Disqus - Latest Comments for NicolasL

Re: France’s Next Euro Qualifier on Friday

Nicolas — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 02:20:16 -0000

According to l'Equipe the lineup should be

Lloris
Sagna, Rami, Sakho, ABIDAL (great news)
Diarra, Diaby
Ribéry, Nasri, Malouda
Benzema

Rémy is out injured for this game
Two question marks for me : Is Diaby really fit ? He still had ankle problems on monday and tuesday
I don't think having Malouda AND Ribéry is a good idea. Ribéry on the right is not good. I would have prefered him on the left and Ménez on the right (and Malouda as a deluxe substitute)

Re: October Squad announced. Toulalan left behind.

Nicolas — Sat, 02 Oct 2010 07:58:41 -0000

Diaby was great against Bosnia

Re: October Squad announced. Toulalan left behind.

Nicolas — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 08:17:57 -0000

According to L'Equipe, the starting 11 could be

----------Lloris------------
Sagna--Rami--Sakho--Clichy
----A. Diarra--Diaby (or M'Vila)
Nasri-----Gourcuff---Malouda
---------Benzema-----------

Wouldn't it be nice ?

Squilacci is probably disappointed, because he's a starter with Arsenal : he played all of last 5 games and even scored in CL. To me he's probably the best French center back, but Lolo doesn't agree with me !!
I think Blanc had avery clear idea about his center backs even before being appointed in August. I'd heard that he was already very fond of Rami last season.
Squilacci is maybe more
of a steady player, without being a top-class center back like Sakho might become.
One thing I like in Blanc is that he looks ahead, and gives their chances to young and talentuous players like M'Vila, Sakho, Gameiro or Matuidi and Payet (that free kick is just gorgeous !!)

Re: Smiles on French Faces

Nicolas — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 07:44:41 -0000

A rich man's problem : we have loads of great midfielders. I guess Blanc will chose the best, or the best fit to face France's opponents. IN a 4-3-3 system, we might have :

A Diarra (or Lass or Toulalan) - Diaby (MVila) - Nasri (or Gourcuff)

Re: Bosnia & Herzegovina Preview

Nicolas — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 13:48:01 -0000

I have no idea of the score. I am really puzzled by the loss to Belarus, that's why I've been so silent these last days. This team is unexperienced, very young, and the absence of Gourcuff, Nasri, Lass, Ribéry or Toulalan hurts. I do hope they'll do their best, and be a little tougher than last friday. Allez les bleus !!!

Re: Euro 2012: France vs Belarus and Bosnia, Les Bleus Squad

Nicolas — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 08:07:53 -0000

Cabaye was called today with Reveillère (Lass was injured this week end). Blanc must have heard you !!
I'm happy for him, but about Reveillère I don't know. Debuchy with Lille has made a much better start in L1.

Re: Euro 2012: France vs Belarus and Bosnia, Les Bleus Squad

Nicolas — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 07:35:54 -0000

Diaby's always been good with l'equipe de France. Everytime he played under Domenech people said wow, at least a defensive miedfielder who's able to play forward

Re: Euro 2012: France vs Belarus and Bosnia, Les Bleus Squad

Nicolas — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 14:08:24 -0000

Like you, I'd rather see Menez in the place of Valbuena. I think L'Equipe are wrong about Valbuena. I don't see him starting.

Re: Euro 2012: France vs Belarus and Bosnia, Les Bleus Squad

Nicolas — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 14:05:41 -0000

Do you mean "the guy that lost his confidence in 2010 (not 2006) because nobody would pass to him ? In that case that would be Gourcuff. If it was 2006, i don't see who you're talking about. Is it Diarra ? Well, i think Gourcuff wouldn't make a leader because he's way too shy.
Pierre Menès is no longer at L'Equipe, he's at Canal + now and has a wonderful blog at http://fr.sports.yahoo.com/fo/pierrotlefoot/ (but most of you prbably know it already).
About Sakho, I'm not sure, but Blanc in his interviews said he needed a well-trained pair of center backs, and that they have to play as much as possible together so they can really play in harmony. So since he first chose Méxès-Rami he's gonna stick to this pair unless they really fuck up.

Re: Euro 2012: France vs Belarus and Bosnia, Les Bleus Squad

Nicolas — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 08:08:49 -0000

According to L'Equipe (today's issue), the strting 11 could be

A) 4-4-2

Lloris - Sagna, Rami, Mexès, Clichy - A. Diarra, Diaby - Valbuena, Malouda - Benzema (or Rémy), Hoarau

B) 4-3-3

Lloris - Sagna, Rami, Mexès, Clichy - MVila, A. Diarra, Diaby - Valbuena, Hoarau, Malouda

More clues next week on the practise field.

PS : I'm not quite convinced by the Valbuena selection. He's not in a great shape. It means that maybe Blanc needed wingers for a 442 or 433 ???

