Villa’s Republic of Ireland defender Richard Dunne today launched a blistering attack on France coach Raymond Domenech as their crunch World Cup qualification play-off nears.

The £6m summer signing from Manchester City has lit the blue touch-paper ahead of Saturday’s first leg in Dublin by painting Domenech as a hapless manager who is “messing up” the France team.

And he suggested the 1998 World Cup winners should have easily qualified for South Africa next summer given the talent at their disposal.

“Every time a tournament comes round, they have all these world-class players and then a man who seems intent on messing them up,” said Dunne.

“Over the last World Cups and European Championships, things have not run smoothly for France; they’ve always got through but maybe it’s time that we put a stop to that.

“And we know that if we can get in front, they probably have not got the man at the top to pull them back around. It (Domenech’s management) could be a weakness or it could be a big smokescreen; France have played really well in their last few games. But if we can get on top of them and try to turn the game into a battle, we feel we have the stronger personalities.”