 |
| Injury bug lingers over Ribery for past few seasons |
How fast a player's fortune can change. Up to Ribery to get himself and his game back on track, otherwise he has no one to blame but himself.
Welcome to the "Frog," my little piece of cyberspace to talk about my passion - le foot (or soccer for my North American friends) especially anything around French football. Of course I will have some guest contributors that might want to discuss other aspects of footy! I support Les Bleus, Arsenal and PSG but really just love watching, analyzing and following the beautiful game. "You have to trust your teammates, always. If not we are lost."
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Ribery's star continues to fall...might his international career be over as well?
The mercurial French winger was called out by his club coach after a supposed poor effort during a Bayern Munich friendly. Saying that Ribery showed little effort and was lacking in terms of physical preparation, the winger does not seem to be on the path of revitalizing his career any time soon. After the prostitute scandal over the summer, a terrible showing in South Africa both on and off the field and a string of injuries, the once savior for the French national team now appears to fade away into the oblivion of fallen super stars. There is no guarantee that Blanc will look to the former Marseilles any time soon for France.
Why? During the Domenech era there was always an issue of how to appease the winger with his insistence on playing on the left - where Henry and Malouda were also making cases for being. Unlike 2006 when Ribery was the "young pup" on the World Cup squad and accepted his role as the team's right winger, with Malouda on the left and Zizou in the middle, the last two seasons under Domenech, Ribery constantly lobbied to be on the left. This lobbying for selfish reasons, ignoring the betterment of the team hung like a led balloon over the team during the run up to the World Cup. Couple this with what happened in Knysna and his suppose behavior towards Gourcuff and you have a player that has spiraled out of control. Domenech is out and now we have a real manager - Blanc. In addition there are many options for France on the left flank - Malouda, Menez, N'Zogbia to name a few. Blanc will also not tolerate any lobbying to play on the left if it is at the detriment of the team...so will Ribery be back in the set up for Les Bleus? I think that if he is healthy and gets some good run with Bayern Munich he will figure in the set up with France, but clearly the player that was once regarded as the savior for France is not longer a shoe in for Les Bleus.
How fast a player's fortune can change. Up to Ribery to get himself and his game back on track, otherwise he has no one to blame but himself.
How fast a player's fortune can change. Up to Ribery to get himself and his game back on track, otherwise he has no one to blame but himself.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
Amazing how he was playing in a low league then became a world class player like that. Sad how he is falling just as fast.
I agree, but he is still in the prime of his career so has time to res-erect his career. He clearly still has the talent in his boots, it is what he has between the ears that counts.
If he has any brains at all (and that is a big if), he would agree to play on the right. Malouda is now the shoe-in on the left.
Of all the managers, Blanc might be able to convince him to play on the right for the betterment of the team...as well as the fact that Malouda is firmly entrenched on the left. Otherwise I am not sure if Ribery will find himself back with Les Bleus any time soon.
Post a Comment