slimcr

Arsenal have now won the league title, Man Utd has been playing meaningless games for weeks now..... still several weeks to go....

Do you think Man U regrets having let Beckham go?

I for one though that was the dumbest thing they could do at the time....

Ace_O_Spades

He's got a lot of baggage...

I dont understand how Real Madrid is playing such mediocre soccer when they have such a massively stacked team

(correct me if im wrong, but they were playing mediocre about a month ago, and thats last i checked)

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Feh.

Spartak

Ok, I'll set this out as FOR and AGAINST the sale of Beckham:

FOR:

Beckham was about 28 when he got sold to Real Madrid, normal soccer contracts are about 3 years which means he would have been 31 when his contract expired. Soccer players ussually retire when they reach their mid-thirties. By getting something like 19 million pounds from Real, I think Man U got a good deal on a player who has already peaked and will probably decline as he gets older. Add to that his strained relationship with Sir Alex Ferguson (the boot incident), as well as Sir Alex disapproving of Becks marriage to Victoria, if Beckham had stayed there would have been a very tense situation in the locker room, which could have affected team morale. The transfer money also helped fund some imporant signings like the hugely promising Christiano Ronaldo, world cup winner Kleberson and striker Louis Saha.

AGAINST:

Beckham is a threat on the wing and has the ability to deliver pinpoint crosses. In 02/03 United got the job done playing Ruud Van Nistlerooy up front as a lone striker and having Beckham (as well as others) deliver pinpoint crosses to him. Beckham's player ability has not been adequately replaced during the summer by Sir Alex. Kleberson and Christiano Ronaldo as promising as they seem, right now do not measure up to Beckham. Hence the abandonment of the 4-5-1 and instead implementing the 4-4-2 with any variation of RVN, Saha, Scholes (as more of an attacking midfielder, hanging a bit behind) and Ole Gunnar.

Essentially I like to think no one player is bigger than the team, while Beckham's departure certainly added to United's decline this season, I don't thin it was solele responsible for it.

PS Real Madrid were leading the Primeira up until this morning, when they got beaten 2-1 by Barcelona this morning, which allowed Valencia to take a 1 point lead. As both clubs have 4 games to play, I see it going right down to the wire.

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I can read your mind... looking at you... I can read your mind...

lyxo

the problem with real madrid is:
You got a Brit: Beckham
You got a Frenchman: Zidane
Portugese: Figo
Brazilians: Ronaldo + Roberto Carlos (also Portugese)
Spaniards: Raul +others (Spanish league)

Only people that speak English: Beckham and Figo

something not many people know...

I could be wrong...

Aborted

Yes, but Real are a Spanish team, so speaking only English doesn't do Beckham many favours.

Multi cultural squads aren't just an issue for them though, and it doesn't necessarily contribute to the team underperforming, we need only look to Arsenal and Chelsea for prime examples of how well such teams can work.

I don't think the departue of Beckham has adversely affected United in any way, and I doubt he'd have been able to make any difference to their abysmal season had he stayed. They may have had slightly more favourable goal difference if he'd been taking free kicks for them, however.

castex

Talisman, lynchpin, goalmaker extraordinaire.
Yes, ManU regret letting Becks go.

Spartak

Also, Queroz (sp?), the new Real Madrid manager this season was the assistant manager at Man U for several years.. so I really don't think language is an issue.

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Aborted

Yeah, because heavily accented broken English works so many more wonders than a football boot to the head. Good call.

Vaultboy

Queroz was the assistantat ManU for 1 year. Before that, he was the national coach of South Africa. Before that, he drafted the long-term plan that has seen the U.S.A. become a growing international footballing force. And he speaks english reasonably well.

And guys, language isn't really a n issue. Anyone who can understand Slur Alex (especially after he's had a nip of gin) can understand any language on earth.

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"Failing tastes of bile and dog vomit. Pity any man that gets used to that taste."

Spartak

Yeah cool, thanks for cleaing that up.

I suppose it's not up to me to know what the ex-assistant manager of Man U did..

Pat Rice, now THAT'S an assistant.

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I can read your mind... looking at you... I can read your mind...

Vaultboy

hey, i'm a GUNNER too. but I'm not all that convinced by Pat's abilties as a trainer. His private life has proved to be quiet suspect too.

but hey, Arsenal are the bestest team in Europe. And if it aint broke....

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"Failing tastes of bile and dog vomit. Pity any man that gets used to that taste."