{"id":298585,"date":"2023-11-29T18:24:21","date_gmt":"2023-11-29T18:24:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tellmysport.com\/?p=298585"},"modified":"2023-11-29T18:24:21","modified_gmt":"2023-11-29T18:24:21","slug":"nicolas-anelka-lifts-the-lid-on-his-turbulent-france-career","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tellmysport.com\/soccer\/nicolas-anelka-lifts-the-lid-on-his-turbulent-france-career\/","title":{"rendered":"Nicolas Anelka lifts the lid on his turbulent France career"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>Nicolas Anelka lifts the lid on his turbulent France career and reveals he joined Arsenal because he &#8216;related more with English mentality than the French&#8217;<\/h1>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Anelka\u00a0rejected an emergency call-up to face Serbia and Montenegro in 2002<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>He insulted the then France coach, Raymond Domenech, at 2010 World Cup<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Pressure is easing on Man United boss Erik ten Hag:\u00a0Listen to It&#8217;s All Kicking Off<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Nicolas Anelka has lifted the lid on his turbulent France career and he revealed how he struggled wearing the French jersey.<\/p>\n<p>The striker&#8217;s international career ended in 2010 after he was given an 18-match ban for his role in France&#8217;s controversial mutiny during the World Cup in June.<\/p>\n<p>Anelka was given by far the heftiest punishment of the five players brought before the French Football Federation (FFF) after he insulted the then France coach, Raymond Domenech, which led to the player&#8217;s expulsion from the tournament and the team staging a boycott.<\/p>\n<p>His uneasy relationship with the national team also saw him he reject an emergency call-up by Jacques Santini to face Serbia and Montenegro in 2002 and he was barred by the manager.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Speaking on the YouTube channel Disruptors, Anelka said: \u201cI had a problem with that jersey, I didn\u2019t relate with the mentality, the supporters, way of thinking, I related more with the English (mentality).\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/29\/16\/78382011-0-image-a-1_1701276972795.jpg\" height=\"410\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Nicolas Anelka insulted the then France coach, Raymond Domenech, at 2010 World Cup<\/p>\n<p>Your browser does not support iframes.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;It\u2019s sad because when you look at my stats with France, I scored 14 goals, 12 of them were away from home.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>Anelka exploded onto the scene under Arsene Wenger after joining Arsenal in 1996 and won the PFA Young Player of the Year award, as well as the Premier League and FA Cup double in his time with the Gunners.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>But, after arriving at the Bernabeu, Anelka struggled to adapt to his new team-mates and life under the microscope at one of the world&#8217;s biggest football clubs.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking in the documentary, Anelka recalled how none of his team-mates would allow him to find a space in the dressing room after his first training session.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;After the press conference, I went to the changing room. I got there first, sat down, but players kept coming up to me and saying: &#8220;That&#8217;s my spot&#8221;. I would say: &#8220;Oh, sorry. Can I sit here?&#8221; and then another player would come up and say: &#8220;That&#8217;s my spot&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;It happened maybe 20 times. I just thought: &#8220;What am I doing here? This is going to be hostile&#8221;. What I experienced that day was just the beginning of the nightmare.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>Anelka struggled to perform on the pitch in the early stages of his career in LaLiga. He failed to score in his first five months in the white of Real and it began to take its toll.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/29\/16\/78382219-0-image-a-2_1701277059513.jpg\" height=\"427\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Anelka retired in 2015 after a career featuring stints at Chelsea, Liverpool and Man City<\/p>\n<p>He added: &#8216;There was so much pressure. I was in the press every day. On the pitch, things weren&#8217;t great. I couldn&#8217;t have a private life. I couldn&#8217;t do anything.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;You&#8217;re 20, you can&#8217;t walk down the street. Everything you do gets talked about, everything you buy is in the newspapers the next day.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>Anelka returned to PSG before stints at Liverpool, Chelsea, Man City and Bolton during his colourful career.<\/p>\n<p>He was sacked by West Brom in 2014 for gross misconduct after he announced he was quitting the club.\u00a0<\/p>\n<h3>IT&#8217;S ALL KICKING OFF!\u00a0<\/h3>\n<p><span><span>It&#8217;s All Kicking Off is an exciting new podcast from Mail Sport that promises a different take on Premier League football.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span>It is available on MailOnline, Mail+, YouTube, Apple Music and Spotify.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Your browser does not support iframes.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/i\/pix\/2017\/08\/02\/636x90_facebook_ad_sport.png\" width=\"636\" height=\"90\"><br \/>\nSource: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sport\/football\/article-12805869\/Nicolas-Anelka-lifts-lid-turbulent-France-career-reveals-joined-Arsenal-related-English-mentality-French.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Nicolas Anelka lifts the lid on his turbulent France career and reveals he joined Arsenal because he &#8216;related more with English mentality than the French&#8217; Anelka\u00a0rejected an emergency call-up to face Serbia and Montenegro in 2002 He insulted the then France coach, Raymond Domenech, at 2010 World Cup Pressure is easing on Man United boss&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":298584,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Nicolas Anelka lifts the lid on his turbulent France career - Tell My Sport<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/tellmysport.com\/soccer\/nicolas-anelka-lifts-the-lid-on-his-turbulent-france-career\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Nicolas Anelka lifts the lid on his turbulent France career - Tell My Sport\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Nicolas Anelka lifts the lid on his turbulent France career and reveals he joined Arsenal because he &#8216;related more with English mentality than the French&#8217; 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