Karim Benzema

Benzema shines with or without Ronaldo. It's the amount of times he shines that always seems to be story of his life at Real Madrid. I reckon Chad would tell you how much times, he seems to be have vast knowledge about that billy goat.

Speaking of which, Real Madrid is in an interesting position with Ronaldo. Unlike Nick wonderfully formed sarcasm, Cristiano is NOT detrimental to Real Madrid. He does, however, pose one of the most bizarre tactical conundrums I have seen.

For all his attacking brilliance, he is not the smartest player (duh) and he shoe horns the side into being a bit predictable. But at the same time, he scores goals, lots of them. I know we are now all on that statistics stuff but 20 shots and 2 goals would always read "he scored 2 goals" and as much as I would like it to be different, Ronaldo is a far superior forward to anything we have (including the French Billy Goat). But as seen today (and other times when CR isn't around) the team plays with more "freedom", so to speak.

With the emergence of Jese and the surprising intelligence of Bale, if ever there were a time I would say sell Ronaldo, it would be now. We would lose a lot but we also gain quite a bit. Thus putting RM in an interesting position as I'm pretty certain, Carlo, Perez and all those backroom staff peeps see what we all are seeing.

Back to Benzema, he had a fine match today but as always, when I really need him to show his form, I generally don't see this sort of performance.

Benzema did good this game but he needs to step up in big games..almost all the big games this season he has flopped.

Gil changed the title again

Gil

I think people need to differentiate consistency with and without CR7.

With CR7, Benz gets 2-4 chances a game. So it's feast or famine regarding how he plays that game. If he's able to take advantage of the few chances he gets, he looks great. If he doesn't, he looks poor. To me, there aren't enough opportunities to rate him truly one way or the other... it's just kneejerk reaction.

Without CR7, he becomes a focus of the attack and gets more chances. He'll get targeted for final balls 6-10 times a game and, thus, has a lot more opportunity to show himself. There's enough work product to definitively rate his performance one way or the other.

There's also the mental factor of knowing that you will be focused on as opposed to being a glorified role player...

Five goals = 20 games for our Giroud

Needs to either be more clinical in every game, or start stat padding vs scrubs.

Here's a better stat for you. Top scorers for Madrid in CY 2014 so far:
- Benz - 7 goals
- Jese - 5 goals
- CR7 - 5 goals

halamadrid2 wrote:

sportsczy wrote:Here's a better stat for you.  Top scorers for Madrid in CY 2014 so far:
-  Benz - 7 goals
-  Jese - 5 goals
-  CR7 - 5 goals

now compare minutes played :proud:Jese

Jese:  575 minutes played (5 starts and 4 subs), 5 goals = goal every 115 mins

Benz:  739 minutes played (9 starts), 7 goals = goal every 105,5 mins

why would they be too embarrassing?  he'd still lead the club in goals in 2014 with 6 and his goal per mins played would be 123.  If you take one goal away from Jese, his would jump to 144.  I don't understand taking a goal from a player anyhow... since neither take freekicks or PKs.  The stats are what they are.

As many do, you're just looking for reasons to discredit him because the facts don't prove out your assumptions...

He has 17 goals for the season (all from open play) and is on pace to get 30+ for the season.

and btw, this consistency thing is a myth too.  In 2014, he's started 9 games and scored at least a goal in 6 of them.  If you listen to Carlo's postgame comments after last night, he explained that, depending on the game, he uses Benz as a goalscorer or a creative player... depends who we're playing.  Last night he played him as a 9.  I think with CR7 out, that will continue in La Liga for the next 2 games.  With CR7, he switches in and out of being a CF depending on what CR is doing.  It's not the easiest thing in the world to find "consistency" when your role is not 100% clear...

lol HM2.... hate on Higuain fan, hate on. Madrid fans at the Bernabeu love him again and that's all that matters. The hate from a handful of GL fans means very little.

lol at the title change .

spineless footix is spineless.

I swear how hala and the like exaggerate what benzema does on the pitch, you swear he was sitting besides dIsco magic and u21 goat morata on the bench or something

His 2nd goal tonight   

dat CL consistency   

Dat Beard!

Benzema is still in 2nd or 3rd category of WC strikers.

Highburied wrote:Dat Beard!

Benzema is still in 2nd or 3rd category of WC strikers.

so if he scored 30+ is that good enough to put him in a tier 1 or still tier 2   

Benzema is definitely tier 1 when on form. He's just underrated because Ronaldo always outshines him by scoring way more goals than him.

Benzema is in the same category as Mandzukic, Lewandowski (Lewa is better), Balotelli, Tevez etc.

Higher category includes, Messi, Suarez, Ronaldo, Rooney, RVP, Sturridge, etc.

If an on form Benzema isn't world class then nobody is.

Highburied wrote:Benzema is in the same category as Mandzukic, Lewandowski (Lewa is better), Balotelli, Tevez etc.

Higher category includes, Messi, Suarez, Ronaldo, Rooney, RVP, Sturridge,  etc.

sturridge ? a first tier world class striker? and over tevez ? m'kay..........

Highburied wrote:

farfan wrote:

Highburied wrote:Benzema is in the same category as Mandzukic, Lewandowski (Lewa is better), Balotelli, Tevez etc.

Higher category includes, Messi, Suarez, Ronaldo, Rooney, RVP, Sturridge,  etc.

sturridge ? a first tier world class striker? and over tevez ? m'kay..........

some liverpool fans actually believe what you just posted   

Dont tease them..

Let them enjoy the good days.

Cheers to LFC fans!!