"Le nouveau phénomène". - Karim Benzema

Was he ever pissed during the post match interview. Actually never seen him quite like this. Very cold. Very direct. Just not happy. Some quotes:

"difficult game for us. But at least we did the minimum and took the point. That's just the way it is sometimes."

"personally, very difficult game for me. It will always be hard for a cf when he can't get a pass, let alone a decent one. I tried to make some runs but received nothing."

He's coming out of his shell. lol.

sportsczy wrote:Was he ever pissed during the post match interview. Actually never seen him quite like this. Very cold. Very direct. Just not happy. Some quotes:

"difficult game for us. But at least we did the minimum and took the point. That's just the way it is sometimes."

"personally, very difficult game for me. It will always be hard for a cf when he can't get a pass, let alone a decent one. I tried to make some runs but received nothing."

He's coming out of his shell. lol.

Well he's right and he has a right to be pissed, absolute piss poor performance from the French midfield.....

Crimson wrote:

sportsczy wrote:Was he ever pissed during the post match interview. Actually never seen him quite like this. Very cold. Very direct. Just not happy. Some quotes:

"difficult game for us. But at least we did the minimum and took the point. That's just the way it is sometimes."

"personally, very difficult game for me. It will always be hard for a cf when he can't get a pass, let alone a decent one. I tried to make some runs but received nothing."

He's coming out of his shell. lol.

Well he's right and he has a right to be pissed, absolute piss poor performance from the French midfield.....

I thought M'Vila and cabaye did fine. Their job is to recover balls and France had 67% possession... But again, the am and rw were poor (valbuena and martin). Blanc had the same problem the last game with nasri/Malouda; and the new guys were worse lol. I blame some of it on the field, which was horrific. But when you see M'Vila winding up trying to create because nobody else would take charge, you know there's a problem. That's not his game... He's a dm.

-------Benzema
Ribery-Martin-Nasri


I don't like lolMalouda at all...

France is a joke in midfield. I pity the benz for having to deal with his incompetent teammates and coach. he has to play am and be the goto guy to playmake. if france is to succeed benzema must play am since its been clear for awhile that french midfield is totally incompetent. dunno about french offense though, anyone there that is just as good as the benz?

Turok_TTZ wrote:France is a joke in midfield. I pity the benz for having to deal with his incompetent teammates and coach. he has to play am and be the goto guy to playmake. if france is to succeed benzema must play am since its been clear for awhile that french midfield is totally incompetent. dunno about french offense though, anyone there that is just as good as the benz?

They should revert to 4-4-1-1. I saw Martin and Valbuena, both of them sucked hard just like you said, France needs to play Benz deeper but they can't expect him to get on the end of his own balls. He needs a CF next to him :

------------------------M'Vila--------Cabaye-------
Hardwordking winger--------Benz-----------Ribery
-------------------------Gameiro--------------------

It may work for them. As of now, I don't see them scoring in big games Could Menez play on the right by chance?

Menez should go right and it's really a no brainer. He brings creativity and he has big club experience + he's the same age as Benz and played with him a lot as a youth. In fact, Menez, Nasri, Benz, Remy and Ben Arfa are all from the class of 1987 (as they call it in France). These guys are the present and the future for France. Blanc needs to give them the chance. They've played together since they were kids on the different NT levels.

PS Remy is really underrated. He's made huge strides over the past 12 months. He can play wing and CF. He's playing CF for Marseille right now and scoring in bunches. Plus he is fantastic in the air.

I dont really trust Menez to perform for france now, too early.

i would go

-------------M'vila----------------------------
----------------------------Cabaye----------
-------------------Martin-------------------------
------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------RIbery------
------Benzema--------------------------------
--------------------Gameiro
-----

As this is the most suitable place to discuss france im putting this here .

Portugal u 21 with pedro mendes (castilla CB) beat france u-21 with varane.

Adit wrote:As this is the most suitable place to discuss france im putting this here .

Portugal u 21 with pedro mendes (castilla CB) beat france u-21 with varane.

Impossible, Varane just wasnt taking hes game seriously thats all. The real Varane I know never gets beaten.

Adit wrote:As this is the most suitable place to discuss france im putting this here .

Portugal u 21 with pedro mendes (castilla CB) beat france u-21 with varane.

