Blanc has mountain to climb
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Paris - New France coach Laurent Blanc faces a massive task to rebuild the morale and the image of the national side after its catastrophic World Cup finals campaign which ended abjectly at the group stage with a 2-1 defeat by hosts South Africa.?
Blanc, will at least settle into the hotseat with loads of goodwill, not only because he is lionised as one of the side that collected both the 1998 World Cup and the Euro 2002 titles, but also because of one other major factor.
He is not Raymond Domenech.
Nevertheless Blanc - nicknamed 'The President' from his playing days - will not be able to ease himself into the job as he bids to qualify France for the Euro 2012 finals to be co-hosted by Poland and Ukraine.
The 44-year-old's first task will be to launch a public relations campaign to win back the supporters.
No matter that captain Patrice Evra announced the squad would refuse the bonuses coming to them from their South African adventure, there is far more work to be done on that score with the fans.
France's former French Open champion Yannick Noah had reflected what many thought even before the finals had begun that the present French squad was unbearable. "How can one love a team who doesn't love you," queried Noah.
Blanc, who struck one of the iconic images of football in his traditonal kissing of goalkeeper Fabien Barthez' shining bald pate before each of their 1998 World Cup finals matches, will also have to rebuild the breakdown in communciation between the coach and the media which reached its nadir under Domenech.
Blanc, who enjoyed a successful club career with among others Marseille, Barcelona, Inter Milan and Manchester United, will also have to reassert the coach's authority over the players.
However, there will be some cause for concern here as Blanc encountered problems towards the end of last season as Bordeaux' season ended in a damp squib without even a Champions League place and rumours of discord among the players.
Here again he will have to deploy all his authority as a decorated former player to deflate the egos and perhaps throw out several of the real troublemakers to impose his authority from the start.
The most delicate personnel problem will be that of Nicolas Anelka and whether to recall him if his club form at Chelsea merits it, or to leave him permanently out in the cold after his foul-mouthed outburst at Domenech.
Blanc could also take firm action against Evra and even playmaker Franck Ribery if he is to really lance the poison from the boil of their trip to South Africa.
Evra's search for the 'traitor' in the camp who leaked the story about Anelka led to him being described by L'Equipe as not having the charisma to captain France and being more like 'the leader of a street gang'.
Ribery has had a disastrous year capped by a distinctly forgettable World Cup during which he allegedly clashed with rising young midfielder Yoann Gourcuff, who has close ties to Blanc from his time at Bordeaux.
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