FRANCE vs MEXICO (27th May) [R]

[Nanbawan]

OK, let me repeat it, you guys draw far too much conclusions from this game alone !

[Elisa Uranga]

The Mexican defense is solid. Osvaldo in goal is superb. Need to work on the attack from the midfield to the forwards. But excellent game. Mexico is ready for the big boys.

[Metropolitan]

I've read your comments and the thing you should not forget is that this was a preparation game. Players have changed constantly and the purpose was obviously to test several combos.

None of you have mentionned it but I've personnally seen a strong difference of the French team quality between the 1st half and the 2nd half. While the French team completely dominated the first half, they couldn't keep the ball in the second half.

On second half, France had a weak midfield and a febrile defence. On the first half, both the defence and the midfield were strong.

I'm a lot satisfied about the starting defence : Sagnol and Abidal on the wings, Thuram and Gallas as stoppers. Makelele and Vieira as defensive midfielders have been also very satisfying. Thanks to that defensive block, we could launch attacks from the wings. Abidal and Malouda have been very complementary and very satisfying on the left wing. Sagnol was really good on the right wing. That's the major good point of the game. Those players make a solid defence which is able to keep the ball and to launch attacks. As for the attacks, Ribery and Malouda has been very satisfying. Wiltord has been also good.

As for the bad points, well obviously our substitutes are less good than our starting players. Furthermore, our team have difficulties to stay fit during 90 minutes. Those are both major deceptions (even if we already knew it somewhere). As weird as it sounds, Zidane wasn't especially great in first half, but the midfield has collapsed once he was off.

That's it for my modest observations. I would also add that, while I still believe Trezeguet is a great player, I wonder if the team, as it is, is really made for him. Trezeguet stay too much in attack, he never defends. That's a problem knowing we have an old team getting exhausted fastly. I'm not sure we can afford to play at 10 in defensive mode. This being said, Trezeguet could be a key substitute.

[ilv2]

That's it for my modest observations. I would also add that, while I still believe Trezeguet is a great player, I wonder if the team, as it is, is really made for him. Trezeguet stay too much in attack, he never defends. That's a problem knowing we have an old team getting exhausted fastly. I'm not sure we can afford to play at 10 in defensive mode. This being said, Trezeguet could be a key substitute.

to address this point, i want to see how the henry-trezeguet partnership works with the current edf. Obviously, we've seen the partnership a billion times before but instead of two straight up strikers, we'll have a much more rounded attack if domenech allows henry to roam.

the comment about the halves and consequently the subs is spot on. Especially when we need creative input from the midfield, only ribery and wiltord can provide it. Granted, dhorasoo's stunningly awful performance maybe grants him some excuse (external reasons), but i have no doubt that he'll probably perform the same during the tournament.

[guignol]

metropolitan is right that you can't read to much into this match... thank god! mexico was not all that tough, so even if it was a win, it was hopefully, as domenech said, a practice session in the form of a match

my n° 1 observation was that zidane was not merely flat, or so-so... he was downright horrible, useless, catastrophic! he had no juice, not even enough to show any technique. he was very nearly as bad as vikash!

n° 2 is that with dhorasoo and boumsong, raymond has in effect only picked 21 players for germany. dhorasoo did well in blue... about a year ago. boumsong has never been anything but excruciating to watch, so their presence is a mystery.

reaction to different comments here is that fouls to stop attacks from developing is certainly not my cup of tea, but it is not limited to france, and unfortunately it's part of the game at this level. by not whistling play to a halt, at least the ref gives you a chance to break through them.

the reduced rhythm in the second half has to do with the status of the game as practice. it was clear that france wouldn't have anywhere near the legs mexico did, that was a given before kickoff, no use using it all up in a friendly.

to the sagnol praisers, i found him a bit flat. he was given incredible amounts of space by the tricolores, and made a good deal less use of it than is his wont. on defense he was reasonably good but all in all far from his normal game. c'mon, this is willy sagnol! normally he's not just "good"... on the other side, abidal was very good. he showed that the faith in him to hold down the left for france was not misplaced.

cissé and trez were not as bad as that... trez can't cross? neither can barthez! that's not their role. trez was right in position for two sweet balls from the wings... one didn't get to him, another he headed strongly, but to the keeper. two balls like that per half is all he needs to score 25 goals in seria A, that's his job.

