comes to this. He picks players that are hurt - Ribery, Diaby...he drops players and then picks them up again for no clear reason for the original banishment - Malouda. He banishes players - Mexes, Giuly, Pires, Frey, Landreau and Trezeguet. He keeps calling up players for a "cup of coffee" and then never looks at them again - Savidan (he also has a heart problem so has had to retire) and Rami. He constantly picks players that should not be selected - Govou and Boumsong. Granted I realize that there are 60 million "national team managers" in France, but when it comes to picking the right players, consistently, I think Domenech leaves much to be desired.

Of course his Game Management...is awful. I heard an environmentalist on France 2 news making the following statement "He appears afraid to let his players play." I completely AGREE!! He mentioned this in regards to the World Cup finals, when Domenech brought on Trezegol late in the match when clearly the Italians were in trouble. I have called out many games where his management was terrible - qualifier in Israel: Trez gets a red card, France up 1-0 down a man...he brings no one on until it is level - recent game in Dublin...um use a sub to give your players a break and get fresh legs out there - Euro 2008 against Italy after losing Abidal, needing a win...he takes off Nasri for Boumsong - in many friendlies he refuses to bring on players, allow them to test themselves under different situations....he seems to have a stubborn streak to the way he manages his players and the game. Had he been the France manager in 2000 at the Euro finals he would have probably brought on defenders and holding midfielders late in the game when France were chasing the equalizer!

As for the Intangibles...where to start. He is terrible with regards to communication...proposing to your girlfriend on live tv when you just crashed out of the Euros? Being smug with the press in general? How about angering club managers such as Mourinho and Wenger? Not good.

Mourinho "crying" after hearing a Domenech press conference :



Domenech's row with Mourinho stems from how he handled Makelele...which really was terrible. If a player wants to retire, let him, if you want him back use some persuasion and discussion rather than do what Domenech did which is threaten the player if he does not show up. Real good for morale.

Take all these together and you get the picture of a poor manager a bad leader. I know the argument goes as follows: these are high paid athletes who play a game we would all do for free so they should shut up and perform. Problem is the following, with regards to the money they make, yes it is obscene, but they need to be compared with their peers not with normal citizens like me. The fact they make a lot of money compared to me....A LOT MORE...does not mean that they make so much more than their peers that they should feel more pressure to perform. Second to reach their level they have to be incredibly driven and motivated, natural talent only gets you so far. Finally, think about when you worked for a bad boss, a CEO who might micromanage, a boss who might do much behind closed doors, gives you no direction, no motivation, no tangible goals...what does that do? It saps moral and harms performances. Why is that any different from a football team? Whether it is a Ligue 2 squad or the national team. That is the responsibility of the manager. That falls squarely on their shoulders.

Look at the great national team managers - Hiddink, Scolari, Trapattoni, Milutinovic...they lead, they get the most out of average teams as well as the most out of teams loaded with talent and egos. Domenech does neither. And for that the burden falls entirely on his shoulders. Yes he does not make the passes, defend, score, run, kick, dribble...but he leads.