Back Beckham to get off to a winning start in full debut against Marseille

27Feb 2013

Betfair

David Beckham makes his first start for Paris St Germain tonight in the Coupe de France fixture against Marseille. Luke Moore thinks Ancelotti's men will emerge victorious...

David Beckham will get a chance tonight to do something he's been doing less and less of late - lace up a pair of adidas boots and actually play a game of football. After coming on to replace Javier Pastore (another of PSG's superstars; what's French for 'Galactico'?) in the league game against tonight's opponents at the weekend, D-Beck will take his place in the starting line-up for the Coupe de France game in place of Italy's bright young thing Marco Veratti.

Veratti is many people's tip to become the long-term replacement for Andrea Pirlo as the deep-lying playmaker or regista in the Italian national side, and it's in this position that Beckham will line up tonight. Ancelotti appears to be of the belief that, aside from the commercial positives that arrived with his signing, Beckham's best role is in the middle of the pitch where his dwindling pace won't be as exposed and his exceptional passing ability can be most effectively utilised.

Traditionally, a role sitting in front of the back four involves some sort of protection of the defence, a role that Beckham isn't entirely used to, but maybe Ancelotti feels that Beckham's use of the ball will mean the lion's share of possession for the home side and thus less need for ball-winning skills. It also depends who plays alongside Beckham in the middle. Blaise Matuidi isn't exactly defensively robust, so there's a chance PSG could be left exposed if they both occupy the centre of the pitch. Clement Chantome is another option, and he's certainly more attuned to the role of breaking up play, so maybe that's a combination the Italian boss will try. That said, Chantome was deployed from the bench on the right in the last meeting between the sides.

Beckham has of course played through the middle before in a 'quarterback' role for Milan and LA Galaxy with mixed success, and most famously occupied the middle of the pitch in the 1999 Champions League Final against Bayern Munich. His passing ability can be, in theory, better utilised, but as Sir Alex Ferguson once said, you then lose arguably Beckham's greatest asset: his trademark crosses.

The league game between the two sides at the weekend was interesting. With the exception of Valbuena, Marseille didn't really offer too much creatively going forward and that's something they'll need to put right if they want to get anything out of tonight's affair. Andre-Pierre Gignac is having a decent season but of late he has failed to fire consistently, netting just three goals in his last ten games. His overall contribution is also open to criticism.

One of Marseille's key problems is that they don't have a large enough squad to compete on too many fronts. Of course, not many teams in European football have a squad to compete with PSG full stop, but the fact that Marseille will likely line up with exactly the same team that played at the weekend tells its own story.

For what it's worth, I think the newest Beckham experiment will work tonight. He's still got enough in his legs to be effective through the middle, and more importantly he'll have excellent players around him. The hosts will shuffle the pack a fair bit, but they have a strong squad. They represent little value for the straight win at 1.74, but I like them to win by around the same scoreline at the weekend, so backing them at -1 in the handicap market at 2.94 looks like good value to me.

And who knows, we might just get a trademark Beckham free kick to send us on our way to a profit.

Recommended Bet

PSG to win with a handicap of -1 @ 2.94