[franco]

Looked like he was trying to control the ball with the studs of his boot and shield the ball away from the Mexican. What the hell was he thinking, it was badly timed that one. There was no intent to seriously hurt the player, it was a stupid thing to do, but I don't think he intentionaly set out to crack open the guy's shin.

...we will see if they get away with those sort of actions in the WC...i see that action like "hey you mexican, this is zidane's exit from france!, so chill out" type of thing...the message was understood by pavel, after that, he just kicked back...

[franco]

Nah he deserves a yellow card, a red card is too much for such a foul


...whatever...

[franco]

Overall a very interesting game. Sagnol, Abidal, and Malouda played very well. I would have never called up Dhorasoo to the Nats and now he proves his fitness. Mexico needs to play a little more rough and tough and physical imo. They played well but could not finish or attack. France controlled the game.

...agree, they need to be physical, but not necesarily on a friendly...

...yes, we could not finish but the second it was all mexico...it is all good, we needed wing action on the first so franco/borgetti could act (w/o that, they are nothing, especially borgetti cuz franco can do more)...

...our weapons are in place, we lost cuz lavolpe is trying to let everyone else we suck so they can be overconfident when they confront us...that is what i think he is thinking, he is not a dumbass to give our strategy away, i know for sure...

[franco]

Salcido? I liked him : fast and good defensive skills, in fact all your defenders were good, they have technical skills and are quite smart. My favourite (except Marquez) is Suarez, he's a very intelligent player. But your goalkeeper was impressive (Sanchez), I loved his aerial saves, really impressive. Too bad you made that mistake on Malouda's goal
...about suarez, i am not too sure if you saw how slow to come back he was, trezeguet gained at least a couple of balls on the spot...suarez thing is that he is old and the only thing good for him is experience, but i bet you on a one on one on the box, he would probably give away a pk...he covered one with zidane good cuz zidane is old as well, i cant see him covering henry or any other youngster in one on one situations...our coach saw that, that is why he took him out...

...our d-fence is good in general...sanchez, ozorio (even his mistake in the goal), marquez, salcido is tha bomb!...our mid and forwards are decent, lavolpe obviously did not want to forcast anything in this game, neither in the next against holland...we got our weapons...

[lefutur]

Some of the French players, especially Sagnol, don't think Les Bleus should play in Paris anymore because of the bratty fans. Sagnol thinks the friendlies should be played in St. Etienne where the crowd is more respectful and don't boo the home side. Thierry Henry was also very critical and said that English fans never boo their own team.

[franco]

Some of the French players, especially Sagnol, don't think Les Bleus should play in Paris anymore because of the bratty fans. Sagnol thinks the friendlies should be played in St. Etienne where the crowd is more respectful and don't boo the home side. Thierry Henry was also very critical and said that English fans never boo their own team.

...what is up with you guys?...i noticed that during the game, but dont worry in mexico is something similar...the funny thing is that you are supposed to be first world and allegedly more civilized:confused:

[Metropolitan]

Sagnol and Henry are perfectly right to be so harsh against those whistling. The fact the audience has paid its tickets and that footballers are "well-enough paid to play well" or all the crap we can hear are no decent excuses to forgive whistles.

Whistling your own players has only bad effects after all. Players don't feel they are supported by their crowd (which is something absolutely awful for a competition such as the World Cup) and it can even create or emphasize tensions inside the team. I hope the games at Lens and St-Etienne will be more respectful.

Now, I must also confess that Henry starts to annoy me with his British supporters being so great. I know he fell in love with the country and I fully respect that, especially with everything he has lived with Arsenal, but British supporters also have their bad sides. After all, we have fortunately no problem of hooliganism among French squad supporters. It's sometimes good to point out the bad sides of supporters, but it's also sometimes good to remember there are also good sides.

After all, if you want to build a relationship of confidence between both supporters and players, it should work both ways.

