It’s been quite a week in the French and English World Cup camps with successful and attempted mutinies, wildly different reactions from the respective coaches and even, in the case of the French, a Presidential order to get it sorted. What is going on?
Quite simply, both camps have been rocked by poor performances on the pitch and intense media criticism off it, with the players rather than the coaches feeling the full force of the pressure.
For France and Nicolas Anelka it boiled over in the form of a half time rant during the 2-0 defeat to Mexico. Anelka verbally abused coach Raymond Domenech, resulting in his expulsion from the squad and the tournament by the French Football Federation (FFF).
What has followed since has been almost unbelievable. On Sunday the players turned up for training but captain Patrice Evra found himself arguing with fitness coach Robert Duverne. Despite intervention by Domenech, Duverne stormed from the field in anger, discarding his accreditation badge on the way.
The farcical situation continued when Domenech and his staff were made to wait while the players decided what to do. Strike was the decision and they filed back on to the team bus, refusing to train and issued a statement for the now highly embarrassed and undermined Domenech to read out.
It read:
“The French Football Federation did not at any time try to protect the group. They took a decision uniquely based on facts reported by the press. As a consequence, and to show our opposition to the decision taken by officials of the federation [to dismiss Anelka], all the players decided not to take part in today’s training session.”
French team director Jean-Louis Valentin has since resigned, French President Nicolas Sarkozy has asked his sports minister to meet with Evra, Domenech and the French team and sort the situation out. For the whole country, it is a huge embarrassment.
When you throw in rumour and comments in the media from various parties that it is only the senior players leading this revolt and the younger players are very upset by it all but feel they cannot fight back the disaster that is France’s World Cup campaign looks even worse.
I’m no fan of Raymond Domenech. I find him odd, sometimes clueless and eccentric. But no coach should be undermined by his players, no matter how strongly they feel about his methods and style. And let’s be honest here, it isn’t really about that.
Anelka may well have vented his frustration at the easy target that is his coach but that frustration was borne out of his and his team mate’s poor performances on the field. Domenech’s tactics and team selection can be called into question, of course, but ultimately it’s the players that go out on the field that determine a win or loss and to be blunt France have not done it at this tournament.
Remember, too, they wouldn’t even be here if it wasn’t for Thierry Henry’s hand ball against the Irish in the play offs.
Domenech is a terrible coach, I don’t think there is any doubt in that. But he does not deserve what he has had to endure from his players. The sight of him reading out a statement from the team was embarrassing and demeaned him. Quite why he agreed to do so is beyond me.
At least for him it will all be over today. Incoming coach Laurent Blanc has his work cut out, however.
Similarly poor performances from England have led to Capello coming under pressure from his own as well. The difference here is that it appears to be only one or two players – John Terry and, less publicly, David James. Capello, though, is a far stronger man than Domenech and he has put a stop to any internal mutiny with an iron fist.
While the media were appeased by Frank Lampard’s brilliant press conference yesterday, the team – and Terry – were left in no doubt who is in charge by the Italian. At the same time, Capello let it be known that if a player has something to say he should say it, in private, to the coach.
It was perhaps the best bit of team management Capello has shown since the World Cup began. Certainly his tactics, team selection and substitutions have cast doubt over his ability to coach England’s players in a high pressure environment.
Like the French and any other team, however, it comes down to those who walk out wearing the shirt to play with the passion and desire the supporters demand and England haven’t done it. There will be no sympathy for players who turn on their coach under such circumstances, even if they do question that coach themselves.
With England facing a must-win game on Wednesday any internal rifts would have been disastrous. It seems as though Capello has put paid to any chance of a mutiny and even John Terry has issued an apology via the Daily Mirror for his, at best, ill advised comments during his press conference.
The supporters will now hope that England’s focus is entirely on that game against Slovenia. A victory and performance will consign this sorry episode to history and allow the team, united, to move forward. Let’s hope the press follow suit.
