Euro 2008 has confirmed what many suspected prior to the tournament. Raymond Domenech was out of his depth as boss of Les Bleus and France’s run to the World Cup final in 2006 was largely down to the genius of Zinedine Zidane. The squad brought together by Domenech for the tournament was full of surprises and for those that claim the French manager was unlucky in certain games, his squad selection should banish any doubt that he is culpable for France’s early exit.

David Trezeguet finished as second top scorer in Serie A last season; the former Monaco forward may not have the all-round game of his great friend Theirry Henry but he is a finisher supreme. Les Bleus managed just one measly goal the entire tournament and instead of putting his faith in Trezeguet, Domenech picked Nicolas Anelka – possibly the least likely figure in world football to lift an ailing team.

The exclusion of the Juventus marksman was not his only surprising decision. Gael Clichy was not selected despite another impressive season for Arsenal. Some may argue that France are well stocked with left-backs (Eric Abidal and Patrice Evra) but on the evidence of Euro 2008, Clichy is a better player than Abidal and one of these surplus full-backs could have been used in midfield instead of the woefully inadequate Florent Malouda.

Perhaps Domenech’s greatest error was leaving out Mathieu Flamini. If Euro 2008 has proved anything it is the importance of high energy, commitment and work rate. Claude Makalele and Jeremy Toulalan played every minute of the French campaign in the middle of the field. Whilst Makalele is still a class act , the use of two defensive midfielders with limited attacking ambition was a flawed idea.

In the past France have usually gone with a central midfield axis of two defensive players. This is understandable in a world game dominated with this tactic – think Brazil of Liverpool for example. But France didn’t have a player to bring the ball out of their own half - perhaps the injured Patrick Vieira would have accomplished this. And whilst Flamini is not Cesc Fabregas going forward, he would have added an edge to France’s game that the ineffective Toulalan failed to accomplish.

Within the squad, Domenech also had at his disposal Lassana Diarra and after a fine season with Portsmouth it seems like another bad decision not to use the former Arsenal and Chelsea midfielder at all. 

It's Domenech’s lack of faith in youth that has really cost him in Euro 2008. Samir Nasri was only used fleetingly and it is a mystery how one of the brightest talents in world football was behind Malouda and Sidney Govou, who were perhaps the worst performers for France in the whole tournament. Malouda in particular was just terrible – it has been an awful year for the Chelsea winger and it is still not clear how he is playing for two of the most talented sides on the planet.

Domenech relied on his defence in a tournament where attacking verve and intention have been rewarded. Arguably in the game against Italy he did start with an attacking line-up, with Karim Benzema and Henry up front and Franck Ribery behind. But he made yet another crucial error in his line-up. Playing Abidal at centre-back was a mistake of epic proportions. The Barcelona full-back was never going to be able to cope with the physical presence of Luca Toni and even prior to the penalty and his sending off, there were warning signs that Italy could score with just a simple long ball.

Domenech compounded his error by hauling off Nasri, who had only been on the pitch a short time for the injured Ribery, to bring on Jean-Alain Boumsong. Whilst France were down to 10 men they had to go on the attack – goals would get them through, not a defensive performance. The introduction of the hapless former Newcastle defender handed more of the initiative to the Azzurri and if Boumsong isn’t good enough to start in the centre of defence ahead of a full back painfully unprepared to play in the middle, why was he in the squad at all?

For many years, the football world has looked on as Domenech has frittered away the remaining years of a golden generation of French football. Players like Henry and Makalele should have been surrounded with younger legs and unleashed in an attacking manner that so many other teams have produced at Euro 2008.

Besides his reliance on astrology to pick players and his bizarre post-match press conference last night in which he proposed to his girlfriend just minutes after France exited Euro 2008, this tournament has proved that Domenech is not up to the task. Players of the ilk of Evra, Clichy, Flamini, Diarra, Nasri and Benzema deserve better - they are the future.

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