Sunday, September 19, 2010

Nothing to see here....Gourcuff states there is no animosty between himself and Ribery

One of the worst soap operas from the summer - did Ribery lead a bullying of France golden boy Gourcuff? According to the Lyon player there was not animosity between he and the Bayern Munich winger. Does this matter? All that counts is what happens when and if Blanc calls up both midfielders to the French national team and how they co-exist on the pitch. The interesting situation is that neither player is guaranteed to have a starting role with Les Bleus. Malouda seems to be firmly entrenched on the left side while if Blanc sticks with a 4-3-3 I am not sure if Gourcuff slots in the middle of the midfield 3.

Will be interesting to see what happens when the next round of internationals come around.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

At the moment, Nasri is in form, and Gourcuff is not. If Blanc chooses a formation requiring a playmaker, the first choice might very well be Nasri (barring injury) instead of Gourcuff.

Anonymous said...

(and keep Valbuena on the right)

GFC said...

I agree, although he might look to keep the success of the last formation with 3 more defensive midfielders - ADiarra, M'Vila and Diaby patrolling the middle and call upon Malouda and Valbuena to provide the link with Benzema - almost like the "Christmas tree" formation. That would allow Les Bleus to defend very high and really pressure the opponents ability to dictate the pace of the game.

It will be nice to see what Blanc does once he has all his options available to him.

Anonymous said...

yeah, that would be an interesting option. The good thing about Blanc is that he is tactically flexible. France could play any number of formations depending on the opponent and the form of the players available.