France keep up their tradition of infighting
France v Spain, June 23, 7.45pm
June 23 ~ Another tournament, another row in the France camp. Followers of les Bleus who felt internal bust-ups had been left behind at the 2010 World Cup will have to think again. Two years ago, Nicolas Anelka was sent home after expletives he launched at coach Raymond Domenech made it on to the front page of sports daily L'Equipe. There were unsubstantiated rumours that midfielder Yoann Gourcuff was the victim of bullying at the hands of other squad members. So the story that broke this week had a familiar ring.
Thursday's L'Equipe revealed an angry exchange of words between coach Laurent Blanc and Hatem Ben Arfa followed France's 2-0 defeat to Sweden. The paper said Blanc scolded Ben Arfa for using his phone in the dressing-room. Ben Arfa snapped back that Blanc had been wrong to substitute him and could send him home if he wanted.
The paper also detailed a clash between Alou Diarra and Samir Nasri. Diarra – one of the squad's older players and a former captain – criticised his team-mates for their lack of motivation and tactical discipline. Nasri told him to speak more politely.
Florent Malouda admitted the players launched verbal "missiles" as tensions rose. "Yes, things got a bit heated," admitted Blanc on Wednesday. "These things happen in a dressing-room, especially after a defeat. It shows there's a bit of a spark. I hope there'll be a spark on the pitch against Spain."
What is perhaps most surprising is that more people did not flag up the potential for conflict before the tournament. Ben Arfa, Karim Benzema and Nasri are members of the "1987 Generation" that were tipped for greatness for more than a decade, but chippiness is always near the surface.
Ben Arfa was argumentative at first club Lyon to the point that he and Benzema were barely on speaking terms when Ben Arfa left for Marseille. Nasri fell out with William Gallas at Euro 2008, then refused to speak to the centre-half at Arsenal or shake hands after Gallas moved to Tottenham.
Ben Arfa and Nasri may have time to ruminate on the bench against Spain. The Newcastle winger disappointed against Sweden and is expected to make way for Jeremy Menez for Saturday's quarter-final. L'Equipe have suggested that Nasri slows France's attacks. The Manchester City midfielder made an average of 3.7 touches in possession against Sweden. Only three times out of 50 did he release the ball first time.
Blanc is nicknamed "le President". He'll need all his political nous for France to upset the holders. James Eastham
To be honest, I was quite hopeful before the tournament about our performance levels and general attitude.
We were playing not too badly, we were on a run of undefeated matches, including against top opposition, our best players were starting to care and perform (Ribéry and Benzema particularly). And most of all : we seemed to be a cohesive unit
How disappointing it has been since. The draw vs England was not too bad : we were erratic for the first 30 minutes, but largely controlled the game after Lescott's goal. The players seemed to really care and want to win, and Les Bleus were largely acclaimed for their attitude on the pitch, if not the final score which was disappointing given how poor England were. Then Ukraine, an excellent all-round performance : generally good defending, good attacking, many opportunities carved, two very well-taken goals... Nothing to complain about.
And finally Sweden. The cracks finally appeared and quickly transformed into huge wounds as we surrendered. The sense of entitlement came back as if it was never gone.
There are talks about a 2-year suspension for Nasri, and 4-match bans for Menez, Ben Arfa and M'vila. The most depressing thing is that I genuinely think they don't really care.
I'm very disappointed... Blanc had made some very good work until now, but it has been largely undone by a lack of collective awareness from (mostly) our attacking midfielders who, if you look quickly at the line-up, seem to have a cumulative IQ inversely proportional to their huge wages.
Just a special positive mention to :
- Lloris, who was generally brilliant in spite of defending behind a generally good but unfit Mexes and that shambles of a player Rami
- Ribéry, albeit being average he tried a lot and couldn't be faulted for having a bad attitude, as opposed to several teammates.
- Cabaye, for being very good for the 3 matches he played in (no wonder we surrendered possession against Sweden, he was not here battling for every ball).
Bienvenue, NFF.
Liberation had a longish piece on the squad's antics in and around the Spain match, and it's hard not to conclude that the players you note honestly do not give a monkey's about the national team.
I think that one might need some professional psychological help in order to come up with a list of possible reasons for that disaffection.
Thanks ursus, I've just read the Liberation article.
It's reported a bit like a tabloid, however it makes an interesting read - mostly because I care about our national team.
As you said, you have to wonder how they were educated in terms of professionalism. I went to several PSG games this season and during 2012 Menez was brilliant for the club, making a lot of runs behind the defense, willing to take a lot of knocks (and win penalty kicks) and generally sacrifice for the team, helping to rack points at a quicker pace.
I was first sceptical when PSG bought him, and I thought he proved me wrong after the turn of 2012.
Seems his "old demons", to paraphrase Malouda, caught up with him...as well as Nasri, Ben Arfa and the other usual suspects.
Well, in the 90's you left out Cantona, Ginola, Loko, etc. and still had the quality to win a World Cup & Euro 2000... Perhaps there's still enough quality out there so that Nasri et al can be dropped for good.
Merci, TNFF for the commentaries above. Yes, I thought that goalkeeper Lloris did okay. His demeanor seemed fine, and I guess he did his best to keep a bit of a smile and brave face on a team that was (again) ready to implode.
I do hope that this was Nasri's last. If Blanc leaves (will he?), I suspect, what, we'll have a new FFF Manager who will give Nasri a chance again....The point is very well made by itzagonga that France got on just fine without Eric Cantona and then Davide Ginola. No manager should be beholden to self-centered, self-interested, petty, immature, mouthy louts.
Should have denied three or four of them any berths on the plane flight back to Paris. Make 'em walk back would be my choice.
May I ask for viewpoints and assessments on the play of (still) OSC Lille player Mathieu Debuchy. The bits I saw had him doing very well.
I recently was directed by a friend to a YouTube video of Debuchy visiting his old youth club to do a training session with the boys there now. I liked this video. It brought back memories of just exactly what my youth club (changing room, bumpy pitch, old coach) looked like. Debuchy seemed the decent fellow as he offered tips, pats, encouragement and ran about in drills with the lads.
I hope he was not involved in any of the immature behaviors. Maybe he can be part of a new, better French side.
Last: It has been reported that another of the poor behaviors on full display for the disbelieving French back home in France was Giroud? (Menez? I think Menez) doing some very poor gesture or insult of full disrespect to team captain GK Lloris in that final match with Spain. Can anyone clarify what took place there? Thank you.
as a gooner nasri's behaviour wasn't at all surprising. i hope fckarl is wrong about giroud. i thought debuchy was second only to the surprisingly more mature ribery on this ultimately very disappointing team which i expected to go further, much further - i should have placed more importance on the potential influence of nasri on team disruption. cheers, mark
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