Domenech Has Second Swipe At Bolton

By Mark Heys
November 21 2007

France national boss Raymond Domenech's frosty relationship with Bolton Wanderers continued when he accused Trotters manager Gary Megson of over exaggerating the hamstring injury picked up by striker Nicolas Anelka.

Anelka was called up by the French and played in the weekend draw with Morocco despite the pleas of Megson not to risk the Wanderers record signing ahead of an important run of games, starting against Manchester United this coming Saturday.

Now Domenech has pointed the finger at Bolton by saying they have lied about Anelka's condition after conducting their own independant scans on the injury to the 28-year old.

"They want to protect a player who has not appeared for them. A little doubt remains, So they anticipate and try to make me think the injury is bigger to have the player back." he told L'Equipe

"Here, we do the required scans. The proof is that Anelka played again and there has not been any problem. If we had a little doubt during the last training sessions, I would not have taken any risk. I am not crazy."

It is not the first time Domenech has taken a swipe at Bolton. Back in 2002 whilst manager of the U21 side he claimed that Bernard Mendy would have been better off staying at Paris Saint Germain rather than penning a loan deal with Bolton, a place which he described as "the arse hole of the universe".

"Bernard would have done better to stay in France with a less prestigious club, Instead he is going to waste at a big English club. in the arsehole of the universe" said Domenech in October 2002.