The #LUFC Breakfast Debate (Thursday 1st July)

Leedsoflondon · Jul 1, 2021

ellandback said: ↑

Parents arguing, Benzema tensions and a hotel that wasn’t fancy enough – the extraordinary story of France’s Euro 2020 exit

It was their final meal together. Didier Deschamps had to find the right words to address a group of players whose tournament had ended in despair and acrimony. The manager of France rose to his feet and told the players that he would be the public face of this failure, that he would take the blame for everybody and that he wanted to thank them for all they had done.

We know now that Deschamps intends to remain as manager despite all the stories linking Zinedine Zidane to the role since France were eliminated from Euro 2020. But that would not have come as a surprise to Deschamps’ players because he had already told them, over lunch at the Athenee Palace Hilton in Bucharest, that he had no intention of walking away.

He told them to remember the disappointment and make sure they put it right next time. He would see them in September, he said, to start again ahead of the World Cup. “Respect each other, always.”

It sounded like good advice at a time when stories were already beginning to circulate of an extraordinary scene in the moments directly after France’s defeat by Switzerland in a penalty shootout.

Television footage had caught Adrien Rabiot’s mother, Veronique, exchanging words with Kylian Mbappe’s father, Wilfried, about the penalty that had sealed France’s exit. She was doing most of the talking and it did not look too friendly.

Reports in France say she accused Mbappe of arrogance and said, in the bluntest terms, that his failure from 12 yards should bring him down a peg or two.

“It is embarrassing how he struck that, for a player of his level. He hit it too lightly. I hope you are going to scold him.”

Other witnesses reported that Veronique had already clashed with members of Paul Pogba’s family and informed them the Manchester United player was culpable for Switzerland’s late goal that drew the sides level at 3-3.

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Veronique Rabiot, mother of Juventus’ French midfielder Adrien (Photo: FRANCK FIFE/AFP via Getty Images)
There have been other stories about divisions within the dressing room, friction between players and a lack of togetherness that can be demonstrated, perhaps, by the fact Raphael Varane, Antoine Griezmann and Clement Lenglet were allowed to fly off on holidays rather than travelling back with the rest of the squad, as is the norm.

These always tend to be the moments when the finger-pointing starts and the players try to find excuses, but the players of France always seem to find a way to take it to the next level.

One of their issues from Euro 2020 was that they did not feel settled at their Marriott hotel in Budapest and, barring one evening on the rooftop bar, did not have enough opportunities to relax together. Apparently, some of the players were unhappy about their city-centre location and wanted more luxurious facilities. One complaint was that the bedroom windows did not fully open.

The squad were initially meant to move to Gardony, 40 miles south, after their group game against Hungary and take up residence in a hotel on the shores of Lake Velence. Instead, they remained in Budapest to play their final group game against Portugal. According to a near-forensic post-mortem in the French sports daily L’Equipe, Pogba had made it clear to Deschamps that the players “hated” the accommodation and wanted to leave as soon as possible.

That in itself is typical of what can happen when a group of elite footballers who are used to a certain kind of luxury do not have everything exactly as they wish. And France are certainly not the only football nation that leave themselves open sometimes to accusations of being prima donnas.

When England stayed at the £500-a-night Auberge du Jeu de Paume in Chantilly for Euro 2016, one member of Roy Hodgson’s staff complained that — no kidding — the pillows were too plump. New pillows were found. Then the same member of staff turned up at reception to say he had another issue. This time, it was because the air conditioning was too fierce for his liking.

With France, however, the recriminations after a bad tournament always go that bit further and, in this case, involve some remarkable scenes in the part of the stadium where the players’ families and friends had tickets.

“Rabiot’s mother is known to be very sensitive and very close to her son and she didn’t appreciate what Pogba’s friends were saying about one of Adrien’s touches,” says one well-placed source with inside knowledge of the French camp. “So she blamed Pogba for the loss of the ball in midfield (leading to Switzerland’s third goal). Then she went to Mbappe’s father, ‘You better take care of your son because he has a big head and too much protection from the press and I think he’s arrogant’. So it’s a mess and she is well known for that at Paris Saint-Germain and Juventus.”

