Mouihbi Sneaks on Board Flight to Seychelles

So Rami What do you think Lemerre use as his line up for the upcoming match and what time will it start? Thanks

Posted from  United States

As much as Mouhibi making it on the plane is good news, I feel that Ben Fraj not going is terrible news!!!

I won’t be surprised if Mouihbi plays GK Saturday!
He won’t play anyway.

Sup guys, the last I read was that the game will start at 16:00 Seychelles local time (12:00 GMT). I’ll be more sure of this when the match approaches. It’s on Saturday by the way. Still trying to figure out if TV7 is going to show it. Last time we played there they didn’t show the match… Hopefully this becomes clearer.

Ben Fraj is definitely a loss (even though his last game was far from great). I worry that Lemerre will start Felhi in his place like he did against Cameroon in the African Cup. He’s not dangerous at that position and he’s much more comfortable in the center of defense. From the substitution in the Burkina Faso game you’d think he would opt for Hammami in his place.

If Mouihbi wasn’t even in the list until the last second then it’s hard to believe that he’ll play at all. Lemerre thought him and Dhaouadi were “mediocre” (moyen en francais) according to several news sites. Just goes to show how he evaluates talent. Guessing what Lemerre will do is asking for trouble to be honest. I’m just gonna say Mouihbi won’t play so that maybe I’ll be pleasantly surprised.

We’ll talk more about possible lineups for the match preview…

Posted from  United States

I just pulled this off of tunisie foot:

“Samedi 07/06 à 14h30 HT sûrement sur ART sport”

that’s a relief.

Posted from  United States

Hertha Berlin are haggling over 2.5million euros, that is chump change in the premier league a least. You can barely buy a 15 year old from 2 divisions down for that price in england.

Posted from  United States

The premiership is kind of out of control with their prices but I see your point Tom. His price tag was 4 million euros a couple months ago so I don’t know how it dropped to 2.5 million. According to Tunisian radio Amine is holding strong and insisting to the team president that the time to go is now. Etoiles President (Moez Driss) wants him to stay until they finish their run for the Tunisian cup and CAF Confederation Cup (basically that would mean a winter exit). Some think he wants him to stay a whole other season.

The kid is young but he gets abused in Tunis by defenders who can’t handle him. I think he’s just sick of it. Is Newcastle still trying to sign him or have they given up? He really thinks Berlin is the place for him but maybe if Newcastle met the money demands they could swoop in. I think Germany is better for his development but who knows…

Posted from  United States

Nah, i’ve only seen Newcastle linked with him once, more hope from me than anything else. Would like an exciting player like Chermiti, very unpredictable, we’ve got one in Obafemi Martins bu he might be off to Arsenal for 15 million £ so like 20 mil euros and 2.5 million euros sounds like a steal for Chermiti.

The Bundesliga in my opinion is the closest league to the premiership in similarity..

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If he wants to develop he should go to the dutch league (eredivisie).

Would you say Chermiti is better than Mputu (dont know how he is still playing in Africa).

And do you think Nafkha will get to decent team in europe, as with Ben Dhifallah (he looks pretty good).

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Thanks for the info on Newcastle interest. Ajax wanted him for a while but it seems that one ran cold. I need to see more of Mputu to have a real answer to your question but there’s no doubt he’s something special. Pretty lethal in front of goal from the highlights I saw. Hard to judge a player on highlights alone though… Whatever happened with that Arsenal trial anyway?

I can’t say I’ve heard of Nafkha bids but I like him as a player and hope he gets his chance to leave. He doesn’t always start with Etoile which might be hurting his visibility. Maybe some national team duty will help in that department. I havent heard of any european bids. Ben Dhifallah is getting interest from Turkish clubs as well as Auxerre. He’s incredibly good in the air and is a very active up front. He has the ability to bully defenders with his physique. Not the most technical player or an outstanding dribbler but he makes his presence felt. Once his strike rate improves I can see him going somewhere.

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Arsenal were impressed by Mputu but didnt sign him, they signed a team mate of his who i’d never heard of before. Mputu is on tril at Olympiakos last i heard. I didnt understand Arsenal not signing for him, his asking price was only £500k

So Chermiti is the best talent in Tunisia at the moment? Who would you say the best player in Tunisia is?

Whats the latest on Chikhaoui, what club is he likely to move to?

Posted from  United States

Best player in Tunisia is quite an argument to launch and I’m sure you could get a number of answers (interesting idea for a article topic actually).

If you asked who is the best Tunisian player I would answer Chikhaoui. He’s been injured which has made his price drop (knee op but he’s recovering fine) but when in form I think there’s not better player than him on the team. We do not have someone that compares to him in terms of the ability to dictate the pace of a match and orchestrate attacks. If he reaches his potential I can see him being as influential for us as Riquelme is for Argentina. Latest rumors are a move to Benfica for Chikha. Price tag is around 8 million or 9 million euros. Marseille wants him very very badly also. As well as Ben Khalfallah from Angers in the second division of the French league.

