England boss Sven-Goran Eriksson plans to fly out to Madrid for heart-to-heart talks with his captain, Real midfielder David Beckham, about his drop in form (The Daily Telegraph, Daily Express, Daily Mirror, The Sun). Sven has just realised this? Clearly a sign of a person who should not be in charge of the England players. Drop him Sven!
This is long overdue. Beckham should only be considered to play when he's fully fit and in form. It's not as if he's in any way the most naturally gifted player player in the squad or irreplacable, the positions he wants to play are some of the strongest in the squad for us. I think it's shameful the way Sven has treated him in a different way to the others, but then he has a record of doing this right back to his club coaching days. SWP should be playing ahead of a less than 100% Becks at rightwing, and in centre mid I would prefer the pace and two-way talent of young Jenas when one of Gerrard or Lampard are out. Or give a chance to one of Hargreaves/Parker etc if they're playing well for their club team, which are on a par with Real Madrid these days anyway.
The problem has been that Beckham knows he just has to turn up and he will be picked, and when he is picked on the right he still follows the ball wherever it goes leaving Gary Neville exposed in just about every game. Eriksson needs to get tough with him and he should simply leave him out of the squad for the next competetive game regardless of the form he's in. If after that he does play and starts roaming out of position then he should be immediately substituted. He needs to be shown that he is not bigger than the team.
Dont bash Sven too bad. At least he's showing some initiative, far overdue but still, he's dropped James and called up a lot of youngsters. Hopefully this will get Beckham too get playing well again, I thought after Butcher came out about his lack of form, and needing to be dropped as captain, he started to play better. Sadly it didnt last.
Playing in the middle in a more defensive-minded role has messed up his form . He was always our consistent best player in previous years but these days he has too many bad bays for england.
He played on the right for Real yesterday and had a much better game, scored a cracker and set up the first goal. Still wandered infield too much, but its clearly his best position to be on the side and not being in the middle.
Playing defensive in the middle isnt his game and that why he has lost his touch these last 12 months. Real should ditch Figo and put becks on the right wing every game.
Real should not ditch Figo at all. They should play both Becks and Figo. Figo-Guti*-Zidane-Beckham *Helguera to play there when Woodgate is available to play alongside The Wall.
SWP has been playing brilliantly for Man City, scored another class goal this weekend. Only thing about SWP is that he's not a crosser, it's all dribbling and shooting, would be a good contrast between him and Becks.
It's something I'd be interested to see, although I'm not sure how SWP would adapt to it mentally. Would be very difficult to play right-side at club level, then all of a sudden coming into England every couple of months and playing left side for 1 or at most 2 games at a time.
Downing and SWP might be an interesting wing combo .Might be worth a look in future friendlies if sven has the balls to try it.
The put Zidane on Left so he dosen't have to run the whole match. He usually drifts in the center while Carlos playes as a Left Winger. I think they need to get rid of Zidane and get true all around Central Midfeilder someone like Ruben Baraja.
Surely this is now a Real thread, not an england one. Baraja, please! Perhaps they need a CM that can run all game, is composed on the ball and can hold the game together on therare occassion that the Galacticos bring there A-Game, and can give them the workrate lacking from said stars. Oh wait, the GAVE Cambiasso away to Inter on a free!
Beckham dropped due to poor form David Beckham's shelf life as a Real Madrid `galactico' faces further scrutiny this week as manager Mariano Garcia Remon ponders whether the England captain's 'best before' label reads `December 2004' ............ http://soccernet.espn.go.com/headlinenews?id=319773&cc=5901
I think he should be playing for us regardless. All we need in a game is one great long ball, or a free kick from him and he can decide games all by himself. He should be stripped of the captaincy though. I'd give it to Gerrard personally.
Yes he could have the vital touch or pass but it has to be from the right wing not in the middle of the field.
the less he plays on the right wing for Madrid.....the worse he will play for country(and club), where hes playing on that wing. The biggest reason i think he has lost his form is moving into that central mid role in spain.... He's in Manchester playing right, everythings alright.... Moves to Madrid, plays in the middle......plays like $h1t Makes perfect sense to me.....i dontsee how some people just think he downright sucks......theres reason behind everything
Jenas is crap. Parker, Cole, Wright-Phillips and Downing need to be given opportunities. Dyer, Jenas and Barry can Far Cry Toff. Revelian
Well it looks as though Madrid have come to their senses and started playing Becks on right wing. Thats great news with WCQ coming up in a couple of months.