Karim Benzema

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Crerand Legend said:
The simple answer to you my friend without insulting your opinons like you have choose to do with mine is that is if he is so world class what the hell is he doing on the Real bench? He would only come here as a Real reject and we dont do rejects
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He is on the bench because he may not have still adapted to the new conditions. Some players find it tough to adapt to a new team in their first year itself. He is like Tevez in his second year when he was here. Even though he played well, he was still on the bench for us. Benz has scored 7 goals in 19 La Liga appearances out of which he has started 14 games and came on as a substitute for 5 games. He also has 3 assists.

I m pretty sure he is going to be rocking next year for them especially with all the talk about Raul leaving. But one thing that could prevent that from happening is if Real buy Villa. If they do, then it is safe for him to move in order to save his career.

And you shouldn't always look at his contribution on the goal and assists side. Of course it is easy for us to only look at that because he is a striker. But if you observe that lad, he has the ability to crack open the opposition defense with his movement. I watch a lot of Real games just to watch Benz play. He knows when to move and what type of a run would trouble the offense.
 
Scoreboard had a nice post. IIRC Benzema still lived with his parents in a modest apartment while at Lyon.

RDCR07 said:
He is on the bench because he may not have still adapted to the new conditions. Some players find it tough to adapt to a new team in their first year itself. He is like Tevez in his second year when he was here. Even though he played well, he was still on the bench for us. Benz has scored 7 goals in 19 La Liga appearances out of which he has started 14 games and came on as a substitute for 5 games. He also has 3 assists.

I m pretty sure he is going to be rocking next year for them especially with all the talk about Raul leaving. But one thing that could prevent that from happening is if Real buy Villa. If they do, then it is safe for him to move in order to save his career.

And you shouldn't always look at his contribution on the goal and assists side. Of course it is easy for us to only look at that because he is a striker. But if you observe that lad, he has the ability to crack open the opposition defense with his movement. I watch a lot of Real games just to watch Benz play. He knows when to move and what type of a run would trouble the offense.
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485 journos stirred in their sleep just then.
 
Brwned said:
He played there plenty of times for Lyon, especially at the start of his career(which is recent enough).

He doesn't like it though.
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Oh ok.. How did he play there? Was he performing well? I would assume he was played there as part of his learning curve.. Its been done with youngsters quite often with the likes of Agbonglahor and in a similar effect Welbeck and a few others have witnessed these techniques..

Crerand Legend said:
Benzema turned us down and would only come here because he has been a failure at Real, let him rot there
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IIRC.. On numerous occasions you have raised this very point.. To which I have told you there was no chance he could reject us as we did not have a offer accepted..
 
Chirag said:
Oh ok.. How did he play there? Was he performing well? I would assume he was played there as part of his learning curve.. Its been done with youngsters quite often with the likes of Agbonglahor and in a similar effect Welbeck and a few others have witnessed these techniques..
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He was outstanding there playing on the wing.
 
Chirag said:
You do know your conclusion is a paraphrase of exactly what I have written right? You just say it in a lets say softer way..

As far as saying for certain which his preferred formation is I would just ask you to look at his record over the past what 23 years he has been incharge of this club..



See kouroux Now that is a valid argument and one that I tend to agree with... We cannot afford to play a flat 4-4-2 in the European game anymore but as far as my memory for England goes SAF has clearly preferred the 4-4-2..





?
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In the past 23 years the game has evolved whether it's in the English top flight or in Europe.The central midfielders we have today couldn't be matched with the ones we had before so playing only 2 of them in biggest matches (PL or CL) is impossible never mind how football has changed.
It's not a matter of "4-4-2" being SAF's favorite formation but more like the one efficient.However things have evolved, many top teams don't play with just 2 CM anymore and yes in England.English clubs have used their European experience in the past few years to a point where even a club like Manchester United cannot afford to play in 4-4-2.
There is no such thing as a favorite formation, it's just a matter of which one is best working.4-4-2 in every game used to be the way for United but things have changed
 
Chirag said:
Oh ok.. How did he play there? Was he performing well? I would assume he was played there as part of his learning curve.. Its been done with youngsters quite often with the likes of Agbonglahor and in a similar effect Welbeck and a few others have witnessed these techniques..
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Agbonlahor on the right wing was definitely just a learning curve, to give him experience in an easier position, but he always looked terribly uncomfortable out there. Welbeck less so, and in a 4-3-3 he's more than able to play on the left regularly.

