Lemerre’s Parting Words

Good thing Mr. Lemeere left, that means tunisia will play more offensivly
we have to thank him thought, because he helped us win the can in 2004

From a “footballistic” point of view Lemerre is a big coward, he isn’t too complicated, I think that he used the same tactic, strategy and approach in 95% of his matches in charge of the NT; he prefers waiting in his own half, play defensive and densify the midfield (3 pivouét) to try and get hold of the ball, after that we’re most of the time clueless, except when we’ve got creative players that could create danger (Chikhaoui (the best), Jaziri, Santos, Ben Achour (2004,05,06), Trabelsi, Gumemedia (05 Confederations Cup)and the unused Mouihbi).
This strategy works partially with a team that’s the same or a higher level than us, but eventually fails when we need a goal, that’s why we never succeeded in an international competition (except the CAN 2004, where the fans and “el primét” played a major role in the success).
Against teams which are clearly WEAK we can’t score goals easily, that made these apparently easy matches much more difficult (Kenya, Botswana, Burundi, Seychelles, Burkina Fasso…)
Fans didn’t like this style of play after the 2006 failures (CAN & WC) because it was boring, and we Tunisians like the technical pacy and beatiful style of play, that’s when we first wanted Lemerre out and that’s when we’ve should fire him, But Lemmere’s cockiness and arrogance with the media especially made him untouchable (to the FTF of course).
After that began 2 years of pain. He became a hardheaded bastard and never changed his way of playing or the the players themselves. So with each Tunisia game we see the same useless players: Zouaghi, Santos, Ragued…
This caused the results to suffer and it began with our defeat 3-2 in Rades against Cote d’Ivoire and ended with the humiliating match against Burkina Fasso 2-1.
Rami, what do you think? Do you agree?

Absolutely Yassine. You’re exactly right. Against teams that are stronger than us this style of play can work but we the strength of our team was never physicality which is very important in the “bloc defensif.” So instead we sit back, sit back, take in all this pressure and everyone gets so tired that we eventually take a goal or have a defensive lapse. Then when we come up against teams that we should dominate we have no style of play and no conception of how we should vary our attacks. These teams don’t commit men forward so our bloc defensif is worth nothing in that situation!

Lemerre picks players like Zouaghi who have nothing do in our team just because they look big and tall. To him that’s better than actually being skilled on the ball. Plus he never took risks with his lineup selection, opting to go with the experienced players even when they were out of shape and completely ineffective. Prime example of that is Mouihbi and Ben Yahia not making it onto the field when they are physically and psychologically ready to perform on this stage. He won’t put them in because he doesn’t know them well enough.

Chikhaoui masked our problems in the last African Cup just with his presence. You take him out of the team and look, we lost all of our offensive solutions. Coelho needs to address this. He’s going to watch lots of footage and he will have his own conclusions to draw.

Rami, Statistics can be misleading. There is no question Tunisian football (at least at the NT level) has deteriorated under Lemerre. The turning point was the game against Guinea in the 2006 CAF in Egypt, which we lost (unnecessarily) and by a very heavy score (3-0?). That showed that Lemerre was short sighted. I fail to see how players cannot be frustrated with him making lousy decisions like that. He should have been let go after that because it makes no sense to go through what we’ve been through since then. Why that did not happen is beyond me! He has been given a free hand to do what he pleased, and that’s why I always ask “where is the outrage?”. I will not give him much credit for the 2004 CAF title. I credit the players and their superb performances. I cannot forget how hard they fought for that title and my best example remains Bouazizi! The Tunisian fans sustained the team and gave it all and Lemerre just happened to be there coaching the team. We must be very careful selecting an an effective assistant coach. We do not need one who sugar-coats things because that’s where his personal interests lie, but we need one that can truly make a difference. I am glad we are trying something different than our typical Frenchman. I have found Lemerre’s attitude to be quite sickening. Why our Moroccan friends have chosen him is also beyond me. But then again they may be saying the same thing about our new choice. Let’s be positive and hope our new Portuguese coach will succeed beyond our wildest expectaions! Aymen!

Haha, too bad for the moroccans….. He’ll ruin their team.

