Vikash Dhorasso: Still a Douchebag!
By: Inara | March 27th, 2008When asked why he left Lyon after winning two domestic titles:
“What’s the point of being champions of France seven times? I went to AC Milan to become a European champion. And I almost succeeded.”
- Vikash Dhorasoo on L’Equipe TV
Umm, Vikash? You only made 12 league appearances for Milan. Your point would be valid if you had actually achieved something outside of Lyon - on the pitch, that is. But you didn’t, so instead you sound like a sore loser.
Well, Lyon obviously don’t miss you. And while you were busy “almost” becoming a European champion, your arch nemesis Gregory Coupet won all those titles with Lyon, is still playing for the France National Team, has yet to be fired by his club, and actually has friends.
What have you been up to?
Disclaimer: I actually don’t have problems with Dhorasoo, and I really admire him for this. But the things he says sometimes…
Category: Former Lyonnais
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Just to set the record straight, Vikash played a little more than “just” 12 games for Milan… He played 20, in fact. 12 in Serie A, 3 in Coppa D’Italia, 1 in Supercoppa, and 4 in the Champions League. He had been recruited as a substitute in case Pirlo, Kaka, Seedorf or Gattuso was injured (the other substitutes were a certain Rui Costa, Ambrosini and Serginho). He didn’t have a very good season (blocked by the 4 first choices and often picked behind Ambrosini or Rui Costa as a sub), but did manage to get a LOT closer to winning the Champions league than Coupet or Govou ever did… After all, he was on the bench for the final against Liverpool, and with the score at 3-0 in Milan’s favor at half-time, he was only 45 minutes away from winning a Champions League. Also, he technically won the Serie A 2004/05 after Juventus were stripped of their title due to the Moggipoli scandal. He also won the Coupe de France with PSG… Something that Coupet, despite all his Championnat wins, has yet to do…
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France
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Well, 12 league appearances. Playing in cup matches is hardly indicative of being an important member of the squad since that’s when the bench players get their chances. And he failed to convince even as a back up, having been sold after only on year there.
And yes, he did come close, I’m not disputing that. But how much did he actually play in Milan’s CL campaign that year? In four substitute appearances, he barely played a total of half an hour, and he came on after Milan had the match wrapped up.
Anyone can sign onto a big club as a substitute and get a trophy. But that doesn’t give them the right to look down on players like Coupet, Juninho, and Govou, who play week in and week out to try and achieve that success that Dhorasoo is claiming credit for - a success that he did very little to earn.
Also, about the Serie A title - as you said, Milan got it only after Juve were stripped of the title. As for the Coupe de France - it seems like every player except those at Lyon have won the Coupe de France, so it’s hardly an amazing feat. Even Jeremie Brechet, another former OL player, won it last season.
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I’d say 12 league appearances is more credit than he is due, considering his impact.
And Milan didn’t win the paper trophy post-Calciopoli, they were actually a guilty party. It was Inter.
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I will say that Dhorasso is very porblematic players. He came to Paris, after bad campagin in Milan, and he gives PSG a lot of problems, because of his fight with coach. He is a truoble man, Lyon don’t need him before.
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Wait, so is he gay or straight? I mean you dont have to be gay to support a gay rights movement, but the article made it seem like he was. If so, he would be one of the first professional footballers to admit he was gay as well, which is a feat in itself. But he is still a douche, he never contributed anything at Milan, so how could he say such things about Lyon which gave him his big “move” to Milan. Silly
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Inara, I’m not defending Dhorasoo (I always found he was too slow and not technical enough to compensate for his lack of physical presence), but he was more than you credit him for. After all, yes, he was a “sub”. But would Juninho, Govou or any of his team-mates for the second title have managed to break into Milan’s starting XI? Honestly, I doubt they would. I might be wrong, and others might find that Juninho, Govou or whoever would have pushed Kaka, Gattuso, Seedorf or Pirlo onto the bench regularly, but that he “never became a regular for Milan” isn’t particularly something that makes him either a bad player or a player that didn’t have his place in the squad… It just means that he was a clear second choice. Like most players in the world would have been.
As for his CL credentials… He played only four games… But he did play one as a starter (vs. Celtic), and his total playing time went over two hours (that’s a little more than the half hour you credit him). So yes, once more, he wasn’t a “crucial” player in Milan’s run to the CL win. He was at best a fringe player. But he was considered good enough to be on the bench for all but one of Milan’s games in the CL… And with Ambrosini, Rui Costa and Serginho also fighting for a place on the bench, that’s already a show of his closeness to first-team duties. So yes, he didn’t have the crucial role that Juninho had in OL’s CL challenges. And Milan’s run isn’t down to him. But he did get higher than Juninho, Coupet, Govou & al. Sure it wasn’t as such an important player, but for all the “would be” that Juninho & Cie can have (”Anyone can sign onto a big club as a substitute and get a trophy”), he actually did it.
