and what does it say about us as a football savvy nation when dimitri frigging payette was proclaimed our saviour for a shot that was important but not half as sweet as the one... sam umtiti blasted in against spurs? not to say umtiti is our saviour either. just saying they were both enormously chatteux and blind luck only gets you so far on its own.
Pandore, I was basing this ideal eleven on the players that Deschamps had selected. In a perfect world, Varane and Benzema would be shoe-ins, but alas, they were not there. Also, there is no guarantee that Benzema would have set the tournament alight. Benzema has only ever shown his club form in patches when representing France. I don't know why so many players of North African origins tend to have to a chip on their shoulder about representing les Bleus. Griezmann really surprised me at this Euro. Everybody talked about Pogba before June 10th, but the Atletico Madrid man really seized the opportunity to make a name for himself. He really deserved to be a Eutopean champion.
Lemerre still failed in 2002 despite having most of the winning 2000 squad at his disposal, minus Zidane. But yes, he deserves credit for that awesome win against the Italians in the 2000 final. Santini didnt do anything. He lasted 2 years and lost to Greece in the 2004 quarters. Blanc. Meh.
Ok, fair enough, but I feel like Deschamps should be criticized for his usage of the players he brought as well as the ones he decided not to bring. I don't see how Benzema would have done any worse than Giroud or Gignac, IMO. Gignac contributed basically nothing (that one shot that hit the post is hardly something to justify a plane ticket from Mexico) and Giroud did well enough against poor teams. Varane has been horrible for over a year now. I think it hurt us to rely on him so heavily. And I even said so from the beginning. Griezmann didn't surprise me.
I'm actually a fan of Payet now, as painful as it is to admit. But for him to be declared our savior was laughable. It put too much pressure on him and asked far more of him than he was capable of delivering. We need to stop putting pressure on individual players. We did the same to Griezmann during the KO stages. This whole Zidane mentality has to stop. The whole team should be working, from top to bottom.
Why is there even a debate regarding Benzema? Where theres smoke theres fire and that guy is enshrouded in smoke. When it looks very likely that a player was involved in BLACKMAILING HIS TEAMMATE, he shouldnt even be considered to be a part of that team. That would be insane!
based on titles lemmere(2000 ero title) santini (2003 confederation cup) domenech (06 WC final) is an achievement DD if we go by longevity DD santini lemmerre domenech . blanc (dude resigned and gave up )
Umtiti really wasn't all that great France has leadership problems we sucked 16 years without any silverware this sucks..... We really should have won on French soil very sad..... I'm very happy for our Portuguese brothers I'm speechless..... Talk is cheap for us ....... This is a sad for French football yet again Allez les bleus! Vive la France !
Come on, Umtiti was very impressive, especially considering his age and the opposition he had to face. He would have been even more impressive if he had been made a starter from the beginning instead of being thrown in in the middle of the competition. I think he should be very proud of his contribution.
yea we lacked in leadership and motivation, the likes of pogba and greize should take more leadership roles. lloris for the defense, pogba for the midfield and greize for the attack
I think the leadership roles will begin to emerge during the World Cup qualification campaign. Keep in mind that as hosts, France had not played a competitive match in two years until this tournament and never really settled into who was who and what was what after 2014. I am absolutely gutted by yesterdays result but at the same time, i look back at 2010 and thought it would take a decade to come close to winning another trophy (semis or final) . They almost did it and with a second string defense. Russia 2018!! Theybwill be even stronger. Allez les Bleus! ⚪
ah yes ... he still #1 . unfortunate what happened in 02 .. still gave us wonderful memories of 2000 and 2001
Pogba played in the position he does at Juve only vs Switzerland. Literally night and day. Then you consider the tenor of the second half where both Swtizerland and France seemed very content to just see it out and you wonder what it would have been like had DD played Kante/Cabaye as the CDM and Pogba as LCM. Again, as a Juventus supporter, Pogba playing as a static CDM is a big big big big NO NO.
I finally broke down today. Tears. I guess all that emotion in my heart had to come out at some point. Dammmit this is going to take a while to get over.