And my bet would be Alou D as captain (unless Blanc sticks with Mexès)

Re: Euro 2012: France vs Belarus and Bosnia, Les Bleus Squad

Nicolas — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 11:54:16 -0000

Good list. A good mix between "South Africans", "Norwegians", and two guests : Gameiro (not a surprise, Blanc is a fan) and, more surprisingly, Saha.
I'm not so sure that Sakho will start. I think Blanc is going to try the Rami-mexes association again, but i might be wrong.
About defensive midfielders, Sarah, you forgot to mention the young MVila, who was huge against Norway. Pressure doesn't seem to affect him, he's a good passer, he's calm and technical. We have loads of defensive MF (Pedretti too), but for these games we lack a #10, so a 4-4-2 with Malouda and Menez (or Valbuena) as attacking midfielders, and a pair of strikers (Hoarau and another, Gameiro or Benzema) could be a good option.

Re: Out with the old and in with the new

Nicolas — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 06:10:18 -0000

The first 11 should start in my opinion

1 Lloris
2 Sagna
3 Clichy
4 Rami
5 Mexès
6 Alou Diarra
7 Malouda
8 Diaby
9 Benzema
10 Menez
11 Hoarau
12 Mandanda
13 Debuchy
14 Squillaci
15 Sakho
16 Trémoulinas
17 MVila
18 Pedretti
19 Ben Arfa
20 Rémy (Valbuena)
21 Gameiro
22 Briand
23 Carasso

I won't see the Belarus game (it's my wife's birthday) but i'll be in front of my tv set for the second one against Bosnia.
I think it's gonna be tricky.

Re: A beautiful loss is still a loss.

Nicolas — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 09:47:19 -0000

4-4-2 without a "#10"

Lloris
Sagna - Rami - Mexès - Clichy (or Trémoulinas)
Alou Diarra - Diaby
Ménez (or Rémy) Malouda
Benzema Hoarau

Other guys in the 22 : Mandanda, Debuchy, Squilacci, Sakho, Trémoulinas, Mvila, Cabaye, Ben Arfa, NZogbia (Valbuena), Rémy, Gameiro (Gignac)
PS : I hope Rémy will be able to play.

Re: France vs Norway: Blanc’s first selection!

Nicolas — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 18:38:31 -0000

Blanc said in the press conference that he'll be allowed only 6 changes, so 5 players will have to be on the field for 90 mn.

Re: France vs Norway: Blanc’s first selection!

Nicolas — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 12:04:06 -0000

Change has come, and that's good. Blanc ANSWERED every question at the press conference, he looked pleased to chat with the journalists and to talk about football...
I've been waiting for those moments for a long time (well, 2 years at least) and that feels GOOD (having a NORMAL coach).

The team is pretty young. A lot of players I don't know well (Debuchy, Matuidi, N'Zogbia), and a lot of other who have a big chance to take (Nasri, Mexès, Benzema, Rami) before the other come back. I can't wait for the moment when Blanc will have to make his final team with both groups (The old and the new 22/23, if you see what I mean).
The center backs and strikers are the ones who have the biggest chances I guess.
Now tomorrow, there is a new federal council. The federation will have to decide if further sanctions will be taken. Apparently if there's a sanction it will be a collective one (see http://www.leparisien.fr/sp..., so the 22 that climbed on that bus could be banned for more than one match if the federation decides to go further than Blanc.

Re: France vs Norway: A Whole New 23

Nicolas — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 07:59:35 -0000

Sarah, I aunderstand yr point, and I even posted a few weeks back that mexès wasn't good in Blue. But maybe this friendly against Norway could be his redemption match. Like Blanc said, he's an interesting player, not very typical of the classical center back, very technical. And he's got experience, while the other candidates (Rami, Ciani, Koscielny, Kaboul, not to mention Sakho) are newbies. So he's got his chance.
Another thing : Toulalan will probably play center back with Lyon this season, so he could move down to center back with les Bleus. He or Mexes or Squilacci (why not Escudé ?) could be the defense boss.

Re: Euro Under-19 Final

Nicolas — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 04:08:59 -0000

Those guys are terrific ! It's good to see France beat Spain.
What Kakuta does on the second goal is brilliant. It's maybe a little too soon to see them in the A team but I'm sure that we'll see a handful of them wearing the blue jersey in 2014.

Re: France vs Norway: A Whole New 23

Nicolas — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 12:59:32 -0000

Agree with that. Blanc will have to start from nothing with the center backs, because Gallas is almost retired and Abidal is not a center back in Barcelone (even though his coach said he would possibly usr him as such).
But we have great players in that position : Mexès, Rami, the young Koscielny are among the best.

