Funny how people who are fairly new to Big Soccer and haven't posted a single time on the France boards are all so eager to offer their analysis here tonight... Guys, let's not feed the trolls, please.
Actually, France had several awesome shots, and it's only because of bad luck that none of them get into the net. Frankly, I could name the two shots around the 60th minute and the two others in the last 10 minutes which have actually only been countered by French players (Malouda first and Trezeguet second). I'm not here to defend Domenech. Actually, I deeply think we would have won the World Cup with another coach. And I've been hugely desappointed to see him stay after the lost final. In this game, it's obvious we didn't need to play with two defensive midfields and that Nasri and Benzema should have been starting players. But this being said, and no matter how great was the Scottish goal, I believe it's frankly very tough to not realize that this game has been a complete hold up. The luck Scotland had tonight is simply out of this world. It's obvious Scotts weren't even playing for victory. And yes, their "strategy" looked a lot like the Greek ones in 2004: "defend at 10 behind and see what happens". Now I also know Scotland is a small country (or region whatever), and I'm really happy for Scotts. But we must really be blind to not realize Scotland hasn't been lucky in this game. Come on! One shot one goal!
Yeah so defending throught-out the whole match , having one occasion on goal means you deserved to win the game , while we fu(k up 3 great chances , not to mention we should've had a penalty from Benzema header . Anyways I'm not being bitter , I've already said well done to you guys, but you DIDN'T deserve to win simple .
we'll agree to disagree. you had 2 good chances. anelka shot straight, high at craig gordon and the ribery - trezeguet 1-2 that put ribery through. apart from that, for all france's territorial superiority they created very little as proved by the final result. did you think we would play an open style of football and get ripped up for shreds? our tactics were spot on. our organisation was spot on and our determination to win the game helped see us through.
I was agreeing with eveything until that , had you guys not played with some many people back and you actually had more occasions on goal then I'll probably change my mind and say you deserved the win but that's not the case is it ? Fact is , you played not to lose , not to go out and win , but you won in the end anyway which what matters really .
I think it's dangerous thinking in terms of luck. Possession doesn't win a game. Deserving to win doesn't win a game. Playing beautifully doesn't win a game. Goals win a game. Gordon was good and stopped two good shots. Landreau was taken by surprise. France dominated, played better football (as usual) and "deserved" to win. But if the idea is to keep "deserving" to win without actually scoring, then all is lost. The chances to qualify are good, but the one thing I want to see from Domenech is more capability to adapt. I like him as a coach because he has helped create a team that is bigger than the sum of its parts. But he needs to change things around a lot more, when he plays a team like Scotland. Look at the game Italy won 2-0 against the Scots and see what I mean. It was a very different schema. Yes, I'm new to these boards, but I've been following France since the semi in 1982 against the Germans, when I was 11. My mom is French, my dad Argentinian (born in Peru though). I want France to win this Euro with all my heart. I think they "deserve" to win, but "deserving" is not enough. And yeah, I'm angry at this lost. Haven't been this angry since what happened in the WC final. But France can win this thing.
It was an INTERNATIONAL match. Scotland is a country. It is part of a larger Union, but it is a country. Pays de la Loire is region. Seriously don't get me started about ignorance, there is not enough bandwidth to cope. And as for Scotland playing for a victory. There is more than one way to seek victory, as we have shown you twice. Football is very simple, the team that scores more wins, Scotland played to their strengths and sought (successfully) to stop France scoring and played a gallus, maverick genius up front with the aim of scoring from what few chances we would get. Our plan worked, we got the victory we played for! Thanks for reading A Troll
fair enough. i apologise. reading the highlighted bit back i did word it wrongly. what i meant to say was our determination helped us greatly in achieving the result we got tonight.
I think the only thing the final result proved is that God wears a skirt... Possesion generally helps win you games last time I checked, as does sheer luck. I don't have any numbers with me but I can be pretty sure the percentage of match winners who also win the possesion battle is very high. Maybe I will tabulate it for the a week of matches from the top leagues if no one believes me. And Possesion certainly doesn't lose you games, poor tactics and team selection do. We had two hungry attack minded players, that would have provided us with quite a spark if they started, but no we play 2 d-mids and Trez, who is become increasingly useless in blue.
If we don't qualify we can only blame ourselfs , had we won tonight IMO we would've been qualified , because our next 2 games are definately most likely wins which means the last game with Ukraine wouldn't be much importance . I can't help but feel pure rage at the players , Domenech with his stupid tactics/line-ups and luck against us .
Yeah that's what I mean. Domenech always keeps two defensive mids even in games when one would be more than enough. Also, he keeps playing Trez and Henry even when they both are not hungry at all. Yes, possesion is great but it's not enough. It's time to move beyond the 4-5-1 and 4-2-2-2. Time to try a diamond in the centre, or 4-3-3. France has the players. The depth is awesome. I want to see Benzema, Nasri, Toulalan more often. Call Ben Arfa and Briand, too. I agree with you, what France needs is young players hungry for goals up front. PS: I also want to see Gourcuff playing with the NT already. Even if it's as a sub.
