Tuesday, May 23, 2006

A Strange Omission: A Reply...

Thought i'd post up my good friend Jonny's reply to my blog about Giuly, as he clearly knows more about the issue than I do; here you go:

"...the intricacies of French football do not escape the brutality of politics. Raymond Domenech is notorious in France for dropping experienced players only to be replaced by 'les espoirs' (lit. the hopefuls). Robert Pires famously fell out with Domenech last year after being dropped.

In France, few stars still play in La Ligue, so when a youngster like Ribery has a top season at Marseille, who incidentally have been a pile of poo this season, there's no leaving him out. The French footie press are as manipulative as the British and Domenech is seen as a pretty weak character over there. A player like Malouda gets in ahead of Guily simply because he's naturally left-sided, and well, nobody else in the squad is! (Sound familiar?) As for the Djibbers Cisse, who knows how he manages it, but they absolutely love him in France! No joke, they reckon he's the shit... The truth is, he was the shit at Auxerre, but then I could probably get a couple against Guingamp, Le Havre and Nancy!

As for Ludo Giuly, in my humble opinion, he's not actually that good. Granted he's got bags of pace, but I don't reckon much else. Also, for the last few months, he's been shouting his mouth off about how he's best mates with Henry and how big TH is definitely heading to the Nou Camp having fallen out with everyone and their mother at Arsenal... Well all I can say is HA HA HA. Justice. Gutted Ludo, have fun canoeing this summer, cos no one gives a cow's arse what u think."

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Actually Im not so sure I agree with Jonny. I think France have bigger problems that bringing a couple of youngsters to the world cup, who after all are only going to sit on the bench and get some atmospheric experience, a la Ronaldo in '94. The fact is the Zidane has got him by the gonads, and the team that plays will be disastrously similar to that at the last two major tournaments. For a start hes picked Fabien the clown as first choice keeps instead an extremely promising Coupet, who I am reliably informed by one all-knowing in these affairs, was far and away the best keeper in France last season. If not in Europe. 13 out of a squad of 21 played pretty poorly in Portugal, hardly a qualifying a new era in French football. Domenech will inevitably let Zidane influence the team, but why? Hes a puppet to the veterans, and in a french poll 71% said they wanted Coupet in goal. In short, Domenech's 2nd choice team, like Dhorasoo, who is a complete waste of space, just shows that he has no plan b. Why omit Micoud for a start!

At least we know if we come up against the French there wont be too many selection surprises!

Anonymous said...

First of all lets start with Guily - an absolutely fantastic player, playing an integral role in the best team in the world. In my opinion he would grace any team, domestic or international, and if France dont want him or more to the point Barcelona don't want him...£3m move to Liverpool - I'd bite your fucking hand off!

Next To Ribery - what a talent! been watching this guy for a few years coming up through France's under 17 and under 21 set-up. Now of course this is by no means a definate indication of how good he is (Anthony le Tallec anyone?) but from what i have seen he is a superb talent, young and fearless, and fully deserving of a place in the French squad, and of a big mony move abroad next season. (Although he is an extremely ugly man)

Lastly Cisse - an excellent performer at international level. Admittedly his season at Liverpool has been somewhat erratic, but his form for the French has been very good. goals aren't everything but he has a scoring average of one in three for the French, and was a consistent performer in a world cup qualifying group characterized by a distinct lack of goals.