French tragedy - et tu brute?

The word out of the France camp is that Domenech has succumbed to pressure from the veterans and they are going to stick with the 4-2-3-1. The tragic part is that Gourcuff, apparently, has been forced to the bench and in his place the Malouda - Ribery - Anlka middle 3 with Henry up front has been "preferred." According to the Sport24.com blog, this was done more via politicking rather than sound tactics and strategy.

What the commentator contends is that there has been a mini-coup inside the French camp. The veterans: Abidal, Gallas, Ribery and Malouda all lobbied, successfully it would appear, to get Henry back on the pitch as a starter to the detriment of Gourcuff. If there is any element of truth to this statement, and there definitely has been plenty of smoke around that fire, it is a sad element to this World Cup. Further indication of the complete lack of leadership exhibited by Domenech. There have been rumors that in training the team is about to implode - players refuse to speak to one another, do not pass to specific teammates, Gallas giving the silent treatment after being passed over for captain (even though he was vice-captain) and there is an overall malaise blanketing the team. Again, take those reports with a grain of salt, but many times where there is smoke there is at least a small camp fire. Throw into the mix the rumor that Domenech went to Barcelona to tell Henry that he would not be a starter but if he was okay with that and wanted to come he would be selected for the squad....really?  I respect a manager being open with his players, but to ask whether or not he wanted to come? Either you have a use for the player or not. You communicate with the player telling him how you want to use him and that is it. I did not realize the national team was open to Athens style debating.

So the inmates are running the asylum...not really a surprise. Reading these stories makes me sad and angry at the same time. Every national side is full of egos, every player that plays for countries such as France are superstars in their own right, yet only for France do the players seem to run amok. If half of these stories are true, part of me hopes Les Bleus crash out of this World Cup so we can turn the keys over to Laurent Blanc, who will have a huge task, but he clearly has more backbone than Domenech. I think Blanc will know how to instill the right system, select the right players and control the egos - he cannot be worse than Domenech!

I can no longer blame Domenech, he is limited by his stubbornness and complete lack of ability. I have to blame the FFF and Escalettes for keeping Inspector Clouseau on this long as the manager. You reap what you sow.