I have always had a problem with this. Are you guys really sure it is good coaching to get in the players who scored or wasn't it bad coaching to not have them in the game, as starters, in the first place ? The answer isn’t easy imo. Of course some players are impact players who are even better when coming in as sub, sometimes the defenses need to be tired for some players to expose them. About this game and Laurent Blanc : I have a mixed feeling. First of all Nasri was probably the only one able to make breaches when he was subbed. Not the smartest move to move him out. I also had the feeling that the 3 subs or at least 2 of them should have been made way earlier. But still, he made them and, in this regard, it was a good move. Don’t misunderstand me : I am really happy to have Blanc as coach and I quite enjoyed this last game.
The subs were good timing as I reckon Remy and Payet are going to be the impact-sub players for this French attack. Gourcuff, its understandable as he is yet to recreate his Bordeaux form at Lyon.
yes, réveillère had a huge match, the kind sagna has never shown himself remotely capable of even the few times he looked authentically good in the past 500 years or so he's been run out. the rapport between anto and le petit matthieu was astounding. they looked like they play together every week, instead of being on the pitch together (in the same shirt) for the first time in their lives. i've finally figured valbuena out. i was never high on him, always looked at his big matches as one-offs, but that view no longer works. i still don't think he's all that talented, but he does much more than just runandrunandrun like i used to accuse him of. he's quick in all senses of the word: runs quickly, passes quickly and THINKS quickly. he can't carry a team himself. if he was at strasbourg he wouldn't raise their level one iota, he would fit right in to the ambient mediocrity. but he also fits in when the level is excellent, adding his energy in useful fashion to any team. even barça or chelsea would soon find him indispensable. if lolo had wanted to try the same midfield trick as against BHZ he would have played gourcuff instead of nasri but that would have been pushing his luck.. one miracle, OK, but he's not bernadette soubirou! the team was indeed cut in two: nasri with the strikers, diarra and m'vila at the back, and the only connection tending to come via the fullbacks. playing gourcuff instead of m'vila might have made a difference, but only in hindsight. m'vila has been a key part of every 11 blanc has run out, his inability to relay the two halves was unexpected. he did better after a halftime placement adjustment though there was still some waste. not sure samir was the best, but he was good and he and benzema showed nearly the same atomes crochus as réveillère and valbuena. karim still looks a bit chubbycheeked and my guess is that shirt off we'd see more of the same, but he did put in a great effort, and showed that even at 90% he's got skills no one else we have does. i'm no gaël clichy fanboy (some of you may have noticed) but i thought he was damned good saturday, useful at both ends of the field. the intercepted pass that almost knocked us for a loop came, lest we forget, after he made a great acceleration with a ball he'd won nicely, and with a 0-0 that would have stunk of defeat staring us in the face, the prise de risque to make that counter go all the way was worth taking. plus the danger that came of it was a little surprising, it's not like he gave the ball up right in front of lloris. the ball he lost a few minutes later for no reason (which romania was too shagged out to properly exploit) was much more shocking to me. for clichy see above, but mexès was once again very solid. i first thought it was a horrible miss too, but other cameras showed he had praftically no angle to play with anyway. i agree with nambawan... only note that blanc is lucky to have these kinds of fresh legs to put on: perhaps only del bosque and not even löw have the like at their disposal. what sildegil says about impact players is cogent. rémy, payet and gourcuff are certainly more than that but they all have the pace and/or athletic ability to provide that last 15' boost. but much credit is due to the players who went out, and as for timing only benzema was perhaps left on the pitch 5'-10' too long, but as long as his spirit was willing (and it was)...
Yea I agree with this. I'm glad to see someone else notice that a couple of brainfarts shouldn't completely nullify a solid performance from Clichy on saturday. Payet should be coming off the bench for the forseeable future. He's got that pace and directness to exposed tired defenses that we need in the last 15-20 mins of a game. Kinda like a young D. Cisse. Of they guys that came off the bench, you can only really agrue that Gourcuff should have started.
I think Nasri did more than hold is own in the game and really, had the situation been reversed and Gourcuff had started the game, he would have had the same problems with such a packed defense. It wasnt until the end of the second half that Romania started taking some risks and start to play. I think had Nasri come in at that point he would have looked good too.
gourcuff for nasri, at 75 minutes yes, not before. gourcuff for m'vila at halftime... why not? except it might have been a slap in the face to a kid who doesn't deserve one.
