That’s awesome that you met JMA. He’s my fave person at OL, period (though followed closely by Juni and Toulalan). Maybe you can answer a question for me. Last year, I remember Sonia Bompastor was the captain, but this year it’s Sandrine Dusang. Or was the captain always Dusang?

Also, if any of you are interested, you can dl the entire Lyon-Arsenal match here, courtesy of Bonnie over at the BigSoccer forums.

Good luck with Lotta! The girls team are still very accessible so you probably could get to meet her. If you ever do get to come over let me know and I’ll see if I can get the training schedule for you.

btw you have a much stronger chance of meeting Lotta than Inara has of meeting Toulalan (sorry Inara) because if you hang around at Gerland after the UEFA matches all the girls come out to sign autographs. Plus she speaks good English (but not much French yet) so you’d have a head start against the other men!
You should try to catch a league match, they usually play on Sunday afternoons at the reserve’s pitch. If its a nice sunny afternoon its a great (and free) way to spend some time. I saw a game a couple of weeks ago and at some point towards the end an older man walked past me with a couple of other people. He said hello politely so I replied but only as he had passed did I turn round and realise it was JMA! He’s so small! But very supportative of his girls team.

btw Inara although we did spend much more on the girls team in the summer, the Martha transfer didn’t work out because she was never the less too expensive. Maybe next year.

SECURING THE DEFENDERS

For our consultant Angel Marcos, the defensive problems of the French team have nothing to do with any drop of form or lack of defenders with potential. Let the coach make some clear choices in this position, establish a game project for the eleven players, and we’ll be back to normal, he thinks.

“The defensive problems of the French team are currently being debated, and it reminds me of what was recently seen with Lyon. OL generally had an extremely solid defense. And then, the team began to have problems at the back left, so we targeted Grosso. Then Grosso got injured, and we had the same problems with Réveillère, then with Mensah. If Lyon takes more goals than before, at the moment it’s because of Cris. They say he is no longer the same, he is not this, not that.
My approach to the problem is that it is more complicated than that, we must look for other factors that the poor state of form of an individual player or bad behavior of a line. This also applies to the French team.

As far as the French NT is concerned, the problems began at the Euro, and we said at the time that Thuram was now ten years older, or that Sagnol, ultimately, was playing although he was just back from injury. OK, I admit he lacked matches, but he had attended an athletic preparation , playing with his club, and in my view he couldn’t become a donkey overnight, unable to place an action. We must look for other reasons. Today, we slap Gallas, Mexès, Abidal, we talk about lack of character, concentration, slow, inability to duels, to reflection and anticipation. All of a sudden, they all would have become invalid. This, in my view, is rather an issue with the general equilibrium of the team, of the use of both sides, the replacement, the task of defensive midfielders, the relationship between the backs and the midfielders, the midfielders and the attackers, the wings and the centre. How should the laterals move when the team plays on the other side? The staff of les Bleus must now address all these issues.

The first thing to do in this case will be to nominate four defenders fixed for the next four matches, irremovable except for injury and suspensions. Players must not feel they will be sentenced for an error, especially if the team is moving towards a more aggressive style with more risk-taking. They would also benefit from refocusing a player like Toulalan on his prime quality, which is to play transversally (in the width). He is dispersing himself a lot. He would be accompanied by a second type of midfielder like Vieira or Flamini, may be Alou Diarra in the future, a player capable of making something in the verticality, not only in passing, but in the presence and races. Once everything is determined, detail a little the role of the wingers and work on convincing the players on what they have to do. We will then naturally find a defensive solidity. That is obvious. No one will make me say that the French team has no defender able to win duels, to take a header, or to anticipate.

That there is potential at this position is not debatable. Look, even Argentina plays with Heinze, 34 years, or a player like Burdisso, and it fits them well. I believe that the French team, like Spain, Italy, Argentina or Brazil, belongs to these teams that have a chance to win all their matches by taking the ball and overtaking the opponent. When it fails, it transforms its opponents into phenomena and it’s only its fault. Austria? The stools? (reference to Domench who, asked what could have been done to avoid taking goals from -tall- Austrian headers, said “maybe take stools”) The two-meter tall striker who scored two goals in his life? With hindsight, we see where Austria is. Scotland, which would allegedly go to the Euro refusing to play? All this is strictly a matter of organization, a way to operate,a balance. Spain has finally found the solution with a player like Senna. Let French defenders feel secure for a few matches, let them be chosen for a game project, and things will return to normal. » “

I’m just sayin’ …

The u-21’s are so bad because 1. The coach is so bad, Loembaerts is an awful coach in my opinion, not suited to coach youth. Armand Garrido is Lyons best youth coach, while Patrick Paillot and Pierre Chavrondier are also fantastic. 2. The players selected for u-21 duty are not always the best players. Look at the lineup, and tell me that some of these players just are not good enough for even a youth level of Franc representation. Younes Kaboul, miserable. Bellaid, iffy. Roman Danze, no thanks. Moussa Sissoko, barely played for Tolouse this year. Didier Digard likewise for Middlesborough. Dimitri Payet, Kevin Gamiero, do they ever score goals? And playing Jeremy Menez right now is laughable, he is in such poor form its ridiculous. Where is the call up for Feghouli? Why is Coutaduer on the bench? Why do you play a midfielder in N’Zogbia in defense when he has been bad there for his club team!?! Or three DM’s when you need to press this game?

I will be fair, the German keeper made some excellent saves, but at home, with an away goal, you must not be so overly cautious. You have the team on the ropes, they must attack, so counter attack, dont just absorb pressure for the full 90 minutes with 3 defensive mids!