Is Mexès's style too aggressive for France?

[SuperSebGrimaldi]

Hey everybody,

As many of you know, I have long been an advocate that Philippe Mexès should be a fixture in our national side, as in my opinion, he has all the skills to be the best central defender we've had in a while. However, in light of his disciplinary record (we can say that he has a decent card collection of yellows and reds), which includes this evening's sending off (though I think it was unjustified), is his gladiator style too aggressive for him to be a starter in Bleu?

Anyway, I've left 4 choices. Please vote, and I would appreciate any discussion and insight as well.

[Catel]

The starting defense of Les Bleus against Sweden on 20th August will be Abidal-Mexès-Gallas-Sagnol.

[Inara]

I don't think Mexes will start Euro 2008. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't even receive a call up.

I think his aggressiveness is a problem. He gets carded frequently, and his rather...bohemian...style of defending doesn't really fit in with Domenech's vision of a tactically smooth and efficient team.

To me, Mexes has always seemed like a really hot mistress who is exciting and can spice things up with never before seen moves on her good days while being downright aggravating on her bad days, whereas players like Escude (who is there at the expense of Mexes) are like the boring, reliable wife at home who won’t excite you but won’t forget to put dinner on the table either (though Escude is pretty versatile - he can also play on the left, and we all know that RayRay loves versatility).

Mexes is a great defender, no doubt, but if his style doesn't fit with the other four guys hanging out in the back, I can see why Domenech would be reluctant. And his proclivity for cards (last season it was a ratio of something like 1:2.5) is alarming when you consider that Les Bleus aren't card sharks. Plus Mexes is a defender, and given that France tend to win games by the skin of their teeth, giving away a stupid found in a dangerous area would be very very bad. When was the last time that France conceded a penalty btw?

But I think once Thuram finally retires, Domenech will be forced to reexamine the situation. I've seen Escude play so infrequently for Les Bleus (though I think he does a good job for Sevilla) that I'm not sure how he would be if we saw him with more consecutive matches under his belt. If he doesn't impress, Domenech will have to consider Mexes. The only other senior options are Squillaci, who needs to regain his form of last year to be worthy of any sort of consideration, or Boumsong, who has to make us believe that his Newcastle years never happened.


Edit: As far as I'm aware, France doesn't have any younger players that would be ready for the first team. Even during call ups for the A' team, we see senior players. So I'm guessing we won't have any new CBs in the pool until the World Cup probably.

[lefutur]

france needs its own marco materazzi

[thejuggernaut]

Mexes is too aggressive for Professional Wrestling.

[SuperSebGrimaldi]

I actually haven't voted in my own topic yet, though I appreciate the discussion. :)

To answer Inara, though, Desailly was also known as a card shark, yet it can be argued he's the best defender France have had in a World Cup. Although I would agree that in Domenech's style, who knows if even Marcel would get a call. The reason I say that is, as aforementioned, Domenech wants a clean, efficient team, and I have no doubt that somwhere in the back of his head, he's haunted by having guys sent off (Zidane in the WC final, Cissé in that U21 match against Italy the loves to gripe about). This could be one of the reasons why Mexès, despite clinical campaigns in Roma, hasn't been a favorite.

Nevertheless, as Inara also argued, eventually Domenech, if he stays on (which in a way, I hope happens since it would mean a good tournament in Austria/Switzerland, but on the other hand, I'd also be happy if he was gone), won't have many other options.

The only player I can think of other than Squillaci/Escudé/Boumsong that hasn't been mentioned is Habib Bellaïd of Strasbourg, who's the better between the two center backs in Espoirs (Kaboul is the other). Bellaïd definitely has the skill and physique, as well as leadership qualities, to be a fixture in the heart of the defense. We'll have to see how he develops.

In any event, back to Mexès, I've cast my vote, and it's my belief that he should start, though given he has almost no experience with Gallas at this point (although he did alright with Abidal in a friendly), as long as Thuram has a decent amount of minutes of matchplay in which he's decent, it's tough to switch out a guy like that (with reputation of Thuram) at the heart of the defense.

However, along Catel's thinking in his post, I do wonder why Mexès-Gallas wasn't given a shot during the qualifiers.

[Inara]

Domenech & Les Bleus Unhappy With Mexes (http://goal.com/en/Articolo.aspx?ContenutoId=603971)

Domenech was at San Siro on Wednesday night with to watch Inter’s Patrick Vieira in action against Roma. He was accompanied by the President of the French Football Federation Jean-Pierre Escalettes.

The pair were reportedly very unimpressed by the behaviour of Mexes, who was sent off on 82 minutes for two yellow cards.

"A footballer of his experience should not behave this way,” Escalettes was quoted as saying after the game.


Ouch.

[SuperSebGrimaldi]

Sadly, I think I opened this thread as I completely expected that to happen.

I wonder if Domenech's assistant, who watched the PSG-Monaco match, will have anything to say about Landreau.

(Likely not, as Landreau isn't as controversial and has been liked by Domenech.)

I think Escalettes-Domenech is almost a presidential ticket. If Domenech is out after the Euro, I expect Escalettes to step down as well.

