OK, so i didn't see a thread started for this game yet (except for the broadcast thread). This is to say the least a big game...
Re: World Cup Q: Italia - France (Sept. 8th, 2007) Exactly what I was thinking.... That being said, I hope that this game will lessen the tensions between us. France is a beautiful country, and although I hate Les Bleus very much, and can't stand Domenech (who will not appear on that Saturday), you guys have good players and a great people.
Re: World Cup Q: Italia - France (Sept. 8th, 2007) I'm in a bit of a bind because I have a little Italian blood in me, so I actually support the Azzurri in many other matches. I can't stand Dumbenech either, though he did come to his senses in terms of team selection by not ignoring Mexès and putting Benzema ahead of Cissé/Saha on the depth chart.
Re: World Cup Q: Italia - France (Sept. 8th, 2007) I think that Domenech, despite his unconventional style and exceptional arrogance (sorry, had to throw that insult there), has proven to be a decent coach for France. I mean, yes, the players do most of the work, but it's kind of difficult to deny that Domenech has had a hand in it.
Re: World Cup Q: Italia - France (Sept. 8th, 2007) I don't know, I really think he got totally outclassed by Lippi in terms of tactics in the final, but I do give him credit for a couple of choices. 1. Giving Ribéry and Malouda the opportunity to shine as wingers. 2. Recognizing that Eric Abidal would be very solid at left back, as well as Willy Sagnol on the right. 3. Giving Benzema and a bunch of other U-x stars an opportunity (when Jacques Santini was the manager, it was almost always veterans). Other than that, I believe he is more of a negative effect on the squad, though as Sir Alf Ramsey once said, "Managers get too much of the credit as well as too much of the blame." List of players who dislike Domenech: Thierry Henry David Trezeguet Philippe Mexès Robert Pires Grégory Coupet Ludovic Giuly
Re: World Cup Q: Italia - France (Sept. 8th, 2007) So what say you boys? What do we have to do, to pull out a victory here? Materazzi is out for the game, which is a big boost for us, as he has been playing very well as of late. I also heard that Cannavaro might also be out for the match too. Though I was kinda looking forward to seeing him in there So Italie might be in the same boat as us, missing their starting central defense pairing.
Re: World Cup Q: Italia - France (Sept. 8th, 2007) I think if Toni is out, that's the biggest blow of them all. Barzagli is more than capable of replacing Materazzi, but Inzaghi/Quagliarella/Di Natale don't scare me as Toni does.
Re: World Cup Q: Italia - France (Sept. 8th, 2007) Toni and Cannavaro will both be there, you won't be disappointed.
Re: World Cup Q: Italia - France (Sept. 8th, 2007) In that case, I would have wanted Frey to start (I want him to start anyway, though there appears to be a set pecking order at GK with Landreau being ahead of him) as he would know a thing or two about how to defend Toni. Does France have any 1m90+ defenders? Jean-Alain Boumsong, oh boy, !@#$! J/K. Hopefully Gallas is healthy to pair with Mexès (1m87), or else it'll be Abidal (1m86) as the other center back.
Re: World Cup Q: Italia - France (Sept. 8th, 2007) Gallas won't be back until Sept. 15 I'd like to see --------------Frey------------- Sagna---Mexes--Abidal---Clichy ------------Makelele----------- Ribery-------Nasri-------Malouda --------Benzema--Henry------- But Landreau, Clerc, Evra will probably play instead.
Re: World Cup Q: Italia - France (Sept. 8th, 2007) Dude with that defence there would be no chance we'll beat Italia .
Re: World Cup Q: Italia - France (Sept. 8th, 2007) You're right, Landreau, Clerc and Evra will play ahead of them. As will Captain Pat of course... Im thinking something of the sort: ----------Landreau------------- Clerc---Mexes--Abidal---Evra -----Makelele----Vieira------- Ribery------------------Malouda ------------Henry-------------- ----------------Anelka----------
Re: World Cup Q: Italia - France (Sept. 8th, 2007) Hmmm, can anyone make an injury list? That'd be helpful I think to assess the best team France can assemble, though already I would prefer Chimbonda over Clerc, as well as Frey over Micka, though as we know it's unlikely either of those will happen. I think it's a little odd how Chimbonda appears to have completely disappeared in the mind of Domenech, while he has confirmed by his play in the EPL that he's a good choice at the back. Clerc doesn't do well against Italian teams (sorry OL supporters, the end of that game against Milan).