If you know the recent history of the France team, perhaps it should come as no surprise that Rabiot has been brought into it.

This was the player, after all, who reacted to being left out of Deschamps’ squad for the 2018 World Cup by refusing to go on an 11-man standby list and sending an email to the French football federation to criticise the manager’s selection process.

Rabiot, who had six caps at the time, had been omitted in favour of Steven N’Zonzi, the former Stoke City and Blackburn Rovers player, and made his feelings clear with a post on Instagram: “Since my first call-up, I’ve played 88 matches for PSG, a big European club, including 13 in the Champions League. I’ve scored nine goals and won seven trophies… there is no sporting logic behind the coach’s choice.”

Deschamps called it an “enormous error” and punished the player, now of Juventus, by leaving him out for two years. The matter was discussed as high as the France president, Emmanuel Macron. And if you have always found it strange that Deschamps was so reluctant to select Aymeric Laporte, it is worth noting that the Manchester City centre-half, who has now switched allegiances to play for Spain, publicly backed Rabiot with an emoji applauding his former France Under-21 team-mate.

“For a professional footballer, playing in a World Cup is the pinnacle,” Matt Spiro, the Paris-based author, wrote in Sacre Bleu, his book about the evolution of the France national team. “That Rabiot had sabotaged even a slender chance of fulfilling that ambition incensed Deschamps. It was impossible for him to comprehend.”

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Rabiot, Giroud and Kimpembe look distraught after being knocked out by Switzerland on penalties (Photo: Mihai Barbu – Pool/Getty Images)
It is also fair to say that Madame Rabiot has a reputation in French football for being difficult, to say the least, and that the media in her country have caricatured her — unfairly, you might believe — as a result. One cartoon in L’Equipe, published just before the World Cup, shows her and her son on the beach, discussing France’s 2-0 win in a pre-tournament friendly against the Republic of Ireland.

Veronique’s speech bubble says, “If you had played against Ireland, you’d have caught a really bad cold.”

For a large part of Rabiot’s career, she has acted as his agent. Rabiot reportedly ended that arrangement after a move to Barcelona fell through in 2019 and there have been numerous stories of her taking on the football establishment.

At one point, she wrote to Deschamps to complain that her son was not being picked enough. Or there was the time when PSG would not let her accompany her son on a trip to Qatar midway through his first season. Outraged, Veronique took up a position outside Carlo Ancelotti’s office, waiting for the coach to arrive so she could let him know exactly what she thought of it.

One report of the confrontation on Monday night suggested that it may have started after members of Pogba’s entourage reacted so aggressively to a mistake from Rabiot, the stewards inside Bucharest’s National Arena had to tell them to calm down.

The dispute involving Veronique is said to have lasted, on and off, for 20 minutes, including a “heated exchange” with Mbappe’s mother, Fayza Lamari. The families of the other French players were reportedly “shocked” by Veronique’s conduct and particularly the timing of it, having just watched the team crash out of the tournament.

But it is also worth knowing the background here and one of the reasons, perhaps, why she is so protective of her son and takes such a prominent role in his career, representing him in all his contract negotiations and regularly speaking on his behalf in the media. She, indeed, negotiated his first professional contract when he was a teenager, sitting face-to-face with PSG sporting director Leonardo.

In 2007, when Rabiot was a 12-year-old in the youth system at US Creteil, his father, Michel, suffered a stroke that left him with locked-in syndrome, a condition that meant he was completely paralysed. Michel, a PSG supporter who used to run his son to youth-team matches, was left in a wheelchair and could communicate only by moving his eyelids. He died in January 2019.

“What you have to understand here is her background,” says one person with close knowledge of the family. “She singlehandedly raised three boys with a handicapped husband, and I mean seriously handicapped. Her husband was in hospital most of Adrien’s life. He was very poorly. He had his brain but could not talk. He was in a cocoon. This woman suffered a lot.

