As a player, it’s reassuring to know your coach has faith in your talents and includes you in his squad for good reason…but, if you’re on the France National Team, Laurent Blanc doesn’t think you’re “great” – he just needs you to fill a roster space, sorry!
Or basically he said as much – “Blanc thinks only Chelsea’s Florent Malouda and Bayern Munich’s Franck Ribery are close to that [great] level. Encouragingly, Arsenal midfielder Samir Nasri is on the way to joining them.”
As for Anelka, Evra, Abidal, Sagna, Clichy, Diaby, Diarra, Gourcuff, Toulalan, Benzema, Gallas, Saha, and the rest of the sorry Premier and/or Champions League lot…you apparently suck. (Okay, we’ll, that’s true for Evra and Gallas, but the rest are slightly harder to argue).
And we wonder why the French lack the national pride and team cohesion? Laurent, as your players must be saying, “vous êtes un idiot.”
Uh. He’s right.
Yeah, but you don’t go and say it out loud if you’re the manager. Not exactly morale-boosting.
Why is Blanc starting to look confused like Ray-Ray? Is it the job or b/c Domenech left his astrological charts in the office?
Thinking that some managers will just always fail to handle a hostile press conference. See: Hodgson, Roy
@ JT: Perhaps Blanc should begin referring to glasses of milk or wine when the crowd gets a bit pushy…
Yes Lolo! Now tell the fans they don’t understand tactics.
What? Toulalan isn’t great? Sacre bleu!
@Anon – exactly. It’s not like team morale is at an all-time high anyway. He’s kicking them when they’re already down.
J’accuse!