Benzema looked perfectly comfortable on the left of a 4-3-3 however, it didn't look like he was being played there just to be given experience it looked like he was played there because he was a constant threat.
 
kouroux said:
In the past 23 years the game has evolved whether it's in the English top flight or in Europe.The central midfielders we have today couldn't be matched with the ones we had before so playing only 2 of them in biggest matches (PL or CL) is impossible never mind how football has changed.
It's not a matter of "4-4-2" being SAF's favorite formation but more like the one efficient.However things have evolved, many top teams don't play with just 2 CM anymore and yes in England.English clubs have used their European experience in the past few years to a point where even a club like Manchester United cannot afford to play in 4-4-2.
There is no such thing as a favorite formation, it's just a matter of which one is best working.4-4-2 in every game used to be the way for United but things have changed
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I just accepted that things have changed man why are you making me repeat myself? We do not have the personnel to play a 4-4-2 which is why we are seeing so much of the 4-3-3.. But if we had bought or lets say we will buy another quality striker to play upfront with Rooney next season we will see how much less of a 4-3-3 we will play..

Brwned said:
Agbonlahor on the right wing was definitely just a learning curve, to give him experience in an easier position, but he always looked terribly uncomfortable out there. Welbeck less so, and in a 4-3-3 he's more than able to play on the left regularly.

Benzema looked perfectly comfortable on the left of a 4-3-3 however, it didn't look like he was being played there just to be given experience it looked like he was played there because he was a constant threat.
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I see.. But it seems that he doesn't like to play there.. I am going by what the posters have said here.. I think it makes sense too.. I cant see him to be a willing defender myself when we don't have the ball I.E.. I mean what if we ask Torres to play the Kuyt role at Liverpool?
 
He was overweight and struggled with the step up in training, never mind the style of play - if he does come to United be grateful that he's been going though his growing pains on someone else's payroll. The general fitness problem has been compounded by injuries which is why for big chunks of the season he hasn't even been on the bench.

He was a starter at the beginning of the season (over Higuain and Raul) but didn't hold his place and didn't regain it when Ronaldo was injured. In terms of the style/formation that Madrid use, it's hard to see how he can be played with Ronaldo and Higuain.

Combine that with vague phrases like "failing to adapt" - by which they mean he lives with his posse, eats takeout and has big headphones on whenever he's seen out in public - and the Anelka comparison comes up. If the Ronaldo I comparison is now heard , it's because of the overweight/injured part. It's a big city for a shy (so some say) player who'd had a pretty sheltered life.

Ronaldo II apparently took pity on him (training wise), so I'm sure he'll give SAF an unbiassed scouting report.
 
jojojo said:
H..... In terms of the style/formation that Madrid use, it's hard to see how he can be played with Ronaldo and Higuain....
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Why? Ronaldo and Higuain are both super comfortable on the flanks and the team plays 4-3-3. If Benzema wasn't having so many problems and bad form I suspect he'd be starting with those 2 often.
 
The thing is Pellgrini has Used Kaka on the wings too much and that has totally destroyed the former Ballon'dors confidence.

They use the attacking trio Kaka/Ronaldo/Higuain and Benzema has had no action for quite some time no due to injury and poor form.

Benzema has been decent when played but still didn't have the run in on games due to Higuain being a beast.
 
