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"Are we really missing Beckham?"

How did you feel when David Beckham finally completed his £25m move to Spanish superstars Real Madrid, last summer? If you're a United fan, there's a good chance you still don't understand `why´. Or, you could be like myself, where I remain quite pleased to see the back of that money-grabbing male tart. Whatever you feel about it, some 6-months-on now, you cannot deny the fact that the man did have great (if a little "limited") ability, and that he is deservedly one of the finest players to have pulled on an England shirt in history. He MAKES the No.7 shirt his own.

Since he left Old Trafford for the sun-drenched Spanish lifestyle and the chance to take his place as a star amongst a team of the world's elite, Manchester United have looked a very different team. Some would say they are better off without him. Nobody can cross or strike a dead-ball quite as accurately as he does. But, even with such a unique talent, the United side often looked quite 'restricted', at times, to playing most-of and almost ALL of their game down that right-hand side.
Why have David Beckham when you could have Cristiano Ronaldo; a younger, quicker player who can run with the ball and also has the foreign-edge about him?


Sir Alex Ferguson's side may have started the season very well, with Ole Solskjaer doing a creditable job in filling Becks' boots; but, recently, things have taken a non-too-familiar (for this club) slide for the worse. Yes, it happens to all clubs... But very rarely does it happen so-suddenly and hard-hitting to a club of United's size.
Now, with his much-publicized 8-month ban having already begun, many have begun to point the finger at Rio Ferdinand for the sudden change-of-direction. And, while it must be said, any team would hate to lose their £29m centre-back, you cannot solely place the blame upon the test-dodging England international for his "forgetfulness". At the end of the day, it's a TEAM-effort; no matter what. Thierry Henry may appear to "carry" Arsenal, single-handedly, but, in truth, we all know it isn't really like that.

When a team fails - for whatever reason - it must also be the team that accepts the blame for its mistakes. Not the manager, not even a butter-fingered goalkeeper; it is all down to the XI-men who, on the day, did not perform. So, both Roy Keane and Ferguson are right to critisize the team as a whole for the recent muck-ups - NOT Rio Ferdinand's suspension.

Another theory, however, which has recently risen to the headlines, is that the Red Devils are missing their old "Goldenballs" himself; David Beckham. However, unlike the whole Ferdinand affair, I see a lot more reason to this assumption.


Yes, Ruud van Nistelrooy is still topping the scoring charts and breaking records wherever he can - without the assistance of David Beckham...
Yes, young "Dancing" Ronaldo is proving he can bend it like Beckham, also...
And of course, with players like Darren Fletcher and David Bellion coming through, we now have wide-players with a bit of pace to their game, too....
But, if we DON'T miss David Beckham so-badly, then why are we still struggling to replace him for all those hidden-qualities he had that made our team so-strong?

Ryan Giggs; Paul Scholes; Roy Keane.... Kleberson?! That doesn't quite sound right, now, does it, somehow. Like the old Arsenal backline of Winterburn, Keown, Bould/Adams and Dixon, with Seaman in-goal, our midfield really was one-of-a-kind.
No matter how much Roman Abramovich may have in his back-pocket, he could not BUY the kind of midfield we once had - the one which won us The Treble.

Sir Alex has certainly put in a fair-bit of hard-work and money into lining-up a number of potential 'replacements' for Beckham. But, after all this time, and the ability some of these lads do and will posess, the job still hasn't been done - we do not have an all-worthy, fully-suitable replacemnt for David Beckham; just another bunch of over-pressured, still-learning kids.


Ronaldo LOOKS good, but he's still young and learning. As is Darren Fletcher.
Kleberson, for all the Brazillian he is, is NOT a wide-player.
Paul Scholes is best-suited to a more centralised role - and we've all seen it!
And, as good a job as Solskjaer's done... Well, he's suffered with injury all-season.

