Two losses in his first two matches as the new French manager and former World Cup winner Laurent Blanc is under immense pressure even before he has settled into the job that is presently the toughest in the footballing world. Raymond Domenech’s catastrophic work for the past five years or so with the French national team has left a telling legacy that would be hard to rewrite in a very short time. The French Football Federation has to provide Laurent Blanc considerable time to pull French football out of the doldrums, even if it means compromising French qualification for the EURO 2012.The French public and the sporting world as a whole should understand the hard nature of the task confronting the former Bordeaux manager. On the field, as a player, Laurent Blanc was a picture of calm, strength and reliability for the all conquering French World Cup and European Championship winning squads of 1998 and 2000 respectively and who can forget the superstitious kiss that Blanc landed on former teammate and good friend Fabien Barthez’s bald head before the kick-off as a good luck sign!Laurent Blanc’s brilliant professional career is a source of great motivation for the French national team and the fact that the forty four year old had earned only one red card(a refereeing mistake in 1998 World Cup semi-final against Croatia) in his entire career as a defender speaks volumes of the man’s disciplined mindset and these qualities of a manager should not be deprived of by any means for the sake of short term success. Laurent Blanc is the man to take France forward.The French team and their soft-spoken manager have come under heavy criticism for Friday’s opening EURO 2012 qualifying loss to Belarus at Stade De France and the team was jeered off the pitch by a disappointing 74,000-strong crowd. Now, the public emotion is understandable given the consistency of France’s dismal performances on the international front but the French public must also support Blanc and company and they must sympathise with the background from which the new manager has inherited the job.There should not be any question about Mr. Blanc’s pedigree as a manager although he is relatively new to this coaching world. Managing Bordeaux was his first coaching assignment but just turn the pages of the record books and look into the results that the former Marseille and Manchester United player had achieved with such a modest club in the three years of his unblemished management. In June 2007, Blanc was appointed the manager of Girondins Bordeaux after replacing Brazilian Ricardo. The first season, on his coaching debut, saw Blanc help Bordeaux finish second in Ligue 1 and getting himself awarded with the ‘Manager of the Year’ award. His second season was even more successful as the former Montpellier player secured a double winning 2008-2009 season by stopping Lyon’s monopoly of the French league and also securing the Coupe De La Ligue that year. Bordeaux also went on a fine Champions League run last season only to be stopped by fellow French team Olympique Lyonnais in the quarter finals. Question Laurent Blanc’s pedigree as a coach at your own peril!One might wonder whether getting the French national team job is too early in Blanc’s career but this is the right time to rebuild a morally devastated national team as it has not been long since the former World Cup winning star has retired as a player. He is the sort of man that will understand the pulse of his players. It is better to know the inherent problems of a team and the players very early on rather than finding them out on important tournaments. Loss to Belarus was an accident that could be termed as a blessing in disguise and Laurent Blanc now knows the depth of the task on hand and he needs the support of the French people, the French Football Federation and ofcourse the players he chooses to don the national team colours. During a training session last week at Clairefontaine, Blanc invited friend and former team-mate Zinedine Zidane to motivate the players and let them understand what it means to win games for the national team. Nowadays for many French players, playing for their respective clubs have become too important rather than performing proudly at the international level and Blanc had already addressed the situation by suspending the entire World Cup squad under Raymond Domenech for a friendly against Norway last month and now he is in the process of handpicking a squad of players that would gel together for a long time to come even if it means sacrificing the EURO 2012 in Poland and the Ukraine. The target should be the World Cup in four years’ time in Brazil.The 1-0 loss against Belarus should not be curtains for French hopes in the qualifying campaign. A lack of confidence, suspensions and injuries are the main sources of disappointments for the French and a point from Tuesday’s tough looking trip to Bosnia might not be a bad result to raise the Les Blues confidence for the rest of the qualifying process. With Romania, Luxembourg and Albania making up the group, Laurent Blanc should not be far behind in restoring French pride.
