my biggest slap on the face since i've been on BS. i don't have the heart to read about it, talk about it, think about it, but there's no use running away from it. even if the score had stayed 0-0 or we had been able to come back 1-1, the writing was on the wall, clear enough for even a doddering old optimist like me to finally read it: france was going nowhere in this world cup. i'll start with those who deserve, if little praise, at least no damnation: lloris was left to play libero all by himself in the last 20 meters and cleaned up. he did what he could on the two goals. toulalan fought hard as always and put in the best cross of the match. malouda with his corners au 4ème poteau is on the borderline but at least he tried. and now... j'accuse! raymond domenech of being very badly outcoached. not so much in the players he put on the field, but in placing them so riskily, leaving so few behind and so much space behind even them. this was a match we only needed not to lose, and we went at it fleur au fusil. william gallas and eric abidal of playing the offsides without the rigorous attention and coordination the exercise requires; of haphazard positioning, of lack of engagement... patrice evra and bakary sagna of abandoning the wings to mexico, providing neither pressing nor coverage on defense, of botching their every intervention, while at the same time providing NO percussion whatsoever on attack... abou diaby of believing the hype about him on such slim evidence, of being overpowered by players he should have beaten on sheer athletic ability, winning no balls in the air and losing many on the ground... franck ribéry of making not even a cursory effort to win balls or press opponents until france was down 2-0, of attempting none of the breakthroughs which won him his status on the team, of neither making nor soliciting any useful passes, of taking four promising free kicks and putting every one into the wall. some had their last cap last night because of age, some were never much more than borderline selections and will fight with 100 others to wear the blue shirt again. but for this man i request immediate and irrevocable GINOLIZATION! the two i defended not because they were good but because i felt they were not as bad as the lynch mobs were making them out: sidney govou was transparent both on attack and on the press; a phantom player. nicolas anelka slipped back into the habit of playing behind instead of in front of his support and was rightly dropped at halftime, probably this time forever. perhaps his old blackball should never have been lifted. but andre-pierre gignac and matthieu valbuena were not a whit better. finally, guignol was a plain fool and probably has been for some time. it's not for me to say if my faith was good or bad; my opinions have always been heartfelt but that doesn't make them any less wrong. take all the pot shots at me you want, i deserve them all.
I didn't expect France to play so badly. The tagline of the forum and what I saw on that field yesterday don't go together.
god, frenchies are filled with such self-loathing. i'm not saying that france deserved to win. they played terribly. but... i'm not sure mexico necessarily deserved those 2 goals either. 1. it looked to me like hernadez was offsides--if only by a hair. a close call. 2. i also found the foul by abidal to be sketchy--almost like abidal started his slide tackle too soon. barrera saw the opportunity to take a dive. but it was another close call. i'm tempted to think the ref erred in favor of mexico on both of these--to punish henry/france for ireland.
self-loathing is indeed a characteristic gallic trait, much more so than the widely imagined "arrogance". but your well-intentioned defense of our defense doesn't wash. if hernandez was offside it was by so little that i applaud the decision to let the goal stand. one of the great pities about video replays is offsides calls being dissected right down to the millimeter. denying such a perfect run and pass would have been giving the fine print precedence over the spirit of the law. abidal's tackle was almost a great one. he missed the ball by no more than a whisker. but miss it he did, and the penalty was indisputable. first and foremost let's not forget the elephant in the room: france's defense was cruelly lacking in both organization and determination.
He should be benched right away for his unsporting behaviour while the Mexicans were about to shoot the pk
le petit matthieu is a snot nosed punk who's not too big to spank and the last thing ray does before retiring is take off his belt and turn him over his knee!
France needs to make 4 goals. This is a competent team: Lloris Sagna - Gallas - Abidal - Evra Malouda - Toulalan Valbuena - Gourcuff - Ribery Cignac
Well I imagine that I would be accused of being overly optimistic, but never again. At this point I would be surprised if we even score a goal in this tournament.
first problem is toule is suspended. the backline was so bad last night it would be unconscionable to play them again. gignac? why not? because he's no frigging good, that's why not! he had a spotty season at téfécé and has been andré-pierre the friendly ghost in blue all 2010. but above all, NO FRANCK RIBERY EVER!!! il se fout de la gueule du monde for over a year now.
the last time france scored that many goals was against Faroe islands at home be realistic people 4 goals won't happen. lets not forget SA is hungry to win as well... this team can't score its that simple, i won't be sad when they exit, france is paying its price for keeping domenech as coach
Seriously , is there still people thinking we'll make it to the next round ? We are done as far as I'm concerned . Our match with South Africa is just a match as to which team will finish last place .
Of course not. But it would be nice to see this team score at least 1 goal. I say use a 4-4-2 with Cissé and Henry up top.
I think we can I thought all we need is a 3-0 scorline right? 4-4-2 and we probobly can, but what's the use? We're out against Argentina
We've not even scored a goal yet , but somehow we'll score 3+ ? But yeah , I'd rather not watch us play against Argentina ..