Scoreboard Red said:
It would make sense that a French kid of Algerian descent would dream of playing for the club in which a French player of Algerian descent was making his mark as the best player of a generation (Zidane); Benzema would have been around twelve at the time Zizou signed for Real.
It would probably be true to state there are kids in Portugal, particularly Madeira who now adore United (and probably now Real) because Ronaldo played for us and was the best player in the world for that time he was. Same with kids in Angloa because Manucho played for us, etc etc.
Cantona grew up in love with Marseilles football club and eventually got the chance to play for his boyhood team which was a complete balls-up. Same with Fergie, a Rangers fan through and through but his time at Ibrox was disastrous.
I'm sure if given the chance, Benzema would jump at the chance of playing for United if he thought he couldn't crack it at Real. Like most others, I was personally gutted he felt compelled to 'choose' them over us. Obviously it was no secret Ronaldo was joining them and he is a big drawcard to play alongside but it hasn't transpired. I think his heart wasn't fully in it perhaps and a move to United would have been more fulfilling, especially with French team-mate Evra who is clearly the most-likeable squad member at United, whereas there are no French players at Real (aside from Diarra!), but he would have also been star-billing alongside Rooney, whereas at Real, he was never going to be anywhere near the likes of Ronaldo, Kaka and clearly not even seen favourably over an ancient Raul.
Ferguson has gone for players in the past TWICE, yes, but these players were Les Sealey and Alan Shearer, he traditionally tends to scorn players who shun United and rightly so.
For this reason and also it would seem odd Benzema not give it another year at least to try and crack his way in the team, I suspect we WON'T sign Benzema. I was surprised Owen discussing signing for another two seasons. If we were to sign Benzema, would that mean curtains for Berbatov if were to have Rooney, resign Owen, sign Benzema and recall Welbeck and Macheda to the squad?
Real might have been the star attraction for several high profile players last summer, but we will always be a massive attraction ourselves.
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Fair points I won't argue with any of that. I still feel though there must be so many players that grew up watching us winning the treble and the like with some great players. So there must be a huge number who have the dream to play for us. Put it this way the only chance we have of going in for him is if Fergie truly believes this lad is going to be up there as the best striker in the world for the next ten years otherwise I think he is too stubborn.

I'm not sure it would mean curtains for Berbatov could be that he is happy to sit on the bench. Owen I think is a stop gap how long he stays will be dictated by who is available. The thing about Welbeck and Macheda is I thought this season Fergie had them in his plans hence why we never tried going after another striker. Neither have them have really worked out and we have only turned to Macheda out of desperation. I would be genuinely surprised if we take the chance of going into next season with the same strikers.
 
Chirag said:
Oh ok.. How did he play there? Was he performing well? I would assume he was played there as part of his learning curve.. Its been done with youngsters quite often with the likes of Agbonglahor and in a similar effect Welbeck and a few others have witnessed these techniques..



IIRC.. On numerous occasions you have raised this very point.. To which I have told you there was no chance he could reject us as we did not have a offer accepted..
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We maybe never had an offer accepted but you can guarantee the man who does the business for Lyon would have been informed what Benzemas favoured destination was. You can also guarantee Fergie would have knew this I am sure we would have upped our offer if he thought Benzema wanted to play for us over them.
 
The agent of Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema insists there's been no fresh contact with Manchester United.

United boss Sir Alex Ferguson was linked with a new move for the Frenchman over the weekend.

But Karim Djaziri, when asked about the United rumours, told calciomercato.it: "I repeat, I know nothing and I've heard no market talk. I should emphasize that Karim is very happy with Real Madrid."
 
MarkC said:
FairI still feel though there must be so many players that grew up watching us winning the treble and the like with some great players. So there must be a huge number who have the dream to play for us.
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In those days English football was considered a fairly distant third behind Italy and Spain (to the rest of europe and south america). We were the only team capable of actually competing in Europe, and only made it to the final once. One season (no matter how amazing) doesn't breed that love and affection from relative neutrals.

It's only over the last six or so years that English football has truly stepped up. Partly because of the influx of money, and partly because of the success of Ronaldo, who played a huge part in making English football 'cool' to young latino kids. Those kids would now, even if not true fans of ours, consider us as a real option as their careers take off.
 
