From the few clips that I saw of England's 2 recent games, Becks appeared to be very invloved in England's attacks. He seemed to be playing well and doing so in a much different role than with our Madrid. Did anyone see the games? Can anyone add an information about how Becks performed and how was his position/role different than with Madrid?
Well for starters and most importantly, Becks played his correct position right wing not towards the center. Granted in both England matches he was often criticized for wandering around TOWARDS the center, and touching a lot of balls, but overall his play was much, MUCH sharper in both matches that I saw. His crosses were solid, his vision was superb as always, and he actually finished on a clean break which was nice to see. The key is getting Beckham out on the wing though where his crossing is most effective in towards Ronaldo and Raul. It should be noted as well the quality of teams England were playing though. They were pretty much able to advance the ball forward at will and were hardly tested in either game (especially N. Ire = 1 SHOT, 0 corners) on defense. Anyone can get into rythm offensively when this is the case. Nice job though by Becks!
Perhaps an unfortunate choice of words... that said, lets try to keep it focused on football please. -hehe
i definitely agree with this 100% i didnt see the match vs n.ireland but against azerbaijan he played very well IMO (nothing compared to how he does in real madrid)
Well, first of all, Rooney and Owen play much better in the air than Ronaldo and Raul. If Real Madrid had someone like Vieri or Trezeguet who are great in the air, his crosses would not have been useless. Second of all, Gerard and Lampard are central midfielders and do not particularly like to wander to the right or left wing. There is no Figo to share the right wing with. Thus, Beckham is free to run on the right wing and deliver crosses, and he does not have to be concerned about dropping deep to defend. Third of all, England's team on average is much younger than RM, and the attacks usually develop very quick through the wingers. Real Madrid rarely manages to move from defense to attack very quickly simply because the team is not built in such a way.
Gringotuna, I watched both England NT games. Beckham plays the same way for the NT that he does for RM. On the right side, hitting half his free kicks in to the wall, planty of long passes but always making things happen with his hustle. The English papers rate him as a 6 or 7, just like we do in the RM forum. Time to re-evaluate the Beckham hate?
i saw both games...and i agree if RM had some guys that are better than the air i think there scoring might be a bit higher if the RM (beckham) and LM (zidane) can get the ball at the wing and get a good cross in the middle and beckham wont be criticised for not playing that great because he is usually the one crossing, i think someone that might be better in the air might be someone like henry but i doubt arsenal will trade him a way considering many people think he is the best player in the world right now and on free kicks beckham doesnt always hit the wall, he usually gets it on net, i dont know how u think he is always hitting the wall
Just the opposite... time to reinforce the Becks hate. Anyone who does not play at an 8-10 in every game they play doesn't deserve to be at Real Madrid. Every single other player at Madrid play 8-10 range every game, including Pavon. Sorry... belated April Fools...
In the year of 2005, Beckham has put over 75% of his kicks in to the wall. I am sick of Beckham taking the majority of the free kicks for RM. Roberto Carlos on the other hand, has been heating up.
very true in r.carlos last games he has come sooo close to scoring fantastic free kicks for brasil, the goal keeper did very well, or r.carlos would have scoreed a hat trick
You sir are an idiot. Not one of Beckhams free kicks hit the wall vs Azerbaijan and he is man of the match in my opinion and in most people's opinions who actually watched the game. He defended, barely lost the ball, stunning crosses and a fantastic goal as well. 2 free kicks that he took were very dangerous. 1 the goalkeeper made a fantastic save and the other skinned the post. Beckham plays much better for England because he plays in his real position, he is cheered and supported by the fans and England has such a good flow and work rate in their team that RM lacks.
That is a statistic that you made up yourself therefore I dont believe it. Beckham is known for his free kicks and scored plenty of them for England, Manchester United and Real Madrid. Make Roberto Carlos take them but your saying that RC has a better free kick scoring rate than Becks? Your either autistic or Brasilian.
Hehe that is funny. I must say that the majority of the kicks I have seen him take lately have struck the wall (albeit very hard ) but Beckham is still the most dangerous free kick taker in the world. Just ask Greece. Actually, now that I think about it, I seem to remember Becks stealing 3 points from a couple teams earlier this season on the strength of his free kicks alone. How soon we fans forget.
Whoa - no need to be harsh. First of all, I'm a huge Beckham fan and even I have to admit that his free kicks have been cr@p in the second half of the season. He has only scored 4 goals all year - 3 of which have been from free kicks: 2 in the 1st half of the season and 1 in the past 3 months. I'm sure he's had around 10 or more FK opportunities which would make a goal percentage of 25% quite plausible. And Lockjaw's quote was regarding FKs in 2005 - i.e. in the past 3 months, i.e. the period during which Becks has not been taking FKs well.
Thanks, Butterfingers. You have to make allowance for Internazionale23 with his poor manners and all. Funny, I remember just the opposite. One of Beckham's FKs hit the wall, one was on target that forced a good save & someone else (Lampard?) took the next one. In fairness to Beckham, I thought his CKs were good in that game. If I missed another decent Beckham FK in that game, I apologize. You sir, Internazionale23, resort to personal attacks because you do not have the maturity or intelligence to do anything else. And in 2005, for RM, at least 75% of Beckham's FKs have hit the wall. It must be embarrasing for him & you, because Beckham is a FK specialist & obviously you can't have an intelligent discussion.
Ummmm try I said 3 points from A COUPLE OF TEAMS. Allowing for more than 3 points... maybe even oh I don't know 9. Thank you good day.
i agree with internazionale23...on england beckhma is "more at home" and more comfortable and has a lot more fans than he does in madrid...and beckham is always taking the freekicks because he is a specialst and in my oppion probably the best in the business...he also has more experience playing with his english chaps and they play more of his style considering he grew up playing in england and got his start for man unt, and dont u remember years ago against Wimbledon when beckham scored from half! yes of course he isnt in that shape anymore but still i havent seen anyone else score from half
I dunno how many times i've posted this but here I go again: David Beckham and his Free Kicks in 2004/2005 There have been 30 La Liga games this season and 7 Champions League games, I think. Beckham has played in every game he has been healthy for this season. In any given game he gets at least 2 attempts on goal from a free kick. So in 35 (take two away for injuries or whatever) games this season... that makes 70 attempts on goal from a free kick? And David Beckham has scored from THREE?!?! 3:70 1:23.3333 This season for Real Madrid, David Beckham has scored on average one free kick in every 23 and a third attempts. That is a disgraceful ratio and it is certainly not enough to keep him in the side when Zidane and Figo would most definitely have a higher ratio than that... maybe even Roberto Carlos.
Heck, I have been a fan of Beckham's free kicks in the past. But lately (last 3 months) he has been horrible with the majority of his shots in to the wall or the stands. But things change slowly at RM & Beckham continues to take the majority of the kicks.
Thierry Henry is a fantastic footballer, but he is not strong in the air. I heard a stat that he has only ever scored 4 or 5 headers with Arsenal, and he started as a winger, so he wouldn't not be an aerial threat. I also seem to remember in the Euros, when France played Greece, France couldn't pass through the Greek defence, and had to use the wings and a lot of crosses, and Henry was totally marked out of the game Ps. If RM want somebody who is strong in the air, maybe Peter Crouch or Duncan Ferguson could be the next "galactico".
Peter Crouch is rather...prodigious in front of goal. Watched the Man U game with him playing up front. Giant man, but missed some giant chances. Would not look good in galactico uniform. We already have Shrek, fat Ronaldo, and metro Becks. We don't need the Jolly Green Giant.