How You Like Me Now? - The Karim Benzema Thread

Benzema is back: His vertical and daring Lyon game returns


At just 19, Karim Benzema impressed on the Champions League stage with two goals against Rangers, one of those being very similar to his goal on Sunday against Celta in Vigo.

Eleven years on he is enjoying a second youth. In recent weeks Benzema has reverted to his Lyon self and is showing that same directness, explosiveness and dare that made him one of Europe's most feared forwards as he followed in the footsteps of his great idol, Ronaldo.

"One of his coaches told me that I had to go and see an Under-15 kid," said Bernard Lacombe, then sporting director at Lyon.
"It was something magical and I think he's playing very similarly now.
"He's doing those same movements, always moving in the direction of goal, which is what he did then."

The question then is how has Benzema got back to his origins, and Lacombe sees several factors.

"With us," he began, "seven of ten attacking balls went through him and now in Madrid, without Cristiano Ronaldo, something similar is happening.
"Modric played a ball into space on that first goal and he has the talent to do things easily.
"With us he did it a lot, in Lyon he was a reference point and now in Madrid he is even better.
"He is happy and it shows."

Off-field issues have surrounded Benzema's career, but Lacombe jumped to his defence.

"He's a good kid, a good person.
"In Madrid they do not forgive, and he hasn't been there for ten years by chance.
"Nobody gives you anything there and you have to understand that."

Benzema himself was more assured after his goal against Viktoria Plzen, and it brought back memories from a decade ago.

He is a focal point now, a reference without Cristiano and he is trusted and showing more maturity as well.

https://amp.marca.com/en/football/real-madrid/2018/11/13/5be9e866ca47419d398b459b.html

 

He has had higher moments (like one-upping Butragueno vs. Atleti), but that was probably his best/most complete performance in a Madrid shirt.

 

I have to admit. I thought the exact same thing, that this is the Benzema from Lyon (and where did this player go for ten years).

He's had good games here but the confidence, directness and execution, it's like he was afraid of upstaging Ronaldo (understandably).

 

7 - Karim Benzema has caught offside seven times against Eibar, his highest in a single LaLiga game for Real Madrid. Novelty.

 

Some of those were close and a couple of them they passed the ball to him while he was moving back which wasn't really his fault tbh.

We've had like 12 or 13 offsides today .

 

To be fair, at least half of those offside calls on Benz were wrong too.

Although later in the game, he was miles offside for RM.

But yeah, Benzema wasn't really great today.

 

‘Now we know why the buffet is empty, eh Raph?’ pic.twitter.com/7rvltKCyx1

— M•A•J (@Ultra_Suristic) December 15, 2018

 

Scored the matchwinning 1-0 goal vs. Rayo Vallecano.

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Benzema's numbers in allcomps this season is pretty damn solid (11 goals + 5 games in 23 games) despite not taking penalties + free-kicks to inflate his goal-tally as well as Real Madrid in general struggled badly. I mean, people are hailing Cristiano for having a great season at Juventus and his stats are slightly better than Benzema's (11 goals + 8 assists in 20 games).

Just shows the unwarranted hate Benzema gets from some people...

 

Benzema is the last person to blame in our attack. He has been decent to good this season. The other 2 idiots next to him need to hit the bench.

 

Benzema has been inconsistent.

He has a run of some good games then he has a run of horrible ones.

 

Agreed , as is the norm and still not enough goals as our main striker

 

He's had some poor games. But it's kind of tough when you're attacking partners are Asensio and Bale. LV is selfless, but Asensio is a terrible player.

 

Sums it up perfectly, just too unreliable. Struggles playing simple up top as an outlet or to convert simple chances or gives the ball away cheaply then he'll do something amazing or win ball back deep in their final third. Just terribly frustrating.

 

Benzema has been miles better than Asensio and Bale this season.

 

Fair enough, but that does not make what he has been doing good enough, the team still looks toothless upfront, for a team like ours where he is an undisputed starter ( for years mind you) he has to score more goals and occupy defenders more IMO, he remains inconsistent

 

that is true and I don't think anyone denies it, but the fact is that Benzema was hyped as "finally coming out of the shadow of CR", and what we see is that he still thinks CR is playing along side. He is not sharp and he is not the goal scorer a team this caliber needs.

 

To be honest Cristiano spoiled us.

Benzema is actually playing like most of these strikers out here (in goal return). They aren't aliens like Cristiano and messi so they don't have the capacity to be that consistent where they average a goal a game.

 

He was very good last night vs Rayo.

 

My biggest pet peeve with him is how slow he is and incapable of making a good run so somebody can play him in with a through ball.

90 % of the time he gets the ball far from the goal with his back to the goal and he passes it back. That worked with Cristiano but now Benzema passes it back to Asensio who also passes it back

 

Fair enough, good point, I just don’t trust Benz, his goal droughts have been many for too long now, I am apprehensive when it comes to him being as effective as he can be for us, I find he is not in the box enough and weak, always seems to be a hole where our striker should be hence lost chances, maybe I am reading too much into it, but I still am not convinced by him unfortunately.

 

Have to disagree. Looking at Benzema's stats then yes, they are not that bad, but they are far from great. The biggest problem I have with Benzema is not the lack of goals per se, but the lack of effort and opportunities squandered. I always think back to that Dybala goal against Tottenham and how I'm 99.99% certain he would have missed it.

And in terms of strictly looking at his goal return, maybe apart from one season, there have been far many more other players, playing for far lesser teams in the top flight, who have managed to score more than Benzema. 1 goal every 2 games was the standard 20 years or so ago but times have changed.

Ronaldo hasn't spoilt us. When we sold him no one here was expecting his replacement to score 40-50 league goals in a season. However, we do expect our main striker to score at least 25 league goals a season and be one of the best in the world. That is definitely not Benzema.

 

On one hand you say this about Benzema, then the other you talk up inconsistent +£200M Harry Kane as the best thing ever.

This best ever player btw has struggled with consistency just like Benzema this year. He has played more than 300 more minutes than Benzema in CL and league play yet has accounted for 13 goals and 4 assists.

The inconsistent worthless Benzema you rag on daily has accounted for 9 goals and 5 assists with more than 3 matches less playing time in these two competitions.

In your world we should pay some insane fee a minimal difference? Well he's English!

Makes sense.


Anyways, don't let reality stop you. Continue your shitting on Benzema for being a more efficient player than world beater super consistent Harry Kane.

 

And I've hyped up Harry Kane when? Most I've ever said about him is that people here don't properly rate him because he's English. In the end, Benzema is the worst starting striker we have had in the past century or so.