France unrest as Raymond Domenech refuses to listen to players | Football News | ESPN.co.uk
France go into Friday's match against Uruguay in a state of unrest, according to reports in the French media, with the players up in arms over coach Raymond Domenech's decision not to start with Thierry Henry.
It is understood a majority of the side want to see Henry and Abou Diaby play ahead of Yoann Gourcuff and Sidney Govou. It is also suggested in a recent warm-up game Nicolas Anelka refused to pass to Gourcuff while Franck Ribery stole the ball from him as the player was about to take a free kick.
Publicly, Domenech insists there is no problem, but the signs of cracks are there. Defender Bacary Sagna is quoted as saying: "We can maybe give him some advice or help but even if we were to offer it I don't think he would listen. The most important thing is the team."
That view was echoed by Eric Abidal: "We can try and put our ideas together and try and find a middle ground, but the manager decides."
Midfielder Alou Diarra was another to suggest all is not well. "We can't really say we have improved during the warm-up games. We still need time to adapt and don't have much left."
The French sports daily L'Equipe said Domenech was "listening but holding firm".
Florent Malouda, meanwhile, made a plea for unity. "We have to create links between players, we can't just think, 'I'm not interested in what others do'. We are going to look ridiculous if, as we did at Euro 2008, each player stays in his comfort zone aiming only for good marks from the media to the detriment of the team."