“She stands her ground. She goes overboard but she raised her boys and took her son everywhere for football, no matter if it was minus five degrees and snow. And she is an honest woman. She gives money to church. She was (from a) very poor upbringing. She is really hard-nosed. She is not a prima donna. She gives back to people who helped her before. Is she too loud? Yes. But she has a lot of baggage. The context is everything. She is not a bad person. And she will always defend her son to death.”

For her part, Madame Rabiot told confidantes on Wednesday that she felt she had been unfairly treated and stitched up by the French media.

In France, they have noted how Rabiot, who had a brief spell in Manchester City’s youth system, seemed to be exchanging angry words with Pogba during the match, among a number of disagreements between players on the same side. Benjamin Pavard was also said to have an issue with Pogba’s positioning and could be seen berating his team-mate. Pogba, who had played exquisitely for the most part, took exception and bit back.

That can happen, of course, and ordinarily it would be difficult to know how much to read into it. England’s defeat of Germany, featuring some heated words between Harry Maguire and Jordan Pickford, was just one example. It is a team sport, and some of the most successful teams feature players who regularly lose their tempers with each other.

But there was also that revealing scene just before the penalty shootout when Switzerland’s players and staff gathered in a huddle, taking their words of motivation from a fist-pumping Granit Xhaka, while the reigning world champions were drifting around in groups of twos and threes. Pogba had his arm draped around Deschamps’ shoulder but, overall, there was not the closeness of their opponents.

“The balance, in football, is very difficult,” the president of one leading French club tells The Athletic. “People cannot understand that this is not only 11 players and one coach. There are thousands of things that have to be under control. It is very fragile and there are two big diseases in a dressing room: ego and jealousy.”

The decision to recall Karim Benzema for this tournament was always going to be key and, on the face of it, his two goals against Portugal and Switzerland would suggest that it was absolutely the right thing to do.

Yet it was never going to be straightforward bearing in mind Benzema had been excluded since November 2015 because of the court case that is being brought against him for allegedly blackmailing his former France team-mate Mathieu Valbuena over a sex tape. The nature of that charge meant there were always going to be issues, even with Valbuena no longer on the scene.

More than that, there was the fact Benzema had a strained relationship with Olivier Giroud, including his now-infamous observation that their rivalry was like comparing a Formula 1 car with a go-kart.

A week before the tournament began, Giroud tried to make light of it, joking that he would challenge Benzema to a karting race if they won the tournament. The two players were strategically placed on the same table during team meals. For Deschamps, team solidarity has been a near-obsession since replacing Laurent Blanc in 2012, two years after Nicolas Anelka was sent home from the World Cup and Raymond Domenech had to withstand a mutiny from his own players. It matters to Deschamps greatly, and it will pain him if that has been lost.

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Deschamps recalled Benzema for Euro 2020 (Photo: FRANCK FIFE/AFP via Getty Images)
Various observers have told The Athletic they believe Benzema’s return to the squad had a number of consequences. How, they ask, must Giroud have felt, as the second-highest scorer in France’s history, to be displaced almost overnight by a player who had openly derided him?

Patrick Vieira, the former France captain, was particularly scathing — “there wasn’t any kind of togetherness, there wasn’t any kind of spirit” — in the wake of the Switzerland defeat.

The issue with Mbappe, who chose a bad month to lose his form, seems less troubling when the player is only 22 and has shown many times that he warrants his superstar status.

Mbappe seemed to wilt under the pressure but the reaction in France has not been too harsh and it was not true, however it might have looked on television, that none of his team-mates sympathised with him after his penalty was saved.

What the television pictures did not show was Pogba going over to comfort his team-mate. Lucas Digne, who missed the game through injury, offered his own support. Marcus Thuram and Moussa Sissoko were among the other players who went to console a striker who had finished the tournament with no goals from four games.