When the team's a goal-down, but the game's so-close it could quite possibly go either-way, who'll be there to spur us on with one-last-attack, and a strong and persistent fight for that all-important equalising (or winning) goal, now thatr Roy Keane's age appears to be getting the better of him?
Where are we to find that helping-hand of leadership, when the team needs it most?
Who is there (on a regular basis) to show others the way through this treachourous time when our defence is in a state and Arsenal are running-away with OUR trophy?
Why does the true `heart´ and desire of MUFC appear to have faded so-badly with the arrival of each and every new foreign signing?

We DO miss David Beckham, don't we.


But, is it really "too-little, too-late"?
Can anything really be done to save our sinking season? Better yet, what better COULD Fergie have done to try and cover for such a loss in the first-place - or, even, to have stopped the sale, altogether?

No matter how big he was becoming and how out-of-hand it was all so-quickly becoming, I think that, now, it is becoming hard to deny the strong possibility that we really ARE missing David Beckham after all that's gone on, and what's happening now. Don't you agree?

I really don't know why we are still going on about this?

I was upset as much as the next United Fan when Stam was Sold and Becks trundled off to Real Madrid.

But remember one thing - Becks sat on the Bench for huge periods last season whilst Solskjaer proved that life without Becks was possible. We didn't have nearly the amount of players suspended/injured and at the moment are playing with a mere patched up defence and Fergie's starnge tactics of playing people out of position - those two reasons being our downfall.

Whoever has been sold is history now, we must concetrate on the present and the future. When everyone's fit we are still a formidable team and currently going through a bad patch.

We could sit here all day and moan about Cantona retiring early, Becks/ Stam sold for no reason but it's not gonna help matters.

Fergie c*cked up letting Stam go. Since then the bubble has slowly deflated. Too many people were resting hopes on Ronaldo this season comparing him to Beckham, as of yet with his age and experience considered he really isn't a good short term replacement for one of the best midfielders in Europe.

Getting rid of him in hein sight (sp?) was the worst move United could have made as they didn't bring anyone in with sufficent experience and ability to replace him. How anyone expected to replace one of the best midfielders in the league was beyond me. The whole Solsjkaer thing didn't work out either, coming on as a sub he was electric but from what I have seen from him when he starts doesn't suggest that he is even half the cover that a Beckham transfer would require.

For me the season is over for United and with the current state of the defence coupled with Keane's suspension I honestly think that they will struggle against Porto in the return leg. Although being United anything could happen, especially with their previous history in all competitions.

Plus they also missed out on Ronaldinho who is a fantastic player.

If Fergie and the board had actually signed a replacement for him, a proper winger, then we wouldn't have missed Beckham who is, in my opinion anyway, the most over-rated player to ever grace a football pitch. The fact that they did not however is the reason why our right wing looks weak. Yes Ronaldo is good but is still young and needs time to settle, Fletcher gets himself in good positions but his final delivery is poor. I would love to see like a Van Der Vaart or Jaoquin come in the summer, someone who is quick and can put a decent ball into the box. Plus if needs be Van Der Vaart is also very good at playing off just behind the strikers so can give us that attacking flair, which strangely seems to be missing.

How did you feel when David Beckham finally completed his £25m move to Spanish superstars Real Madrid, last summer? If you're a United fan, there's a good chance you still don't understand `why´. Or, you could be like myself, where I remain quite pleased to see the back of that money-grabbing male tart. Whatever you feel about it, some 6-months-on now, you cannot deny the fact that the man did have great (if a little "limited") ability, and that he is deservedly one of the finest players to have pulled on an England shirt in history. He MAKES the No.7 shirt his own.

Since he left Old Trafford for the sun-drenched Spanish lifestyle and the chance to take his place as a star amongst a team of the world's elite, Manchester United have looked a very different team. Some would say they are better off without him. Nobody can cross or strike a dead-ball quite as accurately as he does. But, even with such a unique talent, the United side often looked quite 'restricted', at times, to playing most-of and almost ALL of their game down that right-hand side.
Why have David Beckham when you could have Cristiano Ronaldo; a younger, quicker player who can run with the ball and also has the foreign-edge about him?