Re: France vs Norway: A Whole New 23

Nicolas — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 13:39:59 -0000

Here's a partial list of players who received a pre-call up (Blanc drew a first list of 30-35 and will chose the final 22 or 23 at the end of the week)

Lyon : Cissokho, Gomis, Briand

Lille : Debuchy, Rami, Balmont, Mavuba, Cabaye

Roma : Mexès, Menez

Marseille : Ben Arfa (unsure)

Rennes : Douchez

Monaco : Ruffier

Bordeaux : Trémoulinas

Toulouse : Sissoko

Saint-Etienne : Matuidi

Auxerre : Le Tallec

Nice : Rémy
Wigan : N'Zogbia

Valencia : Mathieu

Real Madrid : Lassana Diarra, Benzema

Re: Breaking News: Ribery and Benzema Indicted for “Soliciting Underage Prostitutes”

Nicolas — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 09:27:06 -0000

At this very moment the "Conseil fédéral" (federal board) of the FFF is meeting and (hopefully) will make a lot of decisions :

- Unless ther's a big earthquake (or the end of the world) Fernand Duchaussoy will succeed Escalette as FFF's president by interim until (at least) december. He'll have to lead the reform and renovation of the FFF (especially the governance)

- They will have to deal with the Domenech issue. They probably won't tell anything to the press about it (it is a very touchy subject because Domenech can suit them if they don't follow the law). The question is : how will they fire him and on which grounds ? You know how hard it is to fire somebody here in France (and sometimes it's a good thing)

- They'll have to deal with the penalties issues after the bus episode. Will Blanc leave out all 23 players for the friendly against Norway or will he let the FFF punish them ?

-And last, about Ribéry and Benzema, Duchaussoy said he doesn't want any indicted players with the blue jersey. But some people are reluctant to leave them untill they're not proven guilty.

-

Re: Breaking News: Ribery and Benzema Indicted for “Soliciting Underage Prostitutes”

Nicolas — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 01:17:22 -0000

This is one more confirmation of their dumbness. Retrospectively we understand why Ribery acted so bad (on and off the field) during the World Cup with such a sword above his head (as we say in French)
This makes the situation even more tricky for Laurent Blanc, who's about to give a list of players for the friendly game against Norway. After Escalettes' sudden decision to call for a public investigation, I don't know what he'll do. Will he leave out the 23 who were on the bus as France Football suggested ? Surprise surprise, but the context is really hard for him

Re: Laurent Blanc, new manager, speaks

Nicolas — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 03:36:23 -0000

It's difficult to know what his ideas are at this point. I think he hasn't made his mind about what really happened at Knysna. He seems to be focused on his staff now, and then when it's done he will start to think about the players.
But, yes, the task is very difficult. This generation isn't as good as the former, there is no new Zidane, and everything has to be built out of scrap.
I wouldn't mind if we don't get good results at once (even though the teams we will face this year are relatively weak) as long as Blanc tries to built a team that will make it in the long run. But I'm afraid the press is not that patient. THe pressure will be hard.
I don't think we can afford to fire players like Ribéry or Malouda. Let us not make the same mistakes that Dom made in 2004-05.

Re: Evra, Henry and Abidal to give tell-all interviews tonight!

Nicolas — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 04:02:50 -0000

I don't agree

1) Walking off is not respecting the blue jersey. For a professional player, doing your job is playing well but it is also behaving well off the field and show respect.

2) If you wanna play the game of "ifs", I don't think that if France had won all 3 games, the Anelka story would have leaked. it only occured BECAUSE we lost. I mean all this was the result of a war between Domenech and the press. The press was frustrated by Domenech's lack of explanations and fell on him at the first opportunity. The federation closed their eyes. Everything exploded in their faces.

Re: Early Expectations.

Nicolas — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 09:38:39 -0000

Today after the meeting of the Conseil fédéral (the board that rules the federation) Lilian Thuram who stands for the professionnal players said that Evra should be banned forever from wearing the blue shirt.

Re: Early Expectations.

Nicolas — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 06:01:47 -0000

Sorry, I meant to post this as a "normal" post and not as an answer to Aditya's (good) lineup.

Lloris (Mandanda, Carrasso, Ruffier)
Sagna (Fanni, Chlamé) - Squillaci, Toulalan (Rami, Sakho, Planus, Escudé as extra centerbacks), Clichy (Trémoulinas, Cissoko)
A.Diarra (Lass Diarra) - Ribéry, Gourcuff, Malouda (Valbuena, Nasri and Diaby could be other options among the midfielders)
Benzema, Briand (Rémy, Hoarau, Gameiro)

As a captain, I don't know. Alou Diarra or Toulalan ? Malouda isn't a great option IMO. And I'm convinced Toulalan's future is in the back. Last, I'm not a big fan of Mexes who hasn't done any good in blue

Out : Evra (for a while), Abidal (forever). I don't know about Anelka. If he's really good, le Président could give him a chance after a probation.
And we should give Ribéry and Malouda a chance, because they can be excellent. I think that under Blanc's authority they won't act like divas or he'll do without them.
And I'm sure a lot of young players from ligue 1 will be added. Sometimes iti s better to have young and willing guys that tired stars.

Edit : I'm adding Ben Arfa as a potential substitute.