Lol......Cocktails are definitely my fav (Cosmo, Mojito, Pina's) depending on my mood, I'm French so Wine, Champagne, Cidre are a must and please non French NEVER call that drink Cider!!! It's CIDRE. Anyway, I don't dislike Corona, I know is a beer but it's not a beer like other beers...if you see what I mean lol. Anyway stop talking about my drinking habit, coach Echouafni said important things on his presentatio to the team the other day. Here is a little resume', -He wanted to thank Bergeroo for his work with the NT , he kows the ex France coach from a very long time as he actually worked under him in his playing days and shares many values... -He thinks France needs to work more on details to improve and brings to the team his player experience could do that. -He will do deep scouting not only in D1 but also D2 and U20. -Team togetherness is what he's looking for above all within les Bleues, with the NT only the Blue jersey should count.....(lol...good luck) -Only performances count for him. -He didn't choose his captain yet.... Cecile Locatelli has been nominated second trainer...great news....hope she's next NT coach at WC 19'. Anyway, Echouafni words are important specially because he wanted to underline his relations with Bergeroo and the fact that he deeply admire the man human values....those players who are responsible for his departure should watch their back....in fact not confirming Wendie Renard as captain could be a big signal going that way.
Yes internal infighting will probably come back although the coach already mentioned it in this video
At least he did not choose a captain to start the infighting straightaway by having Henry rather than Abily or Thiney.
France - Brazil : 1-1 ; Lavogez 2' / Marta 7' Olivier Echouafni first game as France female coach ended up in a draw, the result is right has both team despite giving us an entertaiment game, had players tired from the Olympics and some especially on the French side, who wanted to make a good impression to our new coach... The two teams kept on attacking approach from the start of the match, trying to win the game till the last minutes, the Brazilian had a better use of the ball than us....Formiga bossed the midfield, that woman is eternal... if only they didn't had many unforced erros, so many Brazil could certainly be in the top three on the Ranking FIFA permanently. France had too many inured to really develop its game, plus Abily leaving injured after 35 min didn't helped at all, if in front Echouani some players (**Le Sommer**) wanted to impress that much, they didn't and actally had the opposite resullt be cause they are also those who forget her teammates are on the pitch or giving some very ugly passes. Gaetane Thiney was the most awaited yesterday, but her comback wasn't a good one, she didn't do even one thing memorable and went out after 60 mintus....doesn't look like she belongs to the very highest level anymore sincerely. On a positive notes the good game of the younggters, Diani, Gerard and Perisset, particularly happy for that especially for Perisset . Impossible to judge the new coach on one game so we wait Tuesday for the one against Albania.
Wendie said on Eurosport that Thiney deserved to be at the Olympics. In term of creativity she was surely missed. I think the team lived well together without her though, so Bergeroo was right on that side. There was no faction inside the team as the dominant players ruled the roost ( off the pitch).
Netherlands here we come!! . I wasn't able to watch the game yesterday, only 20 minutes in the first half, so I really don't have things to say about it and anyway with all my due respect but playing Albania is like les Bleues vs an average D2 club.......So I don't want to take in consideration the result however it will be interesting to see the indication that Echouafni took from these two games because even though is unfair to compare those who played against Brazil to those on the picth yesterday against Albania....the difference in opponent's level is abysmal, I think we all agree.....still some performed well taking their chance and other well they have to past the test again. So first case is Bilbault and Philippe's treatment....all players called were given at least one minute but not these two, I think we can assume Bouhaddi is his first choice, Gerard second and Laetitia will play only if both can't walk....for Charlotte Bilbault I'm pretty sure he realized during the various training section her real level.... Imo he should have started Kelly Gadea again, not let people judge her only by that mistake against Brazil. I read Hamraoui had a super performance yesterday so she certainly scored points, even though it was only Albania, maybe she''ll start against England but the fact that she's too similar to Henry....box to box cm with big physical impact and powerful shot....doesn't make them the perfect cm pair at all... Gaetane Thiney was without any doubt the most waited player for these two matches but her comeback was very (but very) underwhelming, she started how she left basically....zero assist, zero goal and one penalty not only missed but completely missed as she couldn't even shoot on target.....I said it one year ago, Gaetane's goal numbers are falling free with NT and club and numbers don't lie.....her direct competition for a place close to Le Sommer are Lavogez (who scored), Le Bihan (who scored), Delie (who scored) waiting for Katoto and Leger to be promoted....sincerely I don't see why and how Echouafni could call her again. France -Albania: 6-0 ; highlights
France team against England (friendly at Doncaster 21/10). Goalkeepers: Bouhaddi (lyon), Gerard (lyon), Philippe (montpellier) Defenders: Agard (montpellier), Butel (juvisy), Georges (psg), Houara D'hommeaux (lyon), Karchaoui (montpellier), Perisset (psg), Renard (lyon), Tounkara (juvisy) . Midfielders: Abily (lyon), Bussaglia (wolfsburg), D. Cascarino (lyon), Diani (juvisy), Hamraoui (lyon), Lavogez (lyon), Majri (lyon), Toletti (montpellier). Forwards: Catala (juvisy), Le Bihan (montpellier), Le Sommer (lyon), Thiney (juvisy). So This will be Echouafni real first test with les Bleues, now he knows female football and the players, he scouted them personally watching games with his own eyes around France so now he has a better picture and no excuses left....Glad he called Laura Agard, an excellent player who is very underrated and Kelly Gadea omission means she didn't past the test, don't know why he didn't call Henry but I'm fine Catala return even though five Juvisy players is definitely too much.... Anyway, I'll be curious to see who he choose as captain and if Thiney will still start despite her late very underwhelming performance with both club and country.