Your team is horrible and no true football fan other than Scots want to see this pathetic style of football advance. No talent, no creativity, no nothing.....terrible, just awful stuff to watch really.
If France qualifies then ultimately this loss may be a good thing if only because it will slap some of the arrogance out of Domenech. He thinks he's such a great tactician when in fact he really sucks. How many times does an underdog team have to beat us this way before he realizes that they've ALL FIGURED HIM OUT. Slovakia beat us this way and Scotland beat us TWICE this way. France always struggles to score goals because of the defensive formations that he chooses and he's predictable. Why can't France EVER beat a team by more than 1 or 2 goals? When was the last time France has pulled off a really impressive scoreline? Can't remember can you? Why is that? I'll tell you why....because of Domenech and his conservative, boring, gutless tactics. France has some of the best strikers in the world but they always struggle to score more than one goal per game....if that. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that the coaching is the problem. I'd also like to say that the french fans in Paris are pathetic. If the score today were based solely on how good the respective fans were, Scotland would have won 5-0. All that said, kudos to Scotland for their well deserved win. Beat us once...thats maybe luck, beat us twice and you've got our number.
Take out the win against the Faroe Islands, and France have averaged about 1 goal/match in the Domenech era. As a side note, even when Domenech was managing Espoirs, the team, despite having Henry, Trez, Anelka, Sinama-Pongolle, Saha and Cissé, averaged about 1 goal/match at U-21 level. This is only somewhat disconcerting, as it is a valid point that scoring is down across the world in international matches. Yet one has to question the training Domenech has his team doing. I mean, there are always 5 defensive midfielders in every 23-man Domenech squad, hence I wonder in scrimmages, do they all play 4-2-3-1 or 4-4-2 with 2 defensive mids? I have said it before, but especially now since Lassana Diarra is a right back, I think for the qualifiers ahead, if I were Domenech, I'd throw in a bunch of attacking midfielders instead of Alou Diarra. If Willi comes back healthy, then dump Clerc or Sagna, whoever's doing worse, since now Lassana Diarra can play at right back. That gives out another spot in midfield, so that's 2 spots. I would take Gourcuff and at this rate, N'Zogbia instead. Yes, I know they're doing well for les Espoirs at this instance, though the Espoirs aren't really in danger of missing out on qualification! Besides, Toulalan is more than enough backup for Vieria/Maké. Anyway, only my opinion, though on the bright side, les Espoirs won today, as did Brazil.
You bring up a point. I can't find the article now after a quick look, but I remember an interview with Trezeguet a while back when asked about Domenech's tactics and he said he has known Domenech since the espoirs, for over 10 years, and he hasn't changed a bit.
Here were Domenech's tactics while managing Espoirs with the Henry/Trez squad. Henry Trezeguet Rool Vieira Luccin Giuly Grenet Irles Ismael Louis-Jean Landreau Hmmm, now let's see, would that be 2 defensive midfielders I see in bold? Then a left winger with a high work rate? On the other wing, a technically skilled and speedy player who is diminutive in size?
Although I think he's a terrific, promising young talent I don't think he's ready for blue shirt just yet.
As a neutral, I find the French national team the dullest of the 'big 5 ' in Europe to watch. I don't know if this is due to the manager or the defensive culture of the very low scoring Ligue 1, or both. In WC 06, we saw little of Trezeguet, one of the finest forwards in Europe, or Giuly who I think wasn't even on the squad. It seems the French team has more than its share of great talents stifled by a defensive manager or national football culture. Even the defeat of Brazil (Zidane's 'master class') was by a very fragile 1 goal margin. As far as who 'deserves' to win a game. Team A: 70% possession, 10 shots on goal, no goals. Team B: 1 shot on goal, 1 goal. In my opinion, Team B deserves to win. Possession without goals is something like sex without penetration. At any rate, congrats to the Scots for their deserved win, and heres hoping they get to Euro 2008! (How the hell is seeding done for the qualifiers - the 2 WC finalists in the same group! Talk about a group of death.)
...ok then, France has been beaten twice by 'not a country' ..... c'est la vie Scotland however is a nation, and that cannot be disputed
So our "horrible" team got 6 points from 6. I bet the Italian fans enjoyed our "pathetic" style. Obviously defenders and tacticians have no "talent", no "nothing" to contribute. It was 11 against 11, be they flair midfielders, potent strikers or solid defenders. France were just not good enough to break down the later.
Of course, let the 75% possession, no goals version flourish. If it pleases you, you can claim 10 points for artistic impression.
Come on, it's not the first time this happens. Can anyone say Greece ? And they did that the whole tournament in 2004. Everyone clapped because a team that got out of nowhere won but that's just a football killer. Anyway, bravo Scotland well done, cause even though we dominated we didn't make a lot out of this domination...ok granted it's hard when four attacking players have to score against 10 "defenders", but well, let's face it a lot of teams are going to play like that against us.