Posted from  Sweden

I just read an article in Le Temps that confirmed further how inhuman Lemerre is. Apparently after his final press conference following the match against Burundi some reporters respectfully asked to take a picture with him and he not only refused but said “I don’t like journalists!” We knew that already but why does he have to say that to their face! What kind of professional can you be if you can’t have a working relationship with the press? I’m so happy he’s gone.

Stay tuned for Coelho’s press conference later…

Wins: 39,
Draws: 19,
Losses: 16,
Goals Scored: 113,
Goals Conceded: 64,
Our one and only continental title,
Our only win in an international FIFA competition since 1978,
Shouldn’t we be giving this guy a medal, honorary citizenship, lifetime supply of couscous and harissa, etc….instead of our continuous bit$#$%#$&ing?!?

I’ve given him credit for the good things he did in the past Skander but right now his negatives heavily outweigh the positives he brought to our team. He never should have stayed past the 2006 World Cup. The mistakes he made there are not ones you can forget or forgive.

In 2004 we probably would not have won that title if it wasn’t at home. I’m not saying he didn’t contribute, he did. It’s just you can’t give him all the credit. The players pulled through big time and Santos was in the form of his life.

He already got all the thank you’s and congratulations for his work in Tunisia. I didn’t feel a need to do it again. Especially with how he’s been on the verge of delusional with his team selection lately. Even someone who knows next to nothing about Tunisian football would know Mouihbi and Ben Yahia should be starting. If I went on with his mistakes I’d publish a book of examples.

I simply reached my limit with him and I am incredibly happy he is gone.

He also has “tried” close to 80 players! No crazy coach does that! She should be measured by the kind of team he left behind. A team with no sole, no spirit. A team that seems content to beat Burundi by 2-1 even though one of the goals was a gift from the referee, and despite th fact that Burundi played with 10 players from the 19th minute. A team that lost to Burkina Faso in Rades!!! Lemerre is gifted in sucking the enthusiasm out of his players. I don’t see any one of them truly enjoying himself; he truned into boot camp! I say GOOD RIDDANCE to this French bastard.

Posted from  United States

100 players called up. 96 used. courtesy of la presse

1-K.Azaïez, 2-H. Trabelsi, 3-A.Boussaïdi, 4-R.Toujani, 5-Chaâbani, 6-H.Marzouki, 7-A.Yahia, 8-Badra, 9-Mnari, 10-Boujelbène, 11-M.Nafti, 12-Melki, 13-O.Sellami, 14-S.B.Achour, 15-Kenzari, 16-Z.Jaziri, 17-A.Zitouni, 18-Selliti, 19.Boumnijel, 20-Clayton, 21-A.Ayari, 22-Jaïdi, 23-Bouazizi, 24-M.Jédidi, 25-H.Braham, 26-N.Missaoui, 27-Mhadhebi, 28-Hammi, 29-K.Zouaghi, 30-Chedly, 31-B.Khaled, 32-Mouelhi, 33-Ghodbane, 34-Radhouane Bouzaïane, 35-A.Arafa, 36-Mkacher, 37-T.Salem, 38-Hagui, 39-W.Yaken, 40-W.Sghaïer, 41-Fadhel, 42-K.Saïdi, 43-C.Zaâlani, 44-Santos, 45-Bhaïri, 46-S.Ghezal, 47-Ltifi, 48-K.Sdiri, 49-M.Zouabi, 50-S.Frej, 51-Rhouma, 52-L.Sellami, 53-Traoui, 54-Namouchi, 55-Guemamdia, 56-B.Saâda, 57-Kasraoui, 58-Haj Messaoud, 59-El Bekri, 60-Abdi, 61-Jemaa, 62-B.Ouanès, 63-S.Melliti, 64-H.Mrabet, 65-Merdassi, 66-Jemmali, 67-Meriah, 68-Chikhaoui, 69-L.Jaber, 70-Zaïem, 71-Ch.Zouaghi, 72-.T.Belaïd, 73-W.Yahia, 74-Ghariani, 75-Ragued, 76-Kasdaoui, 77-Tonniche, 78-K.Nafti, 79-Dhaouadi, 80-Ziadi, 81-Lachkham, 82-Ouertani, 83-B.Zekri, 87-Chermiti, 85-Ch.Hammami, 86-Mikari, 87-Mzali, 88-Mathlouthi, 89-Nafkha, 90-K.Souissi, 91-R.Felhi, 92-B.Dhifallah, 93-Berradhia, 94-Mouihbi, 95-F.Gharbi, 96-Essifi.

http://www.lapresse.tn/index.php?opt=15&categ=5&news=74182

Yeah, those stats do look good.

