Raymond Domenech, the French national team coach, says he plans on France playing seven matches at next year’s World Cup. In other words he plans on France being in the final.

If any one needed further reason to question Domenech’s state of mind, this is it. France making it to the 2006 final would be nothing short of miraculous.

France has been a shambles since Domenech took over. It may not be obvious because France remains unbeaten under him, but the performances in and of themselves have often been pitiful and at times down right pathetic.

When he took over, Domenech made some radical decisions. He fired several members of the existing France staff, which had been with the team during France ’98, Euro 2000 and, in some cases, much longer than that.

When Zidane and several other key French players made the decision to retire after Euro 2004, behind the scenes Domenech did everything he could to speed the process up. As the former French Under 21 coach, Domenech felt that there was enough young talent to build a new team that would be competitive in Germany.

He was wrong. France had a horrible start to the campaign and it was clear that even with the likes of Henry and Vieira in the side, there were a lot of players that simply weren’t ready or weren’t good enough for international football.

Domenech soon blacklisted Arsenal winger Robert Pires from his squad, an astonishing move considering that without Zidane, France had very little quality creativity in midfield. A player like Pires, who for example set up Trezeguet’s golden goal in the Euro 2000 final, is useful to have around.

Thierry Henry would probably be the first to say so. Henry has come in for stick in France because people don’t understand why he’s so brilliant with Arsenal and then has such a hard time for France. Well it’s because, at the moment, France can’t provide Henry with the service that he gets at Arsenal.

The only player that understands Henry’s game better than Pires is Dennis Bergkamp, which is no small thing. Just look at the beautiful deep pass Pires played in from the wing for Henry in the Champions League match vs. Sparta Prague, for Henry’s 186th record breaking Arsenal goal.

Aside from ignoring players that more than have their place in the team, like Pires, Werder Bremen’s Johann Micoud or Firorentina keeper Sebastien Frey, Domenech’s favorite thing to do is play players out of position. The most glaring case and the most frustrating for fans and the player himself, is William Gallas.

He’s probably one of Europe’s most polyvalent defenders but his best position is in the center of the defense. Gallas with Lillian Thuram as a defensive partnership would be hard to top. But, no, Domenech continues to torture Gallas playing him every now and again at right back but more often at left back which is even worse.

Then just lately he came up with the idea that Bayern Munich right back, Willy Sagnol should play on the right wing of midfield. And this when he had two perfectly natural and serviceable options for that position in Sidney Gouvou and Sylvain Wiltord.

The Sagnol scenario happened in France’s last friendly against Germany at the Stade de France in a match where France were sorely lacking ideas. With Domenech, France is often unbalanced and disorganized. The problem is that no one, including the players it would seem, know what system France is supposed to be playing.

Domenech is always changing the players and the positions and the systems and at this stage it seems that no one knows what he is on about, if they ever did know. Think about it, pick a successful team at international or club level and the system they play should be obvious.

England plays 4-4-2 as do Arsenal. Chelsea plays 4-3-3, the same as Italy, while AC Milan goes with a 4-3-1-2, with Kaka in behind the two strikers. These formations are easily identified and rarely changed even when players are missing. Italy, for example, played their 4-3-3 against Holland even though Totti, ostensibly the reason Italy played that system, was out.

This is France’s problem. No one knows what system they are playing and it destabilizes the players so that they don’t perform at their best. Going back to the Germany game, the really worrying thing is that France once again under Domenech had a hard time creating clear chances.

Henry had a shot saved by Lehmann, Trezeguet was clear on goal, but missed the ball and that was it. The rest of the time, Germany defended diligently, were quick on the counterattack, and with Ballack organizing things you felt that they were closer to winning the game than France.

The most frightening thing though was that after the match, in spite of the crowd booing France off the pitch, Domenech said that everything had gone well, just as he had planned in fact. Now either Domenech has a true master plan that mere mortals are incapable of comprehending or he’s just plain nuts.

France was playing at home to a German side that has had more than its share of problems recently and could barely manage a few shots on goal. What about such a poor performance could possibly cause for satisfaction?

After the qualification, Domenech was confirmed as France’s coach and there are many that worry that with him at the head of the team, next year’s World Cup could be even more of a catastrophe than 2002‘s as hard as that is to imagine.

One thing is for sure, if France performs in Germany the way they’ve been doing since Domenech took over, it may be better not to bother going. This French side as it stands, unless Zidane (who’s come back out of retirement) is fit and on form, and maybe even then would be ripped to shreds by any number of teams that will be present at the World Cup

Then again, if France does perform badly, then Domenech will undoubtedly get fired. A poor French performance in next year’s competition just may be the best thing that could happen to them.