The Kid – a very appropriate term – has only 21 years of age.
Frenchmen KARIM BENZEMA has jumped from a great Club in France
to historically the “Best Club in The World”; you cannot get higher.
Along with the “career promotion” you come with a 35M€ price tag
& the expectations from half the world to become the next “Golden
Ball” winner in the future. Can you imagine the pressure on the boy?
Add to this you do not speak Spanish, you live in a new City & within
a different culture. Tough for any anyone.
Karim Benzema is currently upset & angry that his Coach has taken
him off in 4 of the 6 games that he has played. He cannot understand
why his Coach Pellegrini puts his confidence on veteran Raul & Higuain
over him when he comes as the new star. The young man has a deep
desire to prove himself & his worth that it is causing him deep anxiety,
frustration & loss of confidence as the goals don’t come as he would
like them .
There are two versions here:
1. The Coaches view, that Benzema hasn’t done enough to sit the
incombustible Raúl &/or hard fighting Higuain on the bench & that
Benzema doesn’t pressure the defence when he loses the ball in
attack. In a nutshell, he still needs to adapt himself to Spanish
Football & the “closed” defensive strategies of the opposing teams
& with more patience. Simply said he must still keep working hard
at it.
2. Alternatively, Raúl could be the problem along with the Coach
Pellegrini. Some say it is time for a generational change…a “new
Real Madrid”…& perhaps Benzema should play by decree to build
up his esteem, confidence & get to know the team. It is a fact that
Benzema, Kaká & Ronaldo have played together very little at once
on the field. How can you build a new team this way? When Raúl
is on the field with Benzema, the former takes Benzema out of his
natural position & pushes him to the wings or makes him go up field
looking for the ball because “unconsciously” the team looks for Raúl.
Add to this Coach Pellegrini substitutes Benzema more often
than not when he should perhaps allow him to stay on to find those
goals that usually come at the end of the games to build confidence.
You now have a young man who has created mental doubts with his
game & thus he gets frustrated; he needs tender loving care from his
Coach.
Both versions have some truths. Benzema should work harder, learn
to defend more, be patient & get adapted to his new environment
(that includes learning to speak Spanish). But Coach Pellegrini
should be more sensitive & build up the "boy" with on field actions
& put some confidence in Benzema. It is true that there is a
“biased” favouring towards Raul, it is understood as it is
a very complex dressing room & Raúl is a 15 year record breaking
Club leyend, but Benzema is the future & you need to start building
it now.
SFS has confidence in Coach Pellegrini, that he is aware &
has a plan set in motion that we “non-professionals” are totally
ignorant. Let’s hope so, because Benzema is a “rough diamond”
waiting to shine & we hope he doesn’t burn himself too early to
leave Real Madrid as a supposed “failure” & later become the
“Golden Ball” winner in some other Football League. There is a
similarity with Chelsea forward Anelka who also went very early
to Real Madrid to latter triumph & score a bag off goals ( still is)
in the Premier League.