but names that could surely help the NT grow like Tarrieu, Leger, Asseyi, Thomis(& Thomas) are missing. But we know how important winning friendlies is to France, so good luck against the very experimental side that Sampson usually uses
Thomis is injured, for the rest sincerely only Leger and Katoto could pretend to be part of the NT players pool...but they will certainly be part of it after U20 WC.
England - France: 0-0 Olivier Echouafni first real test as France NT coach now that he knows players and brought in his own staff was a complete failure.....not a disaster only because we didn't lose....France HAS to change, players, system, approach, group etc...it was clear since the Olympic Games.... when Le Great nominated him, we thought finally someone young (is 36 years old) and with no experience on women football..... what more fresh than that....However, since his very first squad selection he keeps on disappointing us, re-calling Thiney was a HUGE mistake, as not only she is on the down phase of her overrated career but mosty because these internal problems who stopped France to win anything were back. Echouafni nominated ex-France interntional Pegy Provost as his assistant coach, she was a very talented player in her days but only coached Juvisy U19, and by the way, she's an ex-Juvisy player.....against England he made the same mistakes that his predecessor did so often, Lavogez as LM, Majri LB..and letting Thiney in full game despite her horrible match showed how he's certainly not the man of the situation. Notes: Bouhaddi 5,5: She had nothing really to do for 80 minutes then suddenly for whatever reason became nervous, ready to make her usual mistake....some people will never change. Houara 5: She controlled her flank without giving any offensive support . Georges 6,5: The rock is back, kept Daly quite very easily. Renard 6: Back with the captain armband but still some little nervousness too. Majri 4,5: Her dual with Davison and Bronze could have been memorable but she definitely wasn't inspired at all, thanks her direct opponents neither. Bussaglia 4,5: She should had controlled that midfiled but really lacked quality on her passing game. Hamraoui 5: She was a physical presence....noticeable only thanks to her hair... Lavogez 4: Left Midfielder is not her position at all, everytime she had a chance to cross with her left foot she cameback to her right and missed the opportunity...very bad yesterday. Diani 3: The worst of both teams, a ghost on the pitch, a game to forget. Thiney 3,5: Very bad once again, Gaetane cameback to bring quality to France and once again failed to deliver...the only thing she can do is simple pass, no dribble, no shoot, no inspiration nothing else...just a little through pass to Le Sommer is what I gave her half point more...sincerely this SHOULD be her last game with les Bleues. Le Sommer 4,5: Tried to create something in the first half but alone upfront couldn't really make it. In the second half she went m.i.a. Echouafni 2: Everything he did was bad, from the mental preparation to the tactics...is hard to do worst than that... he needs to wake up and stop be influenced by Juvisy!
Difficult game against England defending in 9-1 at times. Creativity was not great. Both players on the wing uneffective, the two forwards in the middle unable to link up with the midfielders. Echaouafni made a curious assesment of the game in the press conference but Mark Sampson's one was not better. And the England people are giving way to much media training to the players, Rachel Daly's answers were absolutely pc/robotic to the extreme, far from the person I met in Baltimore on draft day. It's like they had brainswashed her.
