France NT News, Formations & Results

they had no choice. you can't say you want to swiftly ban him if you don't know or don't have all the facts. banning him swiftly does not bode well for other members of the team; it gives the impression that they do not have players' backs. deschamps has always liked benzema, i'm not a follower of french football, but i remember when papin criticized benzema, deschamps was very supportive of benzema.

when the tabloids where counting how many games without a goal he had for france, deschamps and the federation still supported him. a number of fans didn't want him at that point, but deschamps and people in the establishment were adamant on keeping him

its a case of damned if you do, damned if you don't...if you take him, it becomes "you play favorites, regardless of the off the field issue", you ban him immediately then its "you didn't even give a chance to hear court info and verdicts", you suspend him (which they've done), if france don't win (which even with him they may or may not), he becomes a martyr and "france lost cos benzema didn't play"

they have to talk up team harmony to settle the nerves of their own players and play down the situation (dropping benzema) as much as possible. had nothing to do with race creed, culture, hating the player, (i bet the fff and deschamps have more on their minds than to start hating on benzema or who's better between him and higuain) nor the anthem...i've heard zidane never sang it and they always loved him. the fff cannot be blamed for the situation at hand at all. as i said before it could have been avoided.

Yeah... the lessons learned from this:

- Avoid blackmailing your teammates
- Try not to get involved in a drug ring even indirectly
- Don't lie to the police because they just might have been recording all your conversations for months

sportsczy wrote:Yeah... the lessons learned from this:

- Avoid blackmailing your teammates
- Try not to get involved in a drug ring even indirectly
- Don't lie to the police because they just might have been recording all your conversations for months

Open and shut case for me.
Benz is a genius on the pitch, a despicable pos off it. Read the court documents and seen the evidence. Anyone with a brain will realize Benz done Valbuena dirty. Seeing how the FFF got around to checking the evidence, the ban proves whoever read it is capable of basic reading comprehension.

Sucks but it is what it is.

With the squad for the Euro being announced in less than a week... i thought i'd give you my dream squad

Keepers

Lloris, Mandanda, Ruffier

Defenders

Varane, Koscielny, Evra, Sagna, Digne, Jallet, Mangala, Umtiti

Midfielders

Pogba, Matuidi, Lass, Kante, Rabiot, Schneiderlin

Strikers

Griezmann, Payet, Martial, Coman, Ben Arfa, Gignac

But most likely, Cabaye, Sissoko and Giroud are there instead of Ben Arfa, Rabiot and Schneiderlin unfortunately. Costil may get in there instead of Ruffier too because Ruffier is kind of a grouch while Costil is a good guy. 3rd keeper anyhow. Who cares.

I dont get how Koscielny keeps making your list m8.

Who should make it instead?

Laporte is out for the season, Sakho has a drug suspension and Mathieu is just barely coming back. Really have no choice but Koscielny.

Zouma is out too.

I really don't see who would get the call up instead

Kick wrote:Who should make it instead?

sportsczy wrote:Laporte is out for the season, Sakho has a drug suspension and Mathieu is just barely coming back.  Really have no choice but Koscielny.  

Kick wrote:Zouma is out too.

I really don't see who would get the call up instead

I'd honestly give Mathieu a chance. I wouldn't trust anyone playing for arsenal. you need character to play for a nt and that is a quality Koscielny lacks severely.

Umtiti may get his big chance if Kos falters. Mathieu is past it imo.

EURO squad :

Goalkeepers: Hugo Lloris, Steve Mandanda, Benoît Costil.

Defenders : Bacary Sagna, Christophe Jallet. Lucas Digne, Patrice Evra, Raphaël Varane, Laurent Koscielny, Eliaquim Mangala, Jérémy Mathieu.

Midfielders: Lassana Diarra, Yohan Cabaye, N'Golo Kanté, Blaise Matuidi, Paul Pogba, Moussa Sissoko

Attackers: Anthony Martial, André Pierre Gignac, Dimitri Payet, Olivier Giroud, Kingsley Coman, Antoine Griezmann.

Aulas is going to have verbal diarrhea over this lol

Why in the world is Coman going over Lacazette?

Coman is trash.

Because DD wants backups at every position.  Griezmann and Martial are the starters with Payet and Coman as backups.  Lacazette was competing against Gignac really and I think he wanted more of a targetman as a backup.

Coman is incredible.  Don't let bad performances against Atleti cloud that... otherwise, all of BBC and MSN are mostly trash too lol.

Reserves: Alphonse Areola, H.Ben Arfa, Kevin Gameiro, Alexandre Lacazette, Adrien Rabiot, Morgan Schneiderlin, Djibril Sidibé, Sam Umtiti.

I would've taken Ben Arfa over Coman and Lacazette Over Crapoud .

Its not about Coman's performances against atleti. He just isn't that good. Ben arfa would have been better than him and he has had an incredible season too.

Coman is incredible...  really blown my mind how good he's been at Bayern.  The only poor games he's had really were Atleti and there's no shame in that.  Been downright dominant at times both at Bayern and NT.  People forget he was the catalyst for the comeback against Juve with the late goal and assist.

Superstar in the making.

Ben Arfa has been facing Ligue 1 competition and playing for Nice... both those work against him.  He has no big game performances. Same with Lacazette. Gignac is the same... but his player profile works for the backup role and Lacazette's doesn't.

The key sports is " in the making " .

Ben Arfa is in the form of his life and i really feel he could've brought something to the team coming off the bench .

@farfan... you're preparing the next competition too. That's why you bring some kids in to get that experience. Coman is 19 remember. Kante, Martial, Varane, Pogba, Coman and Griezmann give you a framework going forward. They're not pushing 30.

I also think that they want a pure winger to rain crosses in since they went for big targetmen like Giroud and Gignac if the game calls for that.  Playing on the ground with those two is really not the best way to go although Gignac is ok.  But if France falls behind, you'll see Coman come in to create that play.

Anyways starters themselves look good.

Griezmann, Martial, Gignac and Pogba should provide a great attacking display.

Not sure why Sissoko or Cabaye are going but i guess there was no one better? paints a bleak picture but they are subs at best thankfully.

Expecting Varane-Koscielny CB partnership with Sagna and Evra as fullbacks.

Experience RG. Rabiot will break in after the Euro for Sissoko imo. Schneiderlin has been really poor so there's no choice to back up Lass. A lot of the DM prospects haven't panned out like Gonalons and Tollisso.

Still pissed Ghezzal went to Algeria.

Cornet will definitely be up there post euros.

Hopefully there are more midfielders coming through. Specially creative ones.

Thomas Lemar will be there soon.

Cornet has very little chance.  Ghezzal too.  The corners of the attack are too full...  Martial, Griezmann, Coman and Payet aren't going anywhere soon and you have Fekir coming back too.

Odsonne Edouard is one to keep an eye on in the next couple of years. I think he's a great one coming up.

Forgot Fekir. Would have been on the plane if he didn't get injured.

Sidibe is a key prospect.  Although he's right footed, they have him play left back at club since he's good there too.  But he's really a natural right back.  There's literally no other prospect at RB in France

Jordan Amavi will push Kurzawa and Digne too soon assuming he makes a full recovery.