Leboeuf - controversial selection? (Allsport)

By Dylan Kelly, PA International

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Roger Lemerre's decision to put his faith in many of the old guard for this World Cup campaign cost the reigning champions dear.

Although 'Les Bleus' possess arguably some of the best players in the world in their position, they also had a number of weak links in their line-up.

Unfortunately for the French, only a catastrophe of this magnitude could ever force Lemerre to re-think his team selection and tactics.

Frank Leboeuf surely did not merit a place in the squad, let alone the team.

On the back of a poor season with Marseille, where the former Chelsea defender was constantly exposed by his lack of pace, his selection was inexplicable.

His performance in the opening game against fleet-footed Senegalese forward El-Hadji Diouf confirmed what many had suspected and the Marseille-born stopper was often left floundering in his wake.

Where good positional sense could have saved the 34-year-old considerable embarrassment, he was often caught in no-man's land.

Lemerre must now look to the future with Under-21 stars Philippe Mexes and Jean-Alain Boumsong fast emerging in central defence rather than short-term solutions such as Mickael Silvestre.

Favouritism towards Youri Djorkaeff, firstly under Aime Jacquet and now Roger Lemerre, will end due to his retirement from international football.

The former Inter Milan man has not been at his best for a number of years and has developed an infuriating tendency to go missing in games.

Lemerre's attempt to use Djorkaeff in the playmaker position for the clash with Senegal proved a big mistake. Often slow in releasing the ball, Djorkaeff lost possession a countless number of times.

Lemerre's only possible justification to perservere with the 34-year-old was his impressive haul of 28 goals for his country, but Djorkaeff never looked like getting on the scoresheet during the tournament.

France's reliance on Zinedine Zidane has also been cruelly exposed during this tournament. His direct substitute in the side, Johan Micoud, showed some style but little substance.

The former Bordeaux star, though more penetrative than Zidane, cannot keep the team ticking over and see a pass as the Real Madrid talisman can.

Admittedly, very few players possess Zizou's vision, but with strikers of the quality of Thierry Henry, David Trezeguet and Djibril Cisse up front, goals would always have been a distinct possibility with the right service.

The most natural replacement for the 29-year-old would have been Lyon's Eric Carriere whose speed of thought, knack of taking the best passing option available and vivacity would have been priceless.

However, Lemerre opted to leave the Lyon playmaker, player of the year in France a year ago, at home.

The spine of the side - Barthez (although doubts remain), Thuram, Vieira, Henry and Trezeguet - must remain, but young blood is needed to inject life back into the team.

After winning France '98 and Euro 2000, 'Les Bleus' need to re-discover a desire and hunger to win. They must tap into the precocious talent of Cisse, Mexes and Boumsong if they are to recover from this blow.