That's because the France coach played Varane at DM and was experimenting with everyone. He made 5 subs at halftime and 9 total. We also hadn't called up Lacazette, Fofana, Pogba or Griezmann for this team as their clubs asked us not to.

It was a friendly and we played it as such. In real games, you have the backline of Corchia-Varane-Mangala-Mavinga and the midfield of Pogba-Greizmann-Fofana. Niang, Lacazette, Sunu and Monrose alternating as the forwards. Best U-21 team in the world imo when they're at full strength.

I wouldn't lie, Sportz has a plaster for almost every sore when it comes to French football. If he actually has something a bit negative, it really is trouble...

Best U 21 at full strength?

If Spain were to actually call up the best U21 players from all levels, I would really have something to say about that.

Saetablanca wrote:Best U 21 at full strength?

If Spain were to actually call up the best U21 players from all levels, I would really have something to say about that.

Well, then it would include M'Vila on our side too. Difference between Spain youth and the ones for France is that 90% of ours are already playing for teams in top leagues and playing a lot (or in the case of Varane and Mangala, it's just a matter of time). Spain's youth is mostly in Barcelona B or Madrid Castilla... very few are in top competition.

I think Spain would still beat France more often than not if they were playing 10 games for example.

Simply because France NT is just a collection of names put together on a team sheet, and Spain is following an footballing idea, so the end result would be superior.

sportsczy wrote:

Saetablanca wrote:Best U 21 at full strength?

If Spain were to actually call up the best U21 players from all levels, I would really have something to say about that.

Well, then it would include M'Vila on our side too. Difference between Spain youth and the ones for France is that 90% of ours are already playing for teams in top leagues and playing a lot (or in the case of Varane and Mangala, it's just a matter of time). Spain's youth is mostly in Barcelona B or Madrid Castilla... very few are in top competition.

The U21 team that won the Euro would wipe France away. If you were to look at only players strictly under that age now, it would be harder. Go tell Martinez, Adrian, Mata, De Gea, etc that they play for youth sides.

well see who has the best youth in the olympics

Saetablanca wrote:

sportsczy wrote:

Saetablanca wrote:Best U 21 at full strength?

If Spain were to actually call up the best U21 players from all levels, I would really have something to say about that.

Well, then it would include M'Vila on our side too. Difference between Spain youth and the ones for France is that 90% of ours are already playing for teams in top leagues and playing a lot (or in the case of Varane and Mangala, it's just a matter of time). Spain's youth is mostly in Barcelona B or Madrid Castilla... very few are in top competition.

The U21 team that won the Euro would wipe France away. If you were to look at only players strictly under that age now, it would be harder. Go tell Martinez, Adrian, Mata, De Gea, etc that they play for youth sides.

You're talking about the team that won the U-18 Euro this year??? No way. Current France u-21 would destroy them easily... and i mean anihilate. And yes, i am talking strictly 21 years of age an younger currently. Some of the guys you mention are 22-23 years old... then that brings in Benzema, Nasri, Menez, Remy, Ben Arfa etc. for France.

St_Nick09_of_Goal wrote:I think Spain would still beat France more often than not if they were playing 10 games for example.

Simply because France NT is just a collection of names put together on a team sheet, and Spain is following an footballing idea, so the end result would be superior.

This is true. France youth come from all sorts of youth programs, domestically and abroad. So there isn't a consistent philosophy there. Spain has most of its players come from either Madrid or Barca youth programs... so they're used to playing with each other. Spain NT turnover is a lot less too.

Spain is just cranking out midfielders. CB development is weak however and there's a gap in forward development... very important for Spain that the Madrid CFs develop into class players.

Not just barca or Real, they have a set philosophy about how to play football. They convince it about the same way at youth level. Passing, collective, build up etc... they emphasize those points so players bond together well at a footballing level.

They try to get the 1st approach of footy through the youth NT and try to make it uniform. Huge difference.

St_Nick09_of_Goal wrote:Not just barca or Real, they have a set philosophy about how to play football. They convince it about the same way at youth level. Passing, collective, build up etc... they emphasize those points so players bond together well at a footballing level.

They try to get the 1st approach of footy through the youth NT and try to make it uniform. Huge difference.

