The French media came down hard on the loss to Mexico questioning Raymond Domenech’s judgment.
Le Monde called Les Bleus “outdated and unimaginative.”
The French gaffer seems to have realized a little too late that their best player was Florent Malouda. With Yoann Gourcuff and Franck Ribery largely ineffective, the question is why did Domenech wait so long to bring the Chelsea winger on so late? But his solution, to explicitly Ribery to the inside, solved no problems. Ribery is no number 10.
In fact, it led to redundancy as Ribery kept drifting into Malouda’s territory, his winger instincts proving stronger. There was no expansion of space as the Mexicans realized all they had to do was to crowd out the left flank.
If Ribery’s problem was redundancy, Nicholas Anelka’s seems to be ennui. The Chelsea striker looks like he could care less what happens to Les Bleus. There was no verve, no spark.
France looked pedestrian, even bored, during long stretches of the game. The defense was abysmal struggling against the Mexican attack. Patrice Evra was gobbled up by Giovani Dos Santos and Carlos Salcido, the left back showed plenty of attacking ambition in turn toyed with Bakary Sagna. At half time there was no score but it flattered to deceive as Mexico had about four good chances to go ahead.
What one loves about Domenech is that even Sancho Panza forever battling imaginary windmills would have said “Dude! Seriously, get real.” He just seems to live in an alternate universe.
“I’m speechless. It’s a real disappointment for all the people who still believed,” he said, wildly overestimating the level of optimism outside the confines of his own mind. “There were good intentions, but there was always something that didn’t work.”
They can get through only if they beat SA and then hope there is a winner in the Uruguay vs Mexico match. The fix is in. These two might drop anchor and see Les Bleus twist slowly in the wind. And yes, the Irish will be watching too, keenly, and maybe, just maybe there might be a pot of gold at long last.