“He (Mbappe) is a fantastic boy,” says one of the people who has worked with him. “His parents are very close to him. The father is fantastic; a good person and a good kid. Kylian has a lot of pressure for someone his age. He feels he is carrying a country at times. In 2018, he had innocence, now it is expectation. Those guys at the very top have such pressure. Ronaldo and Messi had tournaments like this.”

Mbappe will now go on holiday and then return to Paris, where coach Mauricio Pochettino wishes to shelter and protect him from outside criticism. One source close to the club pointed to David Beckham’s excellent treble-winning season for Manchester United in 1999 after his red card at the 1998 World Cup, which made him a national scapegoat.

The microscope, however, will only intensify on Mbappe, who has a year to run on his contract and Real Madrid will make an attempt to sign him. PSG, however, are continuing talks over a renegotiation and remain confident of securing a deal viewed by the club’s Qatari owners as a priority as they seek to maintain prestige ahead of the 2022 World Cup.

Mbappe will return to a strengthened PSG side, with new signing Georginio Wijnaldum to be joined this week by Achraf Hakimi from Inter Milan in a deal worth more than £50 million, while talks continue over a move for AC Milan goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma. The Athletic can also confirm PSG have spoken in the last 10 days to representatives of Sergio Ramos, who wants a two-year contract and also has interest from the Premier League.

In France, the debate has centred more on the squad as a whole and, specifically, whether some of their least attractive traits have resurfaced.

One long-time follower of the national team describes it as a “vicious group”. Deschamps had previously dropped Samir Nasri and Hatem Ben Arfa after taking the view they were not suited to play “squad football”. Now questions are being asked about whether there might have to be some more tough decisions.

“It is only a few weeks until the World Cup qualification starts and we need to unite,” says Didier Six, the former France international. “We must remember to say we do not win or lose but that we win or we learn. We need to leave this behind us now and come together. We need to close this stuff about families and friends because what happens in the France team now is we are looking for good friends to support each other. You need good friends with you. The people outside the football are not important. The trainer and the players are the important people. We must never forget this.”

As for Deschamps, this is the first time his position has looked vulnerable in any way. Managers, like players, can lose form but let’s not forget either that his record of achievement makes him a hard man to sack.

“Football is magic, and this magic can be positive or negative,” Six, who manages the Guinea national team, adds. “For France, the magic is now negative. But we cannot speak too much against Deschamps because this is a man who won the World Cup as a player and a coach for France. The people should be with him. I am also a coach and I cannot accept that we put down Deschamps as a coach.”

Deschamps still faces a meeting with Noel Le Graet, president of the French football federation, next week to offer his assessment about what went wrong and what needs to be done to put it right. France’s medical staff are also under scrutiny because of the number of players who struggled with injuries during the tournament. Lenglet, The Athletic has discovered, played against Switzerland despite nursing an injury. Rabiot also had to play through the pain barrier and, having lost Digne and Lucas Hernandez in a damaging eight-minute spell against Portugal, the absence of a left-back was one of the reasons why Deschamps experimented with a wing-back system.

Rabiot was operating on the left and, according to reliable accounts, Pogba had spoken to Deschamps in the build-up to the game to let the manager know that this formation would be welcomed by the players. It did not work. Deschamps gave up on the idea at half-time and later had to endure the awkwardness of trying to replace one of his substitutes, Kingsley Coman, only for the player to refuse to go off.

Coman, who had damaged his thigh, did eventually acknowledge he could not continue, but only after two occasions when Thuram had taken off his bib to replace him.

High in the stands, Veronique Rabiot was wearing a France shirt bearing her son’s name and No 14. Her sunglasses were on top of her head, her handbag across her shoulder. Mbappe’s family were sitting directly in front of her. She was on her feet and you didn’t need to be a lip-reader to realise that she was getting a few things off her chest. And an old quote comes to mind from Marcel Desailly after France had returned from the 2002 World Cup in a similar state of disrepair.

“There are a few little things we have to change,” the former France captain said. “It’s clear the machine has jammed.”