Chirag said:
I just accepted that things have changed man why are you making me repeat myself? We do not have the personnel to play a 4-4-2 which is why we are seeing so much of the 4-3-3.. But if we had bought or lets say we will buy another quality striker to play upfront with Rooney next season we will see how much less of a 4-3-3 we will play..
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It'll only happen if SAF is sure of his 2 CMs.The key to successfully play 4-4-2 resides importantly in the 2 CMs which is why I don't think buying a striker is a priority
 
Christofaux said:
If United buy Benzema... i think i will be lost for words, he has done nothing to warrant any sort of transfer.
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Owen didn't really merit a transfer to United by that sort of rationale though Chris, and I think he did particularly well despite his limited chances and previous form.
It's their class that makes them appealing mate, Owen has always been a good player and Benzema, despite not playing well now, is a very good player who given a new lease of life at a new club could do a greta job for us...
 
Scoreboard Red said:
Owen didn't really merit a transfer to United by that sort of rationale though Chris, and I think he did particularly well despite his limited chances and previous form.
It's their class that makes them appealing mate, Owen has always been a good player and Benzema, despite not playing well now, is a very good player who given a new lease of life at a new club could do a greta job for us...
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Owen was free and available for cheap wages.

Benzema will be neither of those and become Berbatov II.
 
While I do agree Benzema may possibly struggle with us, it may be an attitude problem. With Berba, it just doesn't seem to be a good fit at the moment. But Benzema seems a petulant character and could cause unrest. But ability wise he could be a great fit. He could add a new option that wouldn't cause us to slow the team down.

My problem with his signing is that he would be a starter, so two forwards would become the standard formation again. Therefore we would need a new centre mid capable of partnering Fletcher in a midfield two.
 
I wonder if Benz does come on loan, would this formation work?

Berbatov

Rooney-------------------Benzema​
 
MadDogg said:
In those days English football was considered a fairly distant third behind Italy and Spain (to the rest of europe and south america). We were the only team capable of actually competing in Europe, and only made it to the final once. One season (no matter how amazing) doesn't breed that love and affection from relative neutrals.

It's only over the last six or so years that English football has truly stepped up. Partly because of the influx of money, and partly because of the success of Ronaldo, who played a huge part in making English football 'cool' to young latino kids. Those kids would now, even if not true fans of ours, consider us as a real option as their careers take off.
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I can't argue with that. Though we were there or thereabouts the seasons before that and after. I'm sure Ronaldo and Nani and a few of or foreign players have talked about watching us win the the final in 99 and how they got a fondness for the club because of that. We raised our profile with a lot of soon to be players then I thought.

Obviously latin players will always be in favour of teams like Barca and Real but at the same time they must see how well Fergie has done with players like Ronaldo. I just think if Benzema really wanted to be at Old Trafford he would be. I mean even if he had gone and stayed a few years at Real made a success of his time there then decided he would had some unfinished business with us then great. But it just seems that well he hasn't set the world on fire at Real so they may get rid of him and we would be a back up option.

I want players that are dying to put that shirt on to represent us not players who are only here because they failed to make the grade where they would have liked too.
 
RDCR07 said:
I wonder if Benz does come on loan, would this formation work?

Berbatov

Rooney-------------------Benzema​
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So we'd sacrifice Valencia and/or Nani?
That attacking trio would mean a lack of width as you'd be inclined to play three fairly defence minded midfielders, say out of Fletcher, Carrick, Hargreaves and Anderson to cover.
Not much creativity for me.
If we were to get Benzema, I'd play a 4-4-2 with two wingers, two central midfielders and Rooney and Benzema upfront, they would cause absolute havoc also....
 
