France captain Patrick Vieira has sidestepped questions about the row involving his Arsenal team-mate Robert Pires and French national coach Raymond Domenech.

Pires was dropped from the France squad for Wednesday’s friendly against Poland, with Domenech attributing his omission to lack of form.

But Pires has been critical of Domenech’s management style since he replaced Jacques Santini after Euro 2004.

Vieira, though, is refusing to take sides in the dispute.

“It is a matter that Robert and the coach have to settle together,” said Vieira.

“I talked about it with Robert and with the coach. They are big enough to have a meeting.

“Anyway, inside the team everything is clear. So many things were said, we are talking more about problems than about sport.

“Before, everything remained in the Clarefontaine castle. That proves we still have a lot of work to do.”