Two losses in his first two matches as the new French manager and former World Cup winner Laurent Blanc is under immense pressure even before he has settled into the job that is presently the toughest in the footballing world. Raymond Domenech’s catastrophic work for the past five years or so with the French national team has left a telling legacy that would be hard to rewrite in a very short time. The French Football Federation has to provide Laurent Blanc considerable time to pull French football out of the doldrums, even if it means compromising French qualification for the EURO 2012.
The French public and the sporting world as a whole should understand the hard nature of the task confronting the former Bordeaux manager. On the field, as a player, Laurent Blanc was a picture of calm, strength and reliability for the all conquering French World Cup and European Championship winning squads of 1998 and 2000 respectively and who can forget the superstitious kiss that Blanc landed on former teammate and good friend Fabien Barthez’s bald head before the kick-off as a good luck sign!
Laurent Blanc’s brilliant professional career is a source of great motivation for the French national team and the fact that the forty four year old had earned only one red card(a refereeing mistake in 1998 World Cup semi-final against Croatia) in his entire career as a defender speaks volumes of the man’s disciplined mindset and these qualities of a manager should not be deprived of by any means for the sake of short term success. Laurent Blanc is the man to take France forward.
The French team and their soft-spoken manager have come under heavy criticism for Friday’s opening EURO 2012 qualifying loss to Belarus at Stade De France and the team was jeered off the pitch by a disappointing 74,000-strong crowd. Now, the public emotion is understandable given the consistency of France’s dismal performances on the international front but the French public must also support Blanc and company and they must sympathise with the background from which the new manager has inherited the job.
There should not be any question about Mr. Blanc’s pedigree as a manager although he is relatively new to this coaching world. Managing Bordeaux was his first coaching assignment but just turn the pages of the record books and look into the results that the former Marseille and Manchester United player had achieved with such a modest club in the three years of his unblemished management. In June 2007, Blanc was appointed the manager of Girondins Bordeaux after replacing Brazilian Ricardo. The first season, on his coaching debut, saw Blanc help Bordeaux finish second in Ligue 1 and getting himself awarded with the ‘Manager of the Year’ award. His second season was even more successful as the former Montpellier player secured a double winning 2008-2009 season by stopping Lyon’s monopoly of the French league and also securing the Coupe De La Ligue that year. Bordeaux also went on a fine Champions League run last season only to be stopped by fellow French team Olympique Lyonnais in the quarter finals. Question Laurent Blanc’s pedigree as a coach at your own peril!
One might wonder whether getting the French national team job is too early in Blanc’s career but this is the right time to rebuild a morally devastated national team as it has not been long since the former World Cup winning star has retired as a player. He is the sort of man that will understand the pulse of his players. It is better to know the inherent problems of a team and the players very early on rather than finding them out on important tournaments. Loss to Belarus was an accident that could be termed as a blessing in disguise and Laurent Blanc now knows the depth of the task on hand and he needs the support of the French people, the French Football Federation and ofcourse the players he chooses to don the national team colours. During a training session last week at Clairefontaine, Blanc invited friend and former team-mate Zinedine Zidane to motivate the players and let them understand what it means to win games for the national team. Nowadays for many French players, playing for their respective clubs have become too important rather than performing proudly at the international level and Blanc had already addressed the situation by suspending the entire World Cup squad under Raymond Domenech for a friendly against Norway last month and now he is in the process of handpicking a squad of players that would gel together for a long time to come even if it means sacrificing the EURO 2012 in Poland and the Ukraine. The target should be the World Cup in four years’ time in Brazil.
The 1-0 loss against Belarus should not be curtains for French hopes in the qualifying campaign. A lack of confidence, suspensions and injuries are the main sources of disappointments for the French and a point from Tuesday’s tough looking trip to Bosnia might not be a bad result to raise the Les Blues confidence for the rest of the qualifying process. With Romania, Luxembourg and Albania making up the group, Laurent Blanc should not be far behind in restoring French pride.