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Monday, February 17, 2025

Gallas blames Domenech for French debacle

by

20100707

PARIS–William Gal­las says out­go­ing coach Ray­mond Domenech is chiefly to blame for France's World Cup de­ba­cle be­cause its prob­lems stemmed from his style of man-man­age­ment. The French team went on strike at a train­ing ses­sion short­ly be­fore it was elim­i­nat­ed from the tour­na­ment at the group stage, prompt­ing sharp crit­i­cism of Domenech and his squad from French fans and politi­cians. "If there was a fi­as­co, there are rea­sons," Gal­las said in an in­ter­view with week­ly mag­a­zine Les In­rock­upt­ibles. "And for me you shouldn't pull the wool over your eyes: they stem from the coach." Lau­rent Blanc has re­placed Domenech, but the for­mer Bor­deaux coach has in­her­it­ed a France team de­void of con­fi­dence af­ter Domenech's trou­bled six-year reign end­ed with pub­lic rifts and in­fight­ing.

The play­ers had re­fused to train in protest at the treat­ment of team mate Nico­las Anel­ka. The strik­er was sent home for in­sult­ing Domenech dur­ing the sec­ond group match, a 2-0 de­feat to Mex­i­co. Gal­las, the Ar­se­nal de­fend­er who has won 84 caps for France, says the way Domenech han­dled his play­ers was wrong, which is what led to Anel­ka's out­burst. "Domenech kept drum­ming in­to us: 'Put your egos to one side.' But I think that he for­got to do so," Gal­las said in the in­ter­view. "Domenech wasn't re­cep­tive. A lot of play­ers couldn't speak to him. That was my case. "The re­al prob­lem is the coach ... I wasn't good, we weren't good. But the coach wasn't good, ei­ther."


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