Oh yea I was happy with Nasri's performance. I didn't mean that I though he shouldn't have started. I was just saying it was they only arguable case. Yea it would have been a slap of the face for him to have been subbed at the half. And I think halftime substitutions of that nature reflect poorly on the coach.
I believe that the triangle Clichy, M'vila, Malouda must have worked on their automatisms during the trainings. I don't think that Gourcuff is capable of replacing M'vila because I doubt that he's able to cover Clichy when he's going forward.
Yeh, M'Vila is young and gifted. It'll be good to see the likes of Diaby (this kid is sorta like Vieira) and Matuidi in the France squad when they are fit enough.
Ever since Diaby's been 17, he's been compared to Vieira. Diaby even said himself back in 2007: ‘I think the manager is still waiting for more to come from me. I think he wants me to become a great player, and I would like to become a man like Vieira' & ‘I think maybe I am more attack-minded, a more technical player, Vieira is much more aggressive. He makes more of a physical impact in a game, in midfield. He is amazing'. I think Wenger sums up the Diaby, Vieira comparison very well (December 2009): Diaby is more of an offensive player. He is a holding player. He’s a player who crosses the field at ease, goes from box to box like it’s no distance and has good power as well. I believe Vieira was similar to him as a passer of the ball. Diaby is a dribbler, offensive and makes penetrating runs but Vieira did all of this and was also a constructor. They are quite similar in elegance and type of play and I believe Diaby can follow in the footsteps of Vieira.
diaby. m'vila. gourcuff. nasri. 4 players easier to compare than to rank. i tend to agree. but in a situation where the problem isn't coverage but transmission, it's clear gourcuff is going to bring much, much more than m'vila. and he does have the size and workrate to get stuck in, at times he can look like a toulalan clone. true, but what diaby says about their comparative physical impact is very important. diaby is an éclair in two senses: he does cover the field quickly but for such a belle plante, it's surprising he's such a creampuff. above all he seems unreliable. he can be great one match and invisible the next. gourcuff can't cover as much ground as fast, but makes up for it by already knowing where to be, and on that spot gets more done, and better. should have scored a great goal on great work. every element of that raid, the quickness, the dribbling, the shot, all magnificent. here's another comparison: nasri is the good marseillais, ben arfa the bad one. with HBA it's on ne sait pas où on va, mais on y va, but with samir it's droit au but. the downside is the scission into two blocks saturday was partly due to the positioning and dodgy passing of m'vila, but also due to the nature of samir nasri. he needs to be in proximity to the goal to express himself. outside a certain perimeter he ceases to exist for all intents and purposes. there are a dozen midfield combinations involving these 4 players that all have considerable merit. there's no law written in stone that you need a zidane, a classic n°10 that can exercise influence from the center circle to the penalty spot, win balls, keep them, dribble, distribute, shoot from the outside, take setpieces, and run the team. carry the team. but the only player france has with this potential is yohann gourcuff. he's not up to speed at present but if he does get to his bordeaux form, there might be no more debate. building the team around him will seem self-evident.
Yea the stuff I bolded makes Diaby nothing like Vieira. Just because he's a midfielder at Arsenal who kinda looks like Pat, does not make him the 'next Vieira'. They both have that 'volume de jeu' and can pass, but that's where the similarities end. I was lamenting before how I wish we had another Vieira in our midfield. Guignol said it perfectly, hes a generational player, his talent and skill set isn't something you can replace just like that. The closest player to Pat in the squad now skill set wise is probably M'Vila. What Wenger has to say on the subject is just Diaby ego stroking.
I'm not sure about our opponents being in better shape is the cause of us not scoring early . I mean , we do create the chances but we seem to never take them . This is really frustrating because our opponents always plays bunker . An early goal will not only make the team relax , it will also destroy our opponents gameplan . We need to have that finishing instinct . Maybe I was harsh but Clichy made 2 horrible mistakes which could've both lead to goals , one nearly did with the post saving us . This is probably clouding my judgment on his overall performance but the error's he made are just unforgiveable . The first instance he got on the wrong side of the Romanian player , then easily got outmuscled . It was too simple .
Yeh I know what you were trying to say. You're absolutely right about Diaby and Vieira. Its clear that no-one will be able to replace Pat, a French legend. M'Vila is still quite young, he does have a great skill set but only time will tell whether he becomes a French national team main-stay in midfield or a forgotten talent.