How playstation gave me the idea for Les Bleus

Ok I will admit that I have been playing Fifa 07 on my PS2 to feed my footie fix (my team had an off day on Sunday due to Labor Day) and as I was playing I came to realization that Domenech or hopefully the new manager...wink wink....post Belgrade should learning something from one of the formation that I like to use in Fifa - the 4-1-2-1-2, basically the 1-2-1 plays in a diamond formation in the midfield, see the figure below:



Here is why the new manager...wink wink....should think about this formation:

• Do we really need 2 holding midfielders? Diarra and Toulalan seem to be overkill. I realize that some would argue, well Zidane played with THREE holding midfielders - Petit, Deschamps, Karembeu - however I would state that first Zidane was a special talent (understatement alert) and was able to function with this time of freedom and space. Additionally, Petit and Karembeu were, what I would consider, hybrid holding midfielders. Both had a high work rate, both were not afraid to push up and help offensively, while both were not goal scorers (7 total goals between the two under the France jersey) they had the ability to pressure the opponent's penalty box. Petit of the two, had a decent shot from distance. Toulalan is much more in the Makelele role - work hard, tackle, and win the ball -but offensively lacking. This worked well when Makelele was shouldering Vieira, a player that can score and does score. I think that Diarra has the chance to be more like Vieira than Makelele - more offensive than the tackling machine that is Makelele. However in the current form, I do not see why Les Bleus need the additional holding midfielder.
• This formation calls upon your right and left fullback to make deep runs offensively to bring width to your formation...Evra/Clichy/Sagna/Fanni/Abidal all the options at full back have the ability to bring width to the offense. One thing I noticed during the Romania game was the ability for Sagna and Evra to jump into the play offensively offering crosses and offensive pressure when need be. With the diamond formation, there should be more space on the wide channels for Evra and Sagna to push up the field.
• The top of the formation, top of the midfield diamond and the 2 strikers, gives Les Bleus greater flexibility to have more of their talent on the pitch - Gourcuff sitting behind Henry/Anelka? Or Henry/Benzema...or Gignac/Henry....the ability to have a striker tandem up front allows for more offensive talent on the pitch.
• Allowing to have Henry slot higher, but still on the left, allows Les Bleus to slot a Ribery back on the left side of the midfield, or have Malouda on the left and Ribery on the right, but with more room to work with. With a player like Malouda, who came up as a full back, you have a player that understands the importance of defending and back tracking. There are also options to have Ribery on the left and a Remy or Luyindula on the right side of the diamond.

Granted, this formation takes some muscle out of the midfield, but with more offensive talent on the pitch it should pressure opponents and score more goals than in this current formation. Players like Lass will have increased responsibilities defensively, however also more freedom to push up the pitch, similar to what he did with Portsmouth and now with Real Madrid. Ribery and Malouda would have more room to be creative in the midfield, and Gourcuff would be pushed higher with 2 offensive options at his disposal.

Just an idea for France's new manager....