Re: World Cup Q: Italia - France (Sept. 8th, 2007) I support Germany, but France is one of my favorite teams to watch and I back any team in a match-up with Italy. Here's what I'd like to see you folks play for this game: ----------------------FREY----------------------- ---------------MEXES------ABIDAL--------------- -CLERC-----------------------------------CLICHY- ---------------------DIABY----------------------- ---------------VIEIRA-----NASRI------------------ -RIBERY--------------------------------MALOUDA- ---------------------HENRY---------------------- I'd keep Evra, Makelele and Trezeguet handy as well.
Re: World Cup Q: Italia - France (Sept. 8th, 2007) There appears that there are a lot of supporters of Clichy on this thread, and hey, I like the guy too, but I wouldn't throw him into vital qualifier against Italy over Evra/Abidal at left back. For those who like Arsenal out there, as much as you think high of Clichy, did you know that a guy your manager took off the Monaco centre de formation, Armand Traoré, is considered to be better than Clichy was at this stage of their careers? As in as U-18 stars. He's faster and a bit bigger too.
Re: World Cup Q: Italia - France (Sept. 8th, 2007) Umm no he's not... Barzagli is a decent defender at best; Matrix on the other hand is much more imposing and very composed on the ball. Italia's NT defense has finally churned out a generation of garbage players after all these years. However with that said I expect a draw for this one.
Re: World Cup Q: Italia - France (Sept. 8th, 2007) for england, it's apparently expected to be the other way round but the players are still the best in the world somehow. sorry, have to throw in my dig at england there Anyway, it will be a good game won't it. I look forward to a group with france, italy and germany at the euros. It's very much possible. Actually wait no that's a bad thing. How about france, germany and holland in one group . So Italy can qualify from the other one.
title rectified and [R] added. no need to thank me, all part of the job... the juicy news is that ray will be suspended due to his remarks about the ref he said italy bought in 1999. the other big news is that vieira is apparently still suffering from the thigh muscle pull he picked up in slovakia, small news is that sagna and cissé are also injured. ray will certainly pick pat anyway just to see for himself. he may even have a snide remark about mancini considering italy-france more important than udinese-inter . anyway, scotland is another few days off, so even if the hurt is real now... as for sagna and cissé, there's no telling whether they would have been picked in any case. so i see a lineup like this: Landreau Clerc-Mexès-Abidal-Evra Makelele Toualalan Ribéry Malouda Anelka Henry my personal favorite for GK would be jéremy janot, but as i've said before, you don't play hopscotch with this position. this backline isn't ideal, but with éscudé, gallas and thuram all injured, and squllaci presently in horrible form, there's nothing much more tempting... only givet would be a possibility, he's doing OK at OM. vieira being out wouldn't be the end of the world as toulalan is playing his eyes out. nasri instead of ribéry would be another possibility, but despite his very flat match against slovakia, franck is in good form. benzema with anelka would also be tasty, but benching henry is no way to get him back in form, and i think titi-nico will be a beautiful success story very soon.
What is the deal with pires and giuly? Banished forever? Personally, a midfield of pires, vieira, giuly and malouda with henry and ribery as the forwards would be good for me. If you're good enough you're young/old enough, so don't mention age here.
To his credit, Pires did well in Villareal's opener against Valencia. However, he is on Domenech's blacklist it would appear because he did openly criticize him on more than one occasion. Pires has declared though that he is always willing to be called up, in any capacity, so he can't be taken out of consideration. Giuly had a good debut with Roma, I'm told, but he is definitely on Domenech's blacklist (he received an SMS apparently from Domenech's wife Estelle). But all the best to Germany against Wales, squidward.
Yeah, well domenech better do this. Nasri and the others aren't experienced and/or finished products yet. Ok maybe ribery is or is very close to it, but only ribery. I'm going to actually specifically watch all villareal games that I can from now. They on ESPN for this region show all the barca/madrid games and whatever is left over (2 extra games) every weekend so I hope villareal manages to get itself in there. When? Thanks. It'll be tougher at their stadium than england at wembley IMO as england are quite average right now and the hammann-pander stadion isn't quite a fortress yet. We'll have some strikers (including klose), marcell jansen and schweinsteiger returning. But still the rest of the 14 that were injured for england are still missing. As well as schneider which is very bad news. He is suspended. Still I think a 1-0 or 2-0 or maybe even 3-0 win is a possibility. I think about 4 more points and we are assured of qualification. Oh, just out of curiousity, is scarsdale upstate ny?