(Though I dislike Domenech, I want to have a good Euro, and if that happens, it means that he won't step down. Thus I suppose I want Domenech-Escalettes to remain.)

Escalettes-Domenech 2008 then! Our rallying motto could be, hey, if we win, it will be in spite of them!

[SuperSebGrimaldi]

Today's French central defender report is brought to you by Rino Gattuso, who for once is snarling at himself and his team, instead of opponents.

Champions League (ratings based on a bunch of magazines and football website):

Mexès (Roma at Real Madrid): outstanding
Gallas (Arsenal at Milan): outstanding
Thuram (Barcelona v. Celtic): very good
Squillaci (Lyon at Man U): decent
Escudé (Sevilla v. Fener): poor

Raymond Domenech, are you reading this? :rolleyes:

[SuperSebGrimaldi]

Today's French central defender report is brought to you by Alain Cayzac, who is already looking through the classifieds.

This weekend's match ratings:

Mexès (Roma at Napoli): good
Gallas (Arsenal at Wigan): good
Thuram (Barcelona v. Villareal): mediocre
Squillaci (Lyon v. Bordeaux): good
Escudé (Sevilla v. Levante): did not play
Givet (Marseille v. Saint-Etienne): did not play
Boumsong (Lyon v. Bordeaux): did not play

[N. Platini]

Today's French central defender report is brought to you by Alain Cayzac, who is already looking through the classifieds.

This weekend's match ratings:

Mexès (Roma at Napoli): good
Gallas (Arsenal at Wigan): good
Thuram (Barcelona v. Villareal): mediocre
Squillaci (Lyon v. Bordeaux): good
Escudé (Sevilla v. Levante): did not play
Givet (Marseille v. Saint-Etienne): did not play
Boumsong (Lyon v. Bordeaux): did not play
Please god let Raymundo see this please !

Thruam is poor and isn't the same player , if he starts in Euro 08 we'll not get far .

[HomeatHighbury]

Domenech & Les Bleus Unhappy With Mexes (http://goal.com/en/Articolo.aspx?ContenutoId=603971)




Ouch.

Zing. :o

[SuperSebGrimaldi]

Actually, to be fair with both Mexès and Thuram, Philippe had a bad start to this season, though in the second half of this season, especially these couple of months, he is having some monstrous efforts with Roma (especially in the CL at the Bernabéu where he was arguably the best on that day). Thuram, to his credit, hasn't been bad either, and even this weekend, despite getting mediocre ratings in the magazines, none of Barça's defenders were given good marks (except Abidal, who is having a very strong year), so one could even say Thuram was better than his teammates.

In any event, I've been adding to this more to support the candidacy (appropriate word these days, no?) of Mexès as opposed to the exclusion of anyone else, although I think it's safe to say the majority of people who watch more than Ligue 1 would say Mexès is deserving of a spot in the squad.

[Suyuntuy]

What about Kaboul? He's 22 already, and imposing in defence. Not to mention capable of scoring.

[SuperSebGrimaldi]

Alright, I'll keep track of Kaboul too. :)

Although the majority of Espoirs observers would say, I think, that his teammate Habib Bellaïd of Strasbourg looks the better of the two defenders. Kaboul initially struggled quite a bit this season with Spurs, but now he appears to be adjusting better.

Though it's more likely that both will continue with Espoirs as they actually have to do a bit of work to qualify for the Euro U-21s. Though a lot of that has to do with the discontinuity in the squad, as the Ben Arfas/Ménez/Diabys keep on getting called up to the senior Bleus.

[TheGrimSweeper]

Interesting Article:

http://www.goal.com/en/Articolo.aspx?ContenutoId=620830

[SuperSebGrimaldi]

Now that this information has been leaked, am I the only one who believes this could actually help Philippe get into the squad? After all, Domenech does love to shock the media. Though if they get along as poorly as the agent suggests, then woe is me. :(

[Tottino]

Mexes is one of the best defenders in the world, and will soon be the best. He has everything a defender needs, attackers are scared of him. If france don't take him its an advantage to us (italia), but I feel bad for Philippe as i am a roma fan.

[SuperSebGrimaldi]

I completely agree and am overwhelmingly among the pro-Mexès folks, though in an attempt to keep this thread as objective as can be, I will admit he was not at his best yesterday against United, although to mitigate it somewhat, neither was the Roma defense. In any event, in keeping track of our central defenders:

Mexès (Roma vs. MU): mediocre at best, relatively bad otherwise
Gallas (Arsenal vs. Liverpool): solid
Bellaïd (Strasbourg at PSG): solid
Thuram (Barcelona at Schalke): did not play
Squillaci (Lyon at Valenciennes over the weekend): poor
Escudé (Sevilla at Real over the weekend): did not play
Givet (Marseille at Lorient over the weekend): injured early
Kaboul (Spurs vs. Newcastle over the weekend): did not play
Boumsong (Lyon, at Valenciennes on Sunday): did not play
Rami (Lille vs. Auxerre over the weekend): decent

I'll also attempt to track Delpierre, even though he was disappointing in his A' team debut and is obviously likely not to make the squad (then again, this thread is tracking Kaboul, so it's not that relevant).