But 80% of the players come from Barca or Madrid youth academies. And very few Spanish players go abroad for youth training.

It's working now because you've had a generation with legends, just like France had in the late 90s thru 2006. As much as people think that system wins... it doesn't. It's talent that takes it 90% of the time. As the legends are getting older for Spain, we'll see if they can be replaced. Only Brazil has been able to do that consistently in terms of NT.

I dont know much about the France U21s, but they would not annihalate Spain. Nobody could 'annihalate' Spain like that, with the players theyve got. Rodrigo, Morata, Isco, Canales, Thiago, Sarabia and the rest?

Saetablanca wrote:I dont know much about the France U21s, but they would not annihalate Spain. Nobody could 'annihalate' Spain like that, with the players theyve got. Rodrigo, Morata, Isco, Canales, Thiago, Sarabia and the rest?

most of the spain guys have yet to play in a top league.... As for France, you guys know Varane. Mangala started for Standard Liege for 2 years and is now at Porto. Mavinga is the starting LB for Rennes. Corchia is the starting RB for Sochaux. Fofana was just bought by Lyon where he is expected to start very soon. Pogba is like Varane for Man U. Griezmann was the star midfielder for Real Sociedad last year. etc. etc.

Most of these guys have played a lot of top flight football. The gap between that and Segunda or the league Castilla plays in is humongous. Spain would get physically torched.

The thing with France is that you rarely ever see the top players on the NT in youth. Too much politics and they will pass on players if the clubs ask them to. It seems, however, that this U-21 team will actually have all the players. Still haven't called up Griezmann, Fofana and Pogba... but i would be shocked if they didn't

sportsczy wrote:

St_Nick09_of_Goal wrote:Not just barca or Real, they have a set philosophy about how to play football. They convince it about the same way at youth level. Passing, collective, build up etc... they emphasize those points so players bond together well at a footballing level.

They try to get the 1st approach of footy through the youth NT and try to make it uniform. Huge difference.

But 80% of the players come from Barca or Madrid youth academies. And very few Spanish players go abroad for youth training.

It's working now because you've had a generation with legends, just like France had in the late 90s thru 2006. As much as people think that system wins... it doesn't. It's talent that takes it 90% of the time. As the legends are getting older for Spain, we'll see if they can be replaced. Only Brazil has been able to do that consistently in terms of NT.

It's through that Real and barca feed a lot the youth NT, but you dont often see a whole group of player from the same team occupying a single area.

For example, this summer u21 team, you had Javi, Ander, Thiago, Muniain and Mata maintaining the creative unit of the team. that's 4 schools of football represented within the midfield.

St_Nick09_of_Goal wrote:

sportsczy wrote:

St_Nick09_of_Goal wrote:Not just barca or Real, they have a set philosophy about how to play football. They convince it about the same way at youth level. Passing, collective, build up etc... they emphasize those points so players bond together well at a footballing level.

They try to get the 1st approach of footy through the youth NT and try to make it uniform. Huge difference.

But 80% of the players come from Barca or Madrid youth academies. And very few Spanish players go abroad for youth training.

It's working now because you've had a generation with legends, just like France had in the late 90s thru 2006. As much as people think that system wins... it doesn't. It's talent that takes it 90% of the time. As the legends are getting older for Spain, we'll see if they can be replaced. Only Brazil has been able to do that consistently in terms of NT.

It's through that Real and barca feed a lot the youth NT, but you dont often see a whole group of player from the same team occupying a single area.

For example, this summer u21 team, you had Javi, Ander, Thiago, Muniain and Mata maintaining the creative unit of the team. that's 4 schools of football represented within the midfield.

It's interesting... France emphasized the FIFA WCs (U-17 and U-20), while Spain went for the Euros (U-18 and U-21). A lot of overlapping competitions. As a result, although Spain won both Euros, they did not qualify for the U-17 WC and lost in the QF of the U-20 WC. France did well in both WCs, but didn't play in any of the Euros. Obviously a lot more hype and stiffer competition in the WCs.

These youth setups are way too confusing for my taste. Just too many teams with too many competitions.

IMO at this level they should just have three teams, U21, U19, and U17, and have a specific standard of when to hold competitions for them. I agree, its confusing.