Manchester Online....
DAVID Beckham's golden return to scoring form last season has been hailed by United boss Sir Alex Ferguson.
Fergie's demands for a greater goal output from the England captain was met with Beckham's best ever senior goals return for the Reds.
Beckham struck 16 goals in a campaign hit by a mid-season enforced break and his end of term broken foot nightmare.
The 27-year-old ended the season as United's third best hitman behind 36-goal top scorer Ruud van Nistelrooy and 24-goal runner-up Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. And those figures delighted Fergie.
"David scored 16 goals but didn't start in 18 matches last season so that is a terrific return from him," said the United manager. "He has always been a great finisher. As a youngster he was always scoring from any angle and from inside and outside of the box. It is good to see him back to that.
"I said to him that in terms of improvements and making progress you have to add things to your game. Goalscoring was the area where I felt David could improve last season.
Challenge
“He took the challenge on board and it was much better last year. He became a terrific finisher again and that's good for him and for us.
"He was back to the goalscoring form of three or four years ago and the confidence was back in and around the penalty box again. That’s good to have as a back-up to your main strikers."
Beckham's previous golden spell came in the 1996-97 and 97-98 campaigns when he scored 11 in both terms.
However, he was rarely absent in both those seasons, missing just ten matches all told in the two-year period.
Last season, however, he missed the final six matches of United's campaign with his broken foot and in December and January he started just one match in eight when Fergie guarded against burn-out by resting the midfielder following his single handed exploits in steering England to the World Cup finals.
It was a controversial breather but Ferguson's decision was rewarded and he said: "David was absolutely flying after the mid-season rest he had. Both himself and United reaped the benefits.
"It was a great shame that injury de-railed it all for both ourselves and England. If David had been fit for us in the Champions League semi-final in Germany against Bayer Leverkusen then we'd have got through to the final and could have won it."
DAVID Beckham's golden return to scoring form last season has been hailed by United boss Sir Alex Ferguson.
Fergie's demands for a greater goal output from the England captain was met with Beckham's best ever senior goals return for the Reds.
Beckham struck 16 goals in a campaign hit by a mid-season enforced break and his end of term broken foot nightmare.
The 27-year-old ended the season as United's third best hitman behind 36-goal top scorer Ruud van Nistelrooy and 24-goal runner-up Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. And those figures delighted Fergie.
"David scored 16 goals but didn't start in 18 matches last season so that is a terrific return from him," said the United manager. "He has always been a great finisher. As a youngster he was always scoring from any angle and from inside and outside of the box. It is good to see him back to that.
"I said to him that in terms of improvements and making progress you have to add things to your game. Goalscoring was the area where I felt David could improve last season.
Challenge
“He took the challenge on board and it was much better last year. He became a terrific finisher again and that's good for him and for us.
"He was back to the goalscoring form of three or four years ago and the confidence was back in and around the penalty box again. That’s good to have as a back-up to your main strikers."
Beckham's previous golden spell came in the 1996-97 and 97-98 campaigns when he scored 11 in both terms.
However, he was rarely absent in both those seasons, missing just ten matches all told in the two-year period.
Last season, however, he missed the final six matches of United's campaign with his broken foot and in December and January he started just one match in eight when Fergie guarded against burn-out by resting the midfielder following his single handed exploits in steering England to the World Cup finals.
It was a controversial breather but Ferguson's decision was rewarded and he said: "David was absolutely flying after the mid-season rest he had. Both himself and United reaped the benefits.
"It was a great shame that injury de-railed it all for both ourselves and England. If David had been fit for us in the Champions League semi-final in Germany against Bayer Leverkusen then we'd have got through to the final and could have won it."