[guignol]

...what is up with you guys?...i noticed that during the game, but dont worry in mexico is something similar...the funny thing is that you are supposed to be first world and allegedly more civilized:confused:this is a purely paris thing. go figure :rolleyes:

[sl7vk]

Wow! Mexican fans complaining about physical play! What next, the United States accusing other countries of bypassing the UN!

[midknight]

Wow! Mexican fans complaining about physical play! What next, the United States accusing other countries of bypassing the UN!

Attention...political post. I got a whole thread shut down from an overzealous mod for one little remark on that whole UN deal because some idiot made a remark about france's track record in human rights (btw I don't even remember what match we were discussing:rolleyes: )


my n° 1 observation was that zidane was not merely flat, or so-so... he was downright horrible, useless, catastrophic! he had no juice, not even enough to show any technique. he was very nearly as bad as vikash!


My hats go off to you guignol. I can't believe 9 pages of posts and no one else picked it up. I guess thats what 'charisma' will do for you right :rolleyes:

[franco]

Wow! Mexican fans complaining about physical play! What next, the United States accusing other countries of bypassing the UN!

...your statements generalize and are simply childish...

...so i hope you are not including me in your stupid generalizations...me in particular, I was just stating facts and backing it up about one single play where two players were involved...my comments try to be objective, if not, follow me on this thread...i never said anything like: "all french players are dirty", did I?...

...the US comparison in regards to the UN has nothing to do with futbol...if anything, the french do the same as well as china, russia, and germany in bypassing the UN, but hell, everyone just wants to get a piece of the pie and that is cool with me...

...but you generalization is a bunch of nonsense...so take a shower, chilax, and update your zidane avatar with a more realistic one: the one which shows zidane is no longer for world cup competition, the one where he looks tired and ready to retire...truth hurts...

...respect to be respected, ok buddy?...

...how about more objectivity on the generalizations/comments next time?...:cool:

[guignol]

chill el caudillo, chill! ;)

[Fonsos]

...agree, they need to be physical, but not necesarily on a friendly...

You want it all in a Friendly. How you react to it is a great indicator of how you'll react in an actual match. The physical play you mention is nothing compared to what it will be like in an actual match. IMO, it wasn't very physical at all and I hope that't not a hidden excuse of saying that's why Mexico lost. Wait 'til you play the Netherlands on Friday if you think this was a physical match.


...yes, we could not finish but the second it was all mexico...it is all good, we needed wing action on the first so franco/borgetti could act (w/o that, they are nothing, especially borgetti cuz franco can do more)...


The second half wasn't all Mexico. I've seen this match twice. You may say a more even match but definitely not all Mexico by any stretch of the imagination.


...our weapons are in place, we lost cuz lavolpe is trying to let everyone else we suck so they can be overconfident when they confront us...that is what i think he is thinking, he is not a dumbass to give our strategy away, i know for sure...

For your sake, I hope you have more than "weapons" than what we all saw Saturday against a France team that just came down from the mountains for a friendly and that didn't start their #1 combo of Trezeguet and Henry. You have some problems to resolve in the midfield and in controlling the game. It's also Mexico's first friendly in Europe - I think, so I usually like to give a pass on first matches due to a need to acclimate et al. Do us all a favor and stop with the whining about physical play. As a US and France fan, Mexico is the last team that should complain about physical play.

[guignol]

The physical play you mention is nothing compared to what it will be like in an actual match. IMO, it wasn't very physical at all... Wait 'til you play the Netherlands on Friday if you think this was a physical match.claro hombre! and there's plenty that even make the dutch look like choirboys!
The second half wasn't all Mexico. I've seen this match twice. You may say a more even match but definitely not all Mexico by any stretch of the imagination.they had the ball, but mainly because france had no juice, which we all knew would be the case even before kickoff. to say it was "all mexico", you have to at least make barthez touch the ball a couple of times.

now here's where i make you both mad ;) ...

watching the match i didn't retain a singe name from the mexican team. all i could think of was that the only thing more ludicrous than the USA being ranked 5th by FIFA... was mexico being 4th! :rolleyes:

[Metropolitan]

It's true that Mexico has desappointed me during that game on saturday. I do believe that Mexico had a serious problem in attack. Even once we've put substitutes in defence (Boumsong, Silvestre), I don't recall any shot from Mexico outside a couple which have been sent to the sky.