Ligue 1 Talk

Anelka to work with Henry in midfield today, not Govou.

So, I had this whole article written about today’s match. It was getting long. I put a good half hour into it. But after the probable starting eleven was published by L’Equipe, I deleted the entire post. So, here I go again.

First, some news that has come out between the last news we reported and this morning:

Eric Abidal has come out and said that his ideal score for today’s match is 0-0, putting pressure on Ireland to score at the Stade de France.  On the other hand the player trying to get Abidal’s spot, Julien Escude, said that a 0-0 result would be a bad idea.

Yoann Gourcuff, who will be starting for France today, also talked about how France will succeed tonight. “It is more likely we will score if we play well. A good score depends on what you achieved on the ground “said Gourcuff, according to L’Equipe. “Before the Serbia match,which the score was 1-1 , nobody would have thought it was a good result. Given the fact of playing the 9th minute down 0-1 and then going down to ten against eleven, we finally thought the opposite.” So, a tie can work, according to Gourcuff.

Escude also restated that France has really been working on defending Irish set pieces. He also said that France needs to avoid making mistakes on Irish corner kicks as well.

So, onto the lineup.

In the last few days, French players have said that their goal is to “not make any mistakes” against Ireland at  Croke Park. And, as we have discusses on this blog, they have worked hard to do that.

So, L’Equipe has published their probable starting eleven for France, and it looks like this:

Lloris

Sanga - Gallas – Abidal - Evra

A. Diarra - L. Diarra

Anelka - Gourcuff – Henry

Gignac

So, the first bit of news is that Andre-Pierre Gignac will be playing for France. Therefore, their best scorer in the last half of the group stage will be available and playing for Domenech’s side. They also have an interesting attacking midfield, which adds Yoann Gourcuff to the center.

In an interesting move, Nicolas Anelka has been favored over Sidney Govou on the right side of that attacking midfield. I personally have no understanding why this happened, since Govou is such a great player, especially for the national team. Thierry Henry will, again, be on the left side of the midfield.

In the defending position, Jeremy Toulalan is out. Alou and Lassana Diarra will be anchoring the midfield. This move seems to show that Domenech, while still wanting to score goals, has a defensive strategy in mind. The players and staff have told press that they would settle for a draw, and this lineup seems to forecast that scenario.

The back line pretty much stays the same. The only question was if Escude would be starting instead of Abidal. But, again, Abidal got the nod from Domenech. Hugo Lloris will be in goal for France.

With this lineup, it seems like France plans to play a conservative game. But with the players that they have up front, any one of them could just go up and score a goal. So, a 20-shot game for France doesn’t seem to be in the cards. This seems like the perfect 1-0 French victory lineup. Also, if France does happen to go down, they have a bunch of offensive players they can pull off the bench, like Govou, Benzema and Sissoko. Their lineup seems like it can be very fluid and work well.

Even with the player selection, all the talk has been about the management. We hear it everywhere…Trappatoni is great and Domenech sucks. Ok, that might be true, I will give the French nay-sayers that one.

But, Domenech and Trapp aren’t out there kicking the ball around! The players are. And, on paper, France is superior (yes, not just better, but superior) to Ireland.

But most of the talk has been about Trappatoni’s disciplined side versus Domenech’s lack of discipline. Even as a French supporter, I agree with this assessment.

But let me tilt this theory on its head a little.

Because Trappatoni’s team is SO diciplined, it should be easy for France to know what is coming ahead of time. Sometimes being too disiplined also means being too predictable. On the other hand, because France has a more fluid style of play, they might ‘look’ more ‘undisiplined’. But, unlike Ireland, this makes France the more unpredictable side. Advantage…France.

So, when all is said and done, and with the probable lineup being published by L’Equipe, I see a 1-0 victory for the French side at Croke Park.