I am very (but very) disappointed by Diani's horrible game but what still shocked me the most is how France keep on doing the SAME mistake over and over again without noticing it.... Lavogez had a bad game right, but I don't want to blame Claire that much because she ALWAYS have bad games when playing on the wing....because she's CLEARLY not a winger, never was never will be. Lavogez has played with les Bleues for some times now so Echouafni and his staff SHOULD have known that she always had terrible game as LM, why inisisting ?!?....and for our creativity being completely absent you're right, the woman in charge for that was Thiney.....but as I said many times, it obvious watching her for both club and country, Gaetane is finished. I don't know about English interviews but the French were not better with Georges keep on saying her usual excuse " we have to work harder..." and Echouafni actually waiting for Boulleau to comeback.....no comment.
mama mia, the French finally have a new star! Love her dribbling skills, If nithing else, she brings FUN back into the game
Her passing was not great, compared to her dribbling, with a good end product France would have won that game. It's all good to do fancy tricks but if you don't deliver the final ball... it's our usual NT problem efficiency.
You never heard about her before ....Delphine is very young but she's already well known to the people who follow French football and particularly Lyon closely. Anyway, yes she's extremely talented and we certainly will massively count on her for 2019 but she needs to work on the regularity of her end product.
well France NT has now gone through 3 different coaches in about 3 years. Yet the players as well as the style hasn't changed all that much. it always seems to be the same old, slow down to take control of the middle first, before launching an all out attack. Even though France has at least proven that it's just slightly behind the US(loosing close games), look how they fare vs other opponents' France vs Romania, 1-0, 3-0 US vs Romania, 8-1, 5-0 it shows that France could use a lil oomph in their game. German's Jones is now playing a more speedier, direct game, as well as Austria. Cascarino as well as many other French) would do fine if she only played in a more direct system she play for Lyon? Well that figures; to me that's what 's wrong with the development of young French soccer stars. Cascarino spends most of her time on the bench at Lyon, As you mentioned "she needs to work regularity of her end product". Well the only way she's going to do that is by playing/starting in every competitive game, rather than on the Lyon practice fields. I understand, it's great that Arias spends so much money, but he needs to spend it on infrastructure, instead of his love lorn pursuit of Alex Morgan, He could finance a 2nd team so the likes of Cascarino have someplace to play on a regular basis. Is winning the women's CL all that prestigious? The club owners of previous year CL winners, Frankfurt, don't seem to think so, as they didn't spend one iota of money to keep their team updated/competitive as it's only in 7th place in the Bundesliga.
Our style changed a lot from Bini to Bergeroo. We became a more physical and defensive side, because Bergeroo wanted to compete physically with the USA, Sweden or Germany, so he sacrificed the attacking game for a more rational and organised type of play.
Cascarino does it again! Sets up her own goal & assists on a 2nd. Unfortunately France's defense looks misereable. One more tie and their out
Every coach has his method but the biggest difference between Bini and Bergeroo was the former had this wonderful generation in their prime and didn't allow them to express themselves on and off the pitch....you know why....while the second was too rigid tactically but someone who knows how a group work and most importan let bad seed out. Anyway the past is gone, saw the last squad selection and what to say about Echouafni......the man is so predictable, I bet the starting eleven against Spain will be: Bouhaddi- Houara, Renard, Mbock, Majri - Diani, Bussaglia, Abily, Lavogez- Thiney- Le Sommer.... Ok we get it Delphine is your new favourite player....Don't worry about France they know how to beat New Zealand but USA against Ghana looks very interesting...bye bye Americans?
it's a win win situation for the US loose, well that's cause all the way through college ball(to about age 22), they play different from FIFA rules in that it's almost like basketball where your allowed unlimited substitution. To me that changes the mechanics of the game, and it's not always easy to just switch from one way to another in a competitive environment. but if they win, it's cause of the huge popularity of woso in Ametrica where females make up 42% of the players in a sport that's obviously healthy/well funded, or played by mostly middle to upper class Amercicans well the good news France made it into the quarter finals, the bad news; they got to play unbeaten, untids Germany next! Here's highlights vs New Zealand
Loool...so? At this stage of a competition every teams are strong so to play against Germany or Mexico is more or less the same thing. Anyway, this German team is one of the less talented that I've ever seen at a U20 World Cup and as I said at the beginning of the competition this France team despite having a very talented generation will reach quarter or semi-finals maximum due to poor squad selection and coaching.
Many times French forwards have been criticized..some rightly....for their poor finishing, well guess what the FFF heard you and (finally) appointed a coach specially for strikers, his name is Frederic Nee and he was a French international. France + efficient strikers is scary isn't it?.....
Maybe get Jean-Pierre Papin to give some pointers. Thierry Henry is coaching now, perhaps he could help.