
It was a bad week for Arsenal target Yann M’Vila. After being snubbed by Didier Deschamps for his first France squad, the midfielder missed his chance to impress the watching national manager. The 22-year-old looked off the pace and never really got into the match.
Mathieu Debuchy has been the subject of one of the summer’s main transfer sagas, with Newcastle continuing their chase. Still struggling physically, he did not stand out for Lille against Saint-Etienne and then was substituted with 10 minutes left with the match still in the balance at 1-1. Debuchy said that he was tired and his coach, Rudi Garcia, insisted that the substitution was a precaution. Les Dogues went on to score a late winner.
Hugo Lloris, who has been chased by Tottenham this summer, was ruled out of Lyon’s Ligue 1 match this weekend, officially said to be suffering with a virus which is keeping him out of action.
Long-term Spurs target Leandro Damiao has enjoyed a good Olympic tournament on British shores but produced a very disappointing performance in his side’s defeat to Mexico in the final. The Internacional striker was sloppy in his link-up play and offered little support to key men Neymar and Hulk.
Chelsea target Andre Schurrle showed some bursts of pace in Bayer Leverkusen’s 3-1 defeat to Liverpool but he was generally outshone by team-mate Stefan Kiessling going forward. The Germany international needed to show more cutting edge and final product against a tenacious home defence.
Vurnon Anita is said to be on the verge of joining Newcastle in an €8.5 million (£6.7m) deal, but if the match against AZ turns out to be his last one, it was a disappointing display. He lacked spirit, was invisible for much of the game and admitted to talks with the English club when he spoke with reporters after the game. If that was his last game for the Amsterdam giants, it was not a good way to sign off.