But since you asked who the best talent IN Tunisia is I’ll leave Chikhaoui out out of that discussion. It’s a really tough choice between Youssef Mouihbi, Wissem Ben Yahia, and Amine Chermiti. Mouihbi is definitely in the best shape of his life and absolutely killing it right now for Club Africain. He’s very intelligent and technical. Ben Yahia lead the league in scoring as a defensive midfielder and Borussia Dortmund is said to be trying to sign him. He’s great at arriving late in the box to get goals and he also has a vicious shot from distance.

Here’s some highlights of him and Mouihbi:

http://www.dailymotion.com/relevance/search/wissem%2Bben%2Byahia/video/x58vfk_compil-wissam-yahia_sport

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlPqkme9FiI

Even though Chermiti hasn’t been his usual self recently, I still have to give him the edge on the basis of what he did for Etoile in last seasons Champions League run. He was voted best player in the African Champions league and lead it in scoring also. Mouihbi hasn’t reached that level yet and neither has Ben Yahia but they’re not far behind. Amine has the most exposure after the Club World Cup also and what he did there I will never forget.

Posted from  United States

Are those 3 also the best PLAYERS in Tunisia not just the talents?

Chermiti has got to be the most attractive proposition for clubs because of his age i would have thought.

Benfica are my second team so i know a fair bit about them. I was suprised they werent interested in Chermiti as hes fairly cheap and they’ve been going into the african market a bit lately: Binya, Halliche. + Benfica are in desperate need for a striker.

As for Chikhaoui moving there, it could be good, but it depends on where they want to play him, they will most likely play him as a striker because they basically have one striker who is ready to play, Cardozo, so it may not be too good for his development as i remember you saying he was a beter playmaker/attacking mid.

Posted from  United States

so… i had to get it off my chest but I know he just got on the market, but Hank ten Cate speaks french and in my opinion is a mastermind who can make anyone look good (rikaard and avram grant). I wish we looked into him.

This message is totally useless I know, but I cant stop thinking of coaches until I see how Coelho does… until then ill be biting my fingernails and pulling my hair out due to Lemerde

Posted from  United States

Important distinction between players and talents. Those are the three best tunisian players right now.

If you’re talking up and coming talents then we could be here all day:

Zouhaier Dhaouadi, Nour Hadhria, Bilel Ifa, Mosaab Sassi, Oussama Darragi, Hamza Baghouli, Khaled Ayari, Youssef Msakni, Adnene Raddaoui (Yassine mentioned him to me). These are names to look out for but the list goes on.

Tahar, Hank Ten Cate is a good coach but as far as I know (and I may be wrong) he’s never coached a national team. We had to go for someone who had some experience in Africa to appease the general sporting public. Going for a guy new to international soccer (no matter how good he is as a coach) would have been very risky at this important juncture in our qualification. Coelho is growing on me. I’mma post his first interview later. I just hope he comes in with us having won our last three games.

Posted from  United States

Nah, i meant talents getting first team football. So basically good players who are young with potential.

As for Ten Cate, hasnt he failed at most clubs where he was manager, hes a great coach but thats where it end. As for putting him in chage of a national team, im not so sure.

Is Ltaief any good?

Posted from  United States

Ltaief is good but he’s disappeared for a while. I honestly don’t know where he’s at. An Esperance fan should chime in and let us know.

I see what you’re saying about talents. Out of the players I mentioned Dhaouadi, Ifa, Darragi, Sassi, Hadhria, Ayari, and Baghouli are all getting first team football. Not all of them start but they’ve all played, some more extensively than others.

Posted from  United States

I think the best player playing in the tunisian league is michael eneramo, but hes nigerian

I think the best player for tunisia is jaidi, all you guys are talking about is strikers.

I respectfully disagree on both counts Marwen. Eneramo has a lot of potential but we’re not talking most talented (i dont think he’s that either), we’re talking simply the best on all fronts: what they bring to the team in all facets of a game and how it influences results. i always lean towards players from the teams with the best results anyways because that means what they’re doing is leading to success. it’s like in the NBA how they always give the Most Valuable Player award to a player who’s team is winning.

Jaidi is great in the air but he has made plenty of mistakes over his career that have lead to goals against us. He’s big and solid as a rock but he’s also slow and with the ball at his feet he scares the living crap out of me. He can’t even find people up the field with his long passes. I think we should have Haggui and Ghzel or Felhi playing together back there when we’re at full strength. He gave a lot to our team but I’m ready for us to turn the corner. Right now he’s there because we need some experience in our young team.

Posted from  United States

Beyond this, Has Namouchi recovered from his injury?

Posted from  Sweden

Not completely, he’s still coming back slowly. He played a bit near the end of Lorient’s season but I don’t think he’s fully over it yet.

Posted from  United States