France winger Florent Malouda has launched a scathing attack on the tactics of former coach Raymond Domenech, and claimed that "bad vibes" prevented les Bleus from reaching their full potential.
Despite being one of the Premier League's most consistent performers last season with club side Chelsea, Malouda found himself on the substitutes' bench for two of France's three group matches in their disastrous campaign in South Africa.
And Malouda blames les Bleus' poor World Cup displays on the much-maligned Domenech and his apparent tactical ineptitutde.
"It's the failure of a system that led to the debacle," Malouda told L'Equipe. "The players who play for Chelsea, Barcelona, (Bayern) Munich or Lyon need a high-level environment to blossom.
"It was difficult for me to accept the way the national team functioned compared to a great club like Chelsea. Every time I was called up to the national team, it was back to negative stories and bad vibes.
"With France, I came to play where I was asked to and that was it. We didn't even try to see the coach to talk about the tactical system, 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1.
"It was just 'put yourself there and no arguments'. We did not look for explanations. Never in the last few years did my words have any influence on the coach."
Domenech's contract ended when France were eliminated from the World Cup at the group stage, with Laurent Blanc named as his successor.