France starting 11.

[navid90]

look at arsenal since adebayor came in henry has a lot more freedom and works off of adebaeyors height and physical presence. if mr.domenech can use trezeguet as wenger uses adebeyor then were talking money. w/ saha and henry u have no physical presence nor any arial presence up front.

[lefutur]

Liverpool wins the FA Cup and Djibril Cisse bangs in another goal.

He's got to be feeling a bit better about his chances for Germany.

[Nanbawan]

I won't jump on Ray for this one. Saha, Cissé, no easy choice. You have to eliminate an asset there. C'est la vie.

[Juanbuix]

Domenech is a poor coach and has no clue in selection and strategy! I'd play France like:

---------------- Henry/Trez----------------

--- Malouda/Anelka ------- Giully/Wiltord------

-------------- Zidane/Henry------------------
------- Makelele ---------- Vieira -------------

Abidal/Gallas -- Givet/Gallas -Thuram --Sagnon/Reveilier

[navid90]

u seem very decisive. henry as attacking mid?

[R9magia]

I am trying to find out what the main teams in the WC's (Argentina, Holland, Portugal, Spain, France, Germany, Italy, Czech, England) projected starting line-ups will be for at least the opening game of the World Cup now that the final call-ups have been made. I already know most of them but now I need to know what the projected starting line-up will be for Le Bleu.

I guess there may be no definite or right answer, but I just need an idea.

My guess:

-------------Barthez-------------
-------Thurman--Gallas-----------
Sagnol------------------Abidal----
--------Vieira---Makelele---------
------------Zidane---------------
--Wiltord--------------Henry-----
-----------Trezeguet????????????

Also, what was the line-up in the last friendly game and what will it be in the next friendly if anybody knows. Thanks in advance.

EDIT: One more question. What player that was left out most deserved to be on the squad? Was it Giuly?

[Nanbawan]

EDIT: One more question. What player that was left out most deserved to be on the squad? Was it Giuly?

On current form, Giuly but the most 'betrayed' of all is Anelka...

[schafer]

On current form, Giuly but the most 'betrayed' of all is Anelka...

What's Anelka scoring record like for the NT? How has he performed in the past compared to Cisse or Saha, or even Trezeguet?

[sl7vk]

I am trying to find out what the main teams in the WC's (Argentina, Holland, Portugal, Spain, France, Germany, Italy, Czech, England) projected starting line-ups will be for at least the opening game of the World Cup now that the final call-ups have been made. I already know most of them but now I need to know what the projected starting line-up will be for Le Bleu.

I guess there may be no definite or right answer, but I just need an idea.

My guess:

-------------Barthez-------------
-------Thurman--Gallas-----------
Sagnol------------------Abidal----
--------Vieira---Makelele---------
------------Zidane---------------
--Wiltord--------------Henry-----
-----------Trezeguet????????????

Also, what was the line-up in the last friendly game and what will it be in the next friendly if anybody knows. Thanks in advance.

EDIT: One more question. What player that was left out most deserved to be on the squad? Was it Giuly?

This looks as good as any. Possibly Malouda on the left and Henry playing alone up front instead of Trez....

[Nanbawan]

What's Anelka scoring record like for the NT? How has he performed in the past compared to Cisse or Saha, or even Trezeguet?

Far better than Saha with the NT as of yet anyway ! And he's far more versatile than Cissé though don't read me wrong, I understand why Ray took these two and they did not steal their places either.

Yet, your post seems to indicate that you haven't followed closely the French NT recently, Anelka was recalled from the oblivion of the dark premises of the Giudecca inferno circle for the last string of friendlies only. I thought : 'cool, let's see what he can do after his exile' ; and like many other I was amazed on how much he seemed to be able to bring to the team both on an individual and collective perpective. A good performance he's been capable of repeating. IMO, he deserved to go but what's very harsh is to dump a player whom you gave a solid and serious hope to.

[Nanbawan]

This looks as good as any. Possibly Malouda on the left and Henry playing alone up front instead of Trez....

It's likely that there may be a permutation of some sort between these two schemes.

[Metropolitan]

After the France vs Mexico game, I think many of the starting players become undisputable at their post, especially in defence. Obviously a defence made of Sagnol, Thuram, Gallas and Abidal is the best we can afford, and that's very solid.

Furthermore I would say that Vieira and Makelele had proven at that game that they were complementary. Hence I finally think I would play with both.

As for the forwards, that's getting trickier. Well, I'm not sure Trezeguet is an undisputable starter. Let me be clear on this, Trezeguet hasn't desappointed and he plays great, but the problem is that he doesn't really defend, and knowing that our players are aging, it can become a problem to play with only 10 players once on defensive mode (I should even say 9 knowing Zidane doesn't defend much either).

All in all, here is the starting line-up I would have.

Sagnol - Thuram - Gallas - Abidal
Makelele ---- Vieira
Wiltord -- Zidane -- Malouda
Henry

Substitutes :
Wiltord ==> Ribery
Malouda ==> Trezeguet (playing beside Henry)
Vieira ==> Diarra

Well, I've put Wiltord and Malouda beside Zidane, but they would actually play slightly more offensively, especially Wiltord. What do you think ?

[sl7vk]

I like your lineup, but am really leaning towards a Ribery for Wiltord switch. Ribery just adds so much, I think it's criminal to not have him on the pitch.