Domenech takes aim at French 'divas'

PARIS (AFP) –

A picture shows the cover of the book “Tout Seul” (All alone) by former French national football team head coach Raymond Domenech, in Paris. Domenech, who presided over a mutinous squad at the 2010 World Cup, Monday insisted his new book Tout Seul (all alone) was not an attempt to “settle accounts” – despite slamming midfielder Franck Ribery as a ‘diva.’

Former France boss Raymond Domenech, who presided over a mutinous squad at the 2010 World Cup, Monday insisted his new book Tout Seul (all alone) was not an attempt to “settle accounts” – despite slamming midfielder Franck Ribery as a ‘diva.’

“It is not about settling accounts,” Domenech told broadcaster TF1 ahead of his book’s publication on Wednesday.

Domenech cut a powerless figure as his squad went on strike after striker Nicolas Anelka was sent home for verbally abusing him in the dressing room at half-time in a match against Mexico.

Domenech insisted he just wanted to show “how you deal with the weight of pressure in having a team which is falling apart.”

In the book, of which AFP has seen an advance copy, Domenech criticised Bayern Munich midfielder Ribery.

“Ribery continued to spoil (the atmosphere in) the group with his attitude of suspectible diva,” said Domenech, sacked in November 2010.

Domenech told TF1 he hoped that Ribery could regain his best and most effective form under current France boss Didier Deschamps and thereby become “once again the great player I knew when I gave him his debut for the France team. I want him to become again what he once was.”

Domenech also suggested that players today “are not mature enough” to cope with the large salaries top stars currently attract.

“I often say that lottery winners have psychological backup when they pull off a big win but they (top players) are earning (vast sums) day after day and yet have nobody really behind them” to help them keep a proper perspective, Domenech said.