It’s hard to ignore the pre-Euro tensions in the camp (Mbappe - Giroud). Where there’s smoke there is fire.

Also it’s sort of funny because we have more to say on non-football stuff. Rabiot’s mom behavior does not come off as a surprise to ppl who have been involved in competitive sports.

Parents can be some of the most toxic figures. This is no different in large/prestigious sports like football. Having witnessed parent toxicity through all levels (from young kid playing sports to coaching kids) this was a soft incident.

Anyways, back to football, France should not have a problem to recover from this. They’re a great team who got overconfident and lacked the motivation just by a little. Personally, the only players I think are subpar and worth to be dropped are Pavard and Rabiot.
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No disrespect great one but what the **** has this got to do with Leeds
Unless we’re signing one of the French team

Doc · Jul 1, 2021

Frogs are really good at falling out with themselves when away at tournaments, anyone remember the strike that the Man Utd left back started against Domeneche the manager which had Viera, Zidane etc involved.

Doc · Jul 1, 2021

Lots of crap happening at Salernitano as the courts have refused to allow Lotito the owner to put the club into “Trust” and have ordered the club to be sold by July 3rd which is the day Radz has said he is pulling his offer.

so for those that missed my posts of last week and haven't a scooby what Im talking about. Club Salernitano were promoted to Seria A but rules say no owner can have 2 clubs un Seria A, So Lotito the owner who also owns Lazio is in trouble. Radz made an offer for the club which was rejected and the deadline for the sale was last Friday. The league gave Lotito 3 month to do a sale but said he couldnt have anything to do with the club and must put it into a trust. They have now changed their minds and the club must be sold in a couple of days.

Salernitano fans are now kicking off and demanding Lotito leaves and sell to an owner who will kepp them in the top league. At the moment Radz is the only bidder but €20m less than Lotito wants for the club….

Whitejock · Jul 1, 2021

SIDDAS said: ↑

Surely this isnt our new top

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Pish mock-up. Got to be.

Ever bought a top lately that is able to crease? Nope, didn't think so. So it's deffo not a game top.

This is not official training gear either, otherwise our training sponsors would feature. They don't.

This is a cotton garment & no player will be anywhere near it either for playing or training. I'd guess that the shop this is on display in is a sporting pound shop. Who tf would buy this?

FORZA LEEDS · Jul 1, 2021

Doc said: ↑

Frogs are really good at falling out with themselves when away at tournaments, anyone remember the strike that the Man Utd left back started against Domeneche the manager which had Viera, Zidane etc involved.
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Don’t suppose they’re that bothered Doc - they have actually won a few things in recent years

Maybe that’s where the England squads over the same time period went wrong? They didn’t fall out with each other enough

wakeybreakyheart · Jul 1, 2021

Whitejock said: ↑

Pish mock-up. Got to be.

Ever bought a top lately that is able to crease? Nope, didn't think so. So it's deffo not a game top.

This is not official training gear either, otherwise our training sponsors would feature. They don't.

This is a cotton garment & no player will be anywhere near it either for playing or training. I'd guess that the shop this is on display in is a sporting pound shop. Who tf would buy this?
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Even the fake kits you see on holiday don't crease.

Doc · Jul 1, 2021

That fella Silva has taken over as Fulham manager, so expecting him to get them straight back up as hes probably a better manager for Everton than The fat Spanish waiter. Yes Everton got rid of Marco Silva because they had a chance of getting the Italian, but how did that go? Silva many degrees better than Parker

Leedsoflondon · Jul 1, 2021

Has Messi signed yet or has he bottled murderball?

ellandback · Jul 1, 2021

Sorry guys, THIS is our new shirt (and sponsor)

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Leedsoflondon · Jul 1, 2021

ellandback said: ↑

Sorry guys, THIS is our new shirt (and sponsor)

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Guessing our shirt is like picking our transfers, everyone is just pissing in the wind. I’ll wait for the official announcement for everything

ellandback · Jul 1, 2021

Leedsoflondon said: ↑

Guessing our shirt is like picking our transfers, everyone is just pissing in the wind. I’ll wait for the official announcement for everything
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I'll do you a special

Doc · Jul 1, 2021

Elland is like the Heckingbottom of kit spys

I liked this quote from Fabio Capelo who kicked iff with an Italian commentator, the pundit was calling Kalvin Phillips the new Pirlo……

“Phillips is not like Pirlo and he will never be. He is a much faster and more aggressive player, of good quality but he is not Andrea’s heir. He reflects a lot the tactical genius qualities of Marcelo Bielsa,” Capello told the Daily Mail.