Posted from  United States

Hi all,
Rami i think you are too rough on Lemerre legacy. Dont forget that he’s the coach that led Tunisia to its first African Cup, so statistic wise its very meaningful!
Other point, regarding the defensive tactic, dont you remember that previous coaches had done the same Scoglio, Kasperscak … why do you think that experienced coaches would so?
I have had a long chat with Kasperscak a few years ago, i met him by chance in the train in France, and i asked him exactly what you guys are saying here : “Why do we tunisians always rely on defensive tactics? why dont we play offensive and attractive soccer like other teams? ”
Well his answer was that we dont have the type of players that can lead an offensive play, especially physically wise. To play offensive you need to lead the ball possesion by putting pressure on opponents, and of course at the same time to be able to defend. Im not sure that today we have the players technically and physically to do it, IM TALKING INTERNATIONAL LEVEL. Although im sure this will change progressively with young players such as Chikhoui… So what i want to say is Lemerre and others coaches have no choice than playing safer tactics, knowing the players characteristics… Guys i love Tunisia as much as you but we still need to improve to have an impact on international level.

The last point is regarding Lemerre’s personality, i agree with you Rami, he’s not outspoken (definetely not Mourinho style ) keeps his thoughts for him… But overall i care more about results than personality.
By the way, few tunisian journalists were disrespectful to him and i understand his reaction.

Therefore i would like to thank Lemerre for the african cup and i wish him all the best!!

Posted from  Canada

Khaled I totally respect your opinion. If you check the archives you’ll see that I’ve thanked him multiple times and been as diplomatic as possible. He’s the most successful coach we’ve ever had. That’s a fact that no one can wipe away. It’s just that lately his decisions have been downright flabbergasting! Especially not playing Mouihbi when he’s clearly the most in form striker when we badly need goals to qualify.

I’ve heard the argument that we don’t have the players to do play attacking football. I think in the past this has been accurate but now it’s becoming more apparent that we have the players who can play offensively and cause problems for opponents (something you alluded to). One of the most important things nowadays is to have good side backs who can contribute to attacks and create “le surnombre” as they say in french. In Mikari, Meriah on the left (not at the same time of course) and Ben Frej and Berradhia we have players who can do this. Then up front we have technically skilled players who I think can really wreak havoc if you give them the license to do so. Chikhaoui can be the key for us but we also have untapped resources like Ben Khalfallah and Dhaouadi. Coming up in the ranks we have even more technically skilled youngsters who played beautiful attacking football in the U-17 world cup. The times are changing Khaled, I’m a firm believer in that.

Part of it has to do with changing the mentality which might be the most difficult thing to do. If Coelho keeps to his word we will hopefully get to see what it looks like when we provoke teams. If we play like we did after we went down to Cameroon 2-0 in the African cup, I think we can beat anyone in Africa and compete with anyone in the world. It shouldn’t take us getting scored on to want to attack. It’s one thing to play defensive but it’s another thing to play defensive to the point that you don’t even know how to counter anymore because you’re not used to passing a ball to a teammate. We looked so out of sync the past few months that it has been downright revolting.

We’ll start to see more answers on August 20 when Coelho coaches his first game. It might take time but I’m optimistic.

I dont want to sound ungrateful towards Lemerre. Everyone makes mistakes and he made some tough ones to swallow. I don’t mean him any ill will, I just think it’s been really difficult to watch the national team and its even harder to see our own fans desert us.

Sorry for the ridiculously long reply. I think I’ve been up too long and I’m delirious at this point!