Chris, the Serie A title for the 2004/05 season is actually “not discerned”. Inter were given the 2005/06 title after the Calciopoli/Moggipoli stripped Juventus of the 2004/05 and 2005/06 titles, but the 2004/05 remains “unrewarded”. Since Juventus were stripped of their title, then it should come back to the 2nd (AC Milan were only sanctioned for the 2005/06 season)… So technically, AC Milan is the winner of the 2004/06 season, but they’re not rewarded with the title. A bit like the 1992/93 season in France, where although OM were stripped of their title due to the match-fixing scandal (OM-VA), the title wasn’t awarded to PSG, dispite them becoming technical champions since they were second and not sanctioned…
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Well, for 04-05, being sanctioned for something and being guilty are two entirely different matters. They are by no means “technically” the champions or anything close - especially considering there were no point deductions for that year. And I’ve really never heard anyone say anything remotely close to that effect.
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What Dhorasoo forgets to say is that he ‘proposed’ himself to his former club Lyon, after he was fired from PSG. But Lyon refused.
Dhorasoo is usually a very intelligent guy (way smarter than the average professional player), but sometimes he forgets about humility, and thinks he can give lessons to everyone.In a word, you’re smart Vikash, but learn to shut up plz.
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He’s damn right. There’s no point in winning L1 7 times if that’s your only ambition. Obviously he felt he couldn’t reach a higher level in Lyon (win the CL) and so far he’s right.
Maybe it’s me, but I don’t see a problem with this quote.
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Are you joking me? Do you honestly believe when players come out with this bullshit?? Money talks people, not players…
Last year Franck Ribery said he would leave Marseille unless they got CL football, they get there and he leaves anyway for a team playing in the UEFA cup…
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I don’t think winning “just” L1 is anyone’s ambition at Lyon, Evilo.
Look, Dhorasoo did the right thing in trying out a new challenge. There’s nothing wrong with that. What is wrong is demeaning the efforts of his former teammates. It’s not like Coupet and Juninho are sitting around doing nothing. Maybe they didn’t win the Champions League just yet, but they are a very big reason that Lyon are where they are today.
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And some “mauvaises langues” would say that for 5 seasons Lyon have been doing standstill…
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Why do I feel targeted when you say “mauvaises langues”.
It’s funny because this year may be Lyon’s first double.
And their coach is going to get fired anyway.As for Vikash, I agree with Salieri, he’s too samrt and not humble enough. Like Thierry Henry. He comes off as an asshole.
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It does look like Aulas is making things uncomfortable with Perrin. His recent statement about Domenech, his unsubtle criticisms of Perrin in the press, and then Deschamps talking about wanting to coach Lyon.
No wonder we can’t keep a manager very long! Seven titles won between four coaches is pretty crazy, imo.
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Inara : I don’t think Lyon doesn’t try to win the CL.
I meant to say that they won’t win one before a huge amount of luck and a complete change of mental positionning.As long as they see themselves as happy winners (because they weren’t thrashed), they won’t win anything.
Lyon is still far away from winning the CL, even if they’re still among the challengers (it takes one huge win to believe in themselves).
Dhorasso means that you can’t be satisfied with winning L1, and unfortunately, that’s what Coupet and co did.
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Well him saying that is him assuming Lyon will never win the Champions league. Look subjectively at how quickly Lyons rise to dominance in France was, it’s incredible for such a relatively small club. And they are building bit by bit. If we can trash Real Madrid and take AC Milan to the wire, were capable of anything on our day. I’m so excited by Benzema and Toulalan extending contracts, this sends a message that Lyon aren’t just a “feeder” club anymore. And trophies are trophies, Lyon are breaking European records with there dominance, would a player just jump and leave Arsenal or Chelsea because they’ve never won the CL??
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Ush… This is five seasons since he left. Lyon have ended up some odd 10 points ahead of their title rivals 3 season in a row, and they’re unable to even get into the semi-finals of the Champions League. No other team in the world (save Rosenborg) have been in this configuration before.
Chelsea also were promoted to the top division in 1988-1989, and 1997-98 they won the Cup Winner’s Cup. Since they have returned to their top division, Chelsea has won two times the league, and had three Champions League Semi-finals. They’ve also won three times the FA Cup and three times the League Cup.
In short : 2 leagues, 3 major domestic trophies, 3 minor domestic trophies, 1 minor continental trophy, 3 CL Semis.
Lyon? 6 (almost 7) leagues, 1 minor domestic trophy, 3 CL Quarts.
It’s more a question of mentality. Manchester United’s first european campaign after the “ban” on English clubs that followed the Heysel disaster ended up with Bryan Robson carrying the trophy through Manchester. They didn’t have any more financial clout than any of their opponents, and didn’t win the league. They had a pairing of strikers that was almost laughable (Brian “Choccy” McClair and Mark Hughes who had just returned from two poor seasons at Barcelona, ironic he would score both goals against Barcelona in the 2-1 final…), and apart from Bryan Robson, the rest of the squad was largely unknown (Ince, Sharpe, Phelan, Bruce, Pallister, Irwin, Sealey, Blackmore, Donaghy, Webb…). And yet, Manchester didn’t lose a single game in Europe that season (two draws though).
Lyon are dominating, but it’s not going anywhere. Sure, Lyon’s domination over France is greater than Manchester’s was over England. But Manchester’s domination stemmed from a title in Europe before a title at home, just like Arsenal and Chelsea’s in the post-Heysel picture of English football.
Dhorasoo’s criticism is harsh, but it does show that Lyon’s domination of France has yet to be translated into any results on the European scene…
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