Comments on: The Great Coaching Debate

By: realjsk

realjsk — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 02:12:24 +0000

I endorse the nomination of Marchand and Descastels to coach our national team. They both proved that they can lead to great results in a short time. They also have a wide experience now in Tunisian soccer and they won’t need 6 months to get adjusted. I am also against long-term contracts. I believe that a 2-year contract would be ideal for the coach to show what he is capable of without being trapped if things don’t go well. I would have really opted for a Tunisian coach if there was one up to the challenge. If you look around, you will find: Khaled ben Yahya (who I think has never taken a job without resigning before the end of his contract), Maher Kanzari, Farid ben Bilgacem, Nabil Maaloul. All of these names either don’t have enough experience, or have not proven themselves yet (apart from one or two successful seasons). As of Youcef Zwawi, he took the national team twice, and we all know how both times ended up with. The national team is not a field of experiments. I am not sure of what should be done to produce quality Tunisian coaches, but something has to be done for the good of our football.

By: Rami

Rami — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 21:46:53 +0000

Phew! thanks for the update buddy, I’ll update this post with this information once I’m back home from work… Glad to see that Lemerre is at least giving us a chance to have more time to pick our next coach and get him situated. I am full of optimism but I just hope their next choice is a good one. We can’t afford to be stuck with someone with the same mentality and outlook.

By: harissa

harissa — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 21:44:16 +0000

Tunisia is already bankrupt, why don’t they hire a 1/3-mondist to run a lousy team like Tunisia. look at Egypt and Uganda, they all have local players with local coach; they are doing very well. Tunisia does not need bench-warmers in European teams to play in the national team, use people from Enejm elmetlaoui, Ennadi Alahli Elmatri, Alnakl Arrifi be Ghazala, Tala… I can go on.

By: Rachid

Rachid — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 21:34:55 +0000

I just saw on “Kooora.com” that Lemerre, after lengthy negotiations with Sioud, has agreed to resign within the next several hours! What a relief!!!

By: Rami

Rami — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 20:16:42 +0000

Decastel has already said he’s leaving CSS after this season so he’ll be available soon but I think it’s a different situation with Marchand who is enjoying quite a bit of success with Etoile. It will be interesting to see how this develops. You make a good point Rachid about why Marchand is your first choice and I’m with you there. Maaloul gets my respect in that at least he explained himself to reporters most of the time while Lemerre treated them like a nuisance or the scum of the earth. He apologized to Jaziri personally on Hannibal TV for not being clearer about him not being selected and I thought that was a good gesture. I do have my issues with him though of course. The main one is that he doesn’t seem to get the players pumped and full of self belief. Lemerre is at fault there too.

In fairness we took a lot of Etoile players. Looking back I still am shocked that Karim Nafti didn’t make the squad, we could’ve used him. The list itself wasn’t the main issue in my eyes. It’s just how we used the players we took to Ghana and the whole style of play that you refer to. Nice point about the football gods. I was thinking something along those lines: maybe it’s better we didn’t make it to the semis or even the final since it would have made getting rid of Lemerre a little trickier because people would have had an argument that the results achieved under him are quite good, despite the playing style. So perhaps it’s a blessing in disguise. Change isn’t just good, it’s absolutely necessary if we are to dream BIG and start seeing the attacking football that our skilled technicians have proven they can put on display.

By: Rachid

Rachid — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 18:17:48 +0000

In my opinion, Tunisia’s FF would be wise to get rid of Lemerre asap and select either Marchand or Decastel (in that order) for the next phase. They’re both familiar with what’s going on in Tunisia and would hit the ground running. This is the same reason Moez Idriss selected Marchand, and that proved very successful for l’Etoile. Benzarti would not be a good choice, unless he takes some anger management classes. We don’t need a coach who’d be banging on windows and kicking the ground.

Maaloul belongs in a nice comfortable studio (such as can be afforded by the Gulf countries) analyzing games. He’s quite good at that and at bullshitting in general. He’s not a doer.

I’m surprised by Egypt’s performance given how they struggled during the qualification phase. But, it looks like relying on “local” players is not such a bad idea. Ironically, this should have favored Tunisia since both the CAF cups have been won by two Tunisian teams!

During the game against Cameroon, it was as if the football gods wanted to tell Lemerrre his defensive theory was obsolete. Our best defender got injured, Ben Frej came in, and you know how that changed the game dramatically. Both Lemerre and Maaloul failed to know the capability of their team, set the bar so low, and acted happy to see through the second round! For this mistake alone, they should be let go! CHANGE IS GOOD!!!

By: Daily Dose 2.8.08 - World Cup Blog - African Cup of Nations 2008

Daily Dose 2.8.08 - World Cup Blog - African Cup of Nations 2008 — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 15:01:02 +0000

[...] Should Carthage Eagles let Lemerre go? (Tunisia Blog) [...]

By: Moni

Moni — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 08:12:59 +0000

In the end Lemerre contributed in making the EN proffesional.
This man wich sometimes I hated , If I see the picture where he sleeps, I don’t know..He belongs to Tunisia’s Football History and have made some good achievements. Tunisia could opt for a new coach what would be wise, but tunisia should also give him respect, Its really weird where I first many times critisized him , know Iff I see him on tv ore the pictures Iám wondering iff he is happy and had a nice time in Tunisia I hope he had and he deserve a warm hand shake for his work.
Merci Lemerre.

By: tamim

tamim — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 07:00:53 +0000

it is time for your revenge rami……we will beat cameroon for tunisia on sunday!!!

By: thamer

thamer — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 04:46:05 +0000

I don’t think any tunisian player has ever gotten as much attention as chikhaoui is getting…ever. Not that he doesnt deserve it, but im not used to hearing non tunisians speak of one of our players and if they could one day be one of the bet players in the world. One of interviews says that if he went to marseille, he would become a star in 15 days and that he would be a starter on any team in the french league. Even compares him to florent malouda. And that jose mourinho is impressed by him is a big deal as well. i also wish chermiti would get as much attention. although hes not as good as chika (which is nothing to be ashamed of) im sure he’ll be burning up whatever league he ends up playing in. like we’ve been saying, the future looks bright for tunisian football.