France’s new BOSS, Steve Mandanda…
By: Magnusson | August 21st, 2008
Steve Mandanda is good. Exceptionnaly so. We knew that. But if last season’s performances and his participation to the Euros were an evidence, the fact that he was given the N°1 position was not. Sebastien Frey has been number two (or three) for four years and was a lock once Gregory Coupet left. Except Domenech never really liked him in the first place (He’s not very fond of Italy in general as you may have noticed) and Mandanda is about as good as you can get if you want to insure your future (Hugo Lloris is a very close second but Mandanda wins with more big game experience. That’s about to change since Lloris switched to Lyon this summer.). And Raymond Domenech said “buhbye” to all the old guard and called two young guns in order to create emulation rarely seen before in the French National Team.
So in his second selection, a frendly against Sweden last night, Steve Mandanda was good. He was Barthez-good for the first half and just great in the second. He kept at it and saved the Team quite a few times.
This is great news for us, for him, for his family (Just so you get a chuckle out of it, his younger brother Riffi was the keeper of the U17 team this week at the same time.) and for Team France as a whole. We may be witenessing the beginning of something great.
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Did you hear how Frey has decided to retire from the NT because he feels that Domenech is being unfair to him? What a baby.
Anyway, it’ll be interesting to see what happens when Lloris gets the big game experience under his belt. I’m really excited because both he and Mandanda are such quality keepers that even if one is injured, the backup for once won’t be a step down in quality.
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If you look at Frey’s press conference, Inara, he actually didn’t say much that sounded like sour grapes — he said there’s not been a chance for him but that it’s the coach’s decision and he respects that; he’s going to focus on his club now. Pretty tame, I’d say, considering that, from what I’ve read, you can trace his exclusion to the time in 2000 when he got FIFA support to refuse a U21 friendly call from Domenech (who had called him regularly in the U21s until then) in order to avoid missing an Inter match ….
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Okay, that’s a bit better, but he still should have stuck around though because he had a really good chance to become #1. I don’t think Mandanda is Domenech’s #1 choice because Domenech made it clear that he’s just testing the young gks out, especially since neither the Spanish or the Italian leagues are in full swing yet.
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Seba is a tremendous GK and I was stunned he wasn’t called up to the squad. Dedia says because the italian league hasn’t started yet or the fact that Domenech didn’t want to put Frey out there while Fiorentina were in between CL matches. I think I am going to go with Martha’s explanation, though.
Seba should be given a chance. If Domenech just watched a Fiorentina match that statement wouldn’t be necessary. Lloris and Mandanda are for the future and when the WCQ’s start, let’s just hope they don’t be Domenech’s downfall (or let’s just hope they do).
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But he’s throwing that chance away. Unlike other spots, gk doesn’t undergo a lot of turnover. In the last 15 years, France have only had three #1 goalkeepers. That’s it. There is a pecking order, and Coupet was #1. Frey isn’t going to displace him. Domenech was fair in that he finally gave that #2 spot to Frey for Euro 2008 despite Landreau playing in so many of the qualifiers.
I just don’t get what Frey is complaining about. What does he expect? The Sweden friendly is France’s first game since the Euros, and it was a team missing many of the regulars. If Frey kept his mouth shut, he probably would have been called up for WC because I don’t think Coupet would have stayed as #1. But now he’s ended all chances of that.
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I am guessing you didn’t get why Coupet ditched the camp ahead of the 2006 World Cup? It wasn’t because he started the majority of the WCQ matches, it was because he was the better keeper and that’s how Frey feels. Frey feels, regardless of what he does and what he has already done, Domenech will never give him a chance to prove why he should start and atm he’s has a point. Being named number 2 (or number 3, who knows?) at the EUROs was probably even more insulting to him after seeing the results of the matches and how Coupet performed.
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I didn’t like that Coupet left the camp either. Even if he is better than Barthez, there is a pecking order that should be followed unless a player deserves to be dropped (Landreau). As for Coupet, he had one bad game against the Dutch, but he was great against Romania and Italy. Frey’s had bad matches as well, so he should know that those things happen (on the whole, I think Coupet is a better gk than Frey, but only slightly.
Frey shouldn’t think he won’t have any more chances. If Coupet thought that, he would quit seven years ago. Frey saying that he has a better chance with a different manager is also not the right thing to say because accusing Domenech of biasness (when there hasn’t been any on Frey’s part) is only going to put the nail into his coffin. The next manager that comes along may decide to scrap Frey entirely if he gives up so easily and doesn’t want to fight for his spot.
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I also wanted to add that I’m not trying to be hard on Frey or anything. I understand that he’s frustrated and that he feels that he deserves more recognition. But I also feel that his attitude isn’t the right one. Situations like his are part and parcel of being an international player, and anyone aspiring to play for their country should know that a lot of factors go into selection, especially for a country like France, which is so loaded in talent. Maybe Frey is getting the short end of the stick from Domenech. But he should accept that. No need to have a sad press conference and say that he wants to focus on Fiorentina because the coach’s decision isn’t going his way. Most NT coaches change every four years or sometimes even less than that, and everyone knows Domenech will be fired sooner or later. Frey should have kept his mouth shut and suffered in silence. Unlike Trezeguet, who has justification to feel snubbed (and I don’t like Trezeguet’s outbursts either), Frey hasn’t been treated unfairly. He’s a goalkeeper, he should be aware of how hard that position is to get on the NT. Take Spain for example: Reina is a great gk, but he is the #2 because Casillas is ahead of him, and Almunia is waiting in the wings as well. That’s just the way it is.
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