Sir Alex Ferguson's side may have started the season very well, with Ole Solskjaer doing a creditable job in filling Becks' boots; but, recently, things have taken a non-too-familiar (for this club) slide for the worse. Yes, it happens to all clubs... But very rarely does it happen so-suddenly and hard-hitting to a club of United's size.
Now, with his much-publicized 8-month ban having already begun, many have begun to point the finger at Rio Ferdinand for the sudden change-of-direction. And, while it must be said, any team would hate to lose their £29m centre-back, you cannot solely place the blame upon the test-dodging England international for his "forgetfulness". At the end of the day, it's a TEAM-effort; no matter what. Thierry Henry may appear to "carry" Arsenal, single-handedly, but, in truth, we all know it isn't really like that.

When a team fails - for whatever reason - it must also be the team that accepts the blame for its mistakes. Not the manager, not even a butter-fingered goalkeeper; it is all down to the XI-men who, on the day, did not perform. So, both Roy Keane and Ferguson are right to critisize the team as a whole for the recent muck-ups - NOT Rio Ferdinand's suspension.

Another theory, however, which has recently risen to the headlines, is that the Red Devils are missing their old "Goldenballs" himself; David Beckham. However, unlike the whole Ferdinand affair, I see a lot more reason to this assumption.


Yes, Ruud van Nistelrooy is still topping the scoring charts and breaking records wherever he can - without the assistance of David Beckham...
Yes, young "Dancing" Ronaldo is proving he can bend it like Beckham, also...
And of course, with players like Darren Fletcher and David Bellion coming through, we now have wide-players with a bit of pace to their game, too....
But, if we DON'T miss David Beckham so-badly, then why are we still struggling to replace him for all those hidden-qualities he had that made our team so-strong?

Ryan Giggs; Paul Scholes; Roy Keane.... Kleberson?! That doesn't quite sound right, now, does it, somehow. Like the old Arsenal backline of Winterburn, Keown, Bould/Adams and Dixon, with Seaman in-goal, our midfield really was one-of-a-kind.
No matter how much Roman Abramovich may have in his back-pocket, he could not BUY the kind of midfield we once had - the one which won us The Treble.

Sir Alex has certainly put in a fair-bit of hard-work and money into lining-up a number of potential 'replacements' for Beckham. But, after all this time, and the ability some of these lads do and will posess, the job still hasn't been done - we do not have an all-worthy, fully-suitable replacemnt for David Beckham; just another bunch of over-pressured, still-learning kids.


Ronaldo LOOKS good, but he's still young and learning. As is Darren Fletcher.
Kleberson, for all the Brazillian he is, is NOT a wide-player.
Paul Scholes is best-suited to a more centralised role - and we've all seen it!
And, as good a job as Solskjaer's done... Well, he's suffered with injury all-season.

When the team's a goal-down, but the game's so-close it could quite possibly go either-way, who'll be there to spur us on with one-last-attack, and a strong and persistent fight for that all-important equalising (or winning) goal, now thatr Roy Keane's age appears to be getting the better of him?
Where are we to find that helping-hand of leadership, when the team needs it most?
Who is there (on a regular basis) to show others the way through this treachourous time when our defence is in a state and Arsenal are running-away with OUR trophy?
Why does the true `heart´ and desire of MUFC appear to have faded so-badly with the arrival of each and every new foreign signing?

We DO miss David Beckham, don't we.


But, is it really "too-little, too-late"?
Can anything really be done to save our sinking season? Better yet, what better COULD Fergie have done to try and cover for such a loss in the first-place - or, even, to have stopped the sale, altogether?

No matter how big he was becoming and how out-of-hand it was all so-quickly becoming, I think that, now, it is becoming hard to deny the strong possibility that we really ARE missing David Beckham after all that's gone on, and what's happening now. Don't you agree?