Scoreboard Red said:
So we'd sacrifice Valencia and/or Nani?
That attacking trio would mean a lack of width as you'd be inclined to play three fairly defence minded midfielders, say out of Fletcher, Carrick, Hargreaves and Anderson to cover.
Not much creativity for me.
If we were to get Benzema, I'd play a 4-4-2 with two wingers, two central midfielders and Rooney and Benzema upfront, they would cause absolute havoc also....
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yeah something like this
Fletcher New midfielder

Nani ------------------------------------Valencia

Rooney Benzema
 
Red Indian Chief Torn Rubber said:
Why? Ronaldo and Higuain are both super comfortable on the flanks and the team plays 4-3-3. If Benzema wasn't having so many problems and bad form I suspect he'd be starting with those 2 often.
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Don't they play 4-3-1-2?

Essentially...

Granero Alonso Gago
-------VDV
Ronaldo Higuain

Before that they had Marcelo/VDV/Guti in Gago's role, Diarra in Granero's role and Kaka in VDV's role?
 
Brwned said:
Don't they play 4-3-1-2?

Essentially...

Granero Alonso Gago
-------VDV
Ronaldo Higuain

Before that they had Marcelo/VDV/Guti in Gago's role, Diarra in Granero's role and Kaka in VDV's role?
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I thought they play 4-2-4 or something like that.

Higuain------Benzema​

Kaka---------------------------------------------Ronaldo



Alonso-----------Diarra

Marcelo------Albiol-------Pepe-------Ramos​
 
Georgie Best said:
The matches I have seen when Benzema has played they have played 4-2-3-1
Arbeloa - Ramos - Abidol - Marcelo
.............Alonso - L. Diarra
.....Higuain - Kaka - C.Ronaldo
..................Benzema
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Then you haven't watched much of him cause he's barely with Ronaldo-Higuain-Kaka at the same time
 
kouroux said:
It'll only happen if SAF is sure of his 2 CMs.The key to successfully play 4-4-2 resides importantly in the 2 CMs which is why I don't think buying a striker is a priority
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What in your opinion would be the priority this summer?
 
Well unless Hargreaves gets back to top form (which is highly unlikely considering how long he's been out) the priority is a midfielder.Whether it's a playmaker or a box-to-box but a top quality midfielder is needed.
But tbh I have no clue
 
MarkC said:
I just think if Benzema really wanted to be at Old Trafford he would be. I mean even if he had gone and stayed a few years at Real made a success of his time there then decided he would had some unfinished business with us then great. But it just seems that well he hasn't set the world on fire at Real so they may get rid of him and we would be a back up option.

I want players that are dying to put that shirt on to represent us not players who are only here because they failed to make the grade where they would have liked too.
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Obviously Real were Benzema's first choice, but it's not like we were some distant after-thought that he'd only join if he had no choice. About this time last season he mentioned three or four teams he'd like to play for, and we were one of them. If I remember correctly it was ourselves, Real, Barca and one of the Italian teams (Milan maybe?).

Plenty of our players weren't 'dying to put that shirt on to represent us' before signing for us. I know Ole, O'Shea and Rio were all Liverpool fans growing up, and I'm sure if Liverpool had been on equal footing with us at the time of signing they would likely have preferred to sign for them. But we were the best option, and they all grew to love the club over the years. Benzema could be in a similar situation, especially if he had already tried 'the dream' and found it to be nothing like he expected.
 
RDCR07 said:
I wonder if Benz does come on loan, would this formation work?

Berbatov

Rooney-------------------Benzema​
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feck that! If we were to get Benzema, it's bye bye Berba and hello to some of this -

.............................Van Der Sar.......................
Rafael...........Ferdinand............Vidic...........Evra
..................Fletcher.............Anderson................
Valencia..................Benzema.......................Nani
.........................Wayne Rooney..........................

:drool:

with the likes of Macheda, Scholes, Giggs, Park, Hargreaves, Owen, Obertan, Carrick and hopefully next season - King covering the midfield and attack positions.

My point in short, if Benzema comes, Berbatov goes.
 
According to L'Equipe, he is on the top of our summer shortlist
 
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