“At Leeds with Bielsa, Phillips has really grown a lot and today he is the best modern midfielder I have seen on the pitch – but no one should compare him to Pirlo.”

ellandback · Jul 1, 2021

Doc said: ↑

Elland is like the Heckingbottom of kit spys

I liked this quote from Fabio Capelo who kicked iff with an Italian commentator, the pundit was calling Kalvin Phillips the new Pirlo……

“Phillips is not like Pirlo and he will never be. He is a much faster and more aggressive player, of good quality but he is not Andrea’s heir. He reflects a lot the tactical genius qualities of Marcelo Bielsa,” Capello told the Daily Mail.

“At Leeds with Bielsa, Phillips has really grown a lot and today he is the best modern midfielder I have seen on the pitch – but no one should compare him to Pirlo.”
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Ahhhh, thanks pal

wakeybreakyheart · Jul 1, 2021

Leedsoflondon said: ↑

Has Messi signed yet or has he bottled murderball?
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That's it right there a brand new way to bring revenue in. Bottle murder ball and sell it to the gullible (sorry discerning consumers). Just open the bottle and sniff and immediately feel knackered. The next morning wake up and can hardly move. Two days later outrun everyone at the weekends games.

SIDDAS · Jul 1, 2021

not Football related but Mark Cavendish you ffff innnnnn filthy Beast of a sprinter another unbelievable stage win

I do have him in a Leeds top though lol.

Doc · Jul 1, 2021

SIDDAS said: ↑

not Football related but Mark Cavendish you ffff innnnnn filthy Beast of a sprinter another unbelievable stage win

I do have him in a Leeds top though lol.

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Yeah it was awesome 32 wins on the TDF is unbelievable and these 2 this week have been ace, he smashed them all i think hell win another 2 or 3 and will still be in green in Paris

Whitejock · Jul 1, 2021

wakeycentraloneleeds said: ↑

That's it right there a brand new way to bring revenue in. Bottle murder ball and sell it to the gullible (sorry discerning consumers). Just open the bottle and sniff and immediately feel knackered. The next morning wake up and can hardly move. Two days later outrun everyone at the weekends games.
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Apart from the last sentence, I get that opening quite a few bottles. Not so sure if it's the initial sniff or the quaffing of the contents that's the culprit though.

NostradEmus · Jul 1, 2021

SIDDAS said: ↑

not Football related but Mark Cavendish you ffff innnnnn filthy Beast of a sprinter another unbelievable stage win

I do have him in a Leeds top though lol.

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Quite emotional watching him return from illness and hitting form again.

He's not just pinching these wins either. He looks like he is the boss out there in the sprints. If he keeps upright and beats the broom wagon on the hilly stages I reckon he could win a further 4 stages THIS tour. I think there are 6 sprint stages left.

He's smashing it. He's confidence is back but above all else he looks alot quicker than anyone else at the moment.

Aski · Jul 1, 2021

SIDDAS said: ↑

not Football related but Mark Cavendish you ffff innnnnn filthy Beast of a sprinter another unbelievable stage win

I do have him in a Leeds top though lol.

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He and his then girlfriend used to baby sit my kids

Gessa · Jul 1, 2021

Aski said: ↑

He and his then girlfriend used to baby sit my kids
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Or as they were known
Cavandhisdish

The #LUFC Breakfast Debate (Thursday 1st July)

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The #LUFC Breakfast Debate (Thursday 1st July)

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