Great player. Wasn’t much good from a standing start beating a man. Preferred Kanchelskis to watch.
How good was David Beckham?
- Thread starter Lord SInister
- Start date
Re Beckham you’re talking out your hat. His crossing would be as in demand now as it was back then. And he has so much more to his game than you give him credit for. This is a guy who comfortably held his own in madrid with zidane, Figo, Carlos and R9 Ronaldo
Because either too young to have seen him or it doesn’t fit whatever narrative they are selling
I know a guy who genuinely believes Anderton was better than Beckham.
I don't think I've ever heard a more inexplicable comparison.
I don't think I've ever heard a more inexplicable comparison.
I've seen many a comments section on various social media amongst rival fans for all the 99 players saying how overrated they were individually, and got away with it because they had (add other player from that team) around them
Beckham left at 28 for almost semi retirement in the USA, and then arguably at the end of his England days was collecting almost ceremonial caps when his best days were gone.
But I defy anyone to watch the 98/99 season and deny he was incredible that year.
Well it really depends, he got nominated for far more awards than Scholes and Keane where being a lot more famous than them definitely helped. There was a time when he was the most recognisable footballer in the world but he wasn’t anywhere near the best footballer in the world. That doesn’t mean he wasn’t a fine player but it depends on what your threshold is for rating him.
Funnily I had this conversation with my lad yesterday afternoon.
This is a player I never appreciated when he was at United. It’s more to do with him being a winger and lacking certain attributes I rated highly in a wide man. This was also during a period, football did not lack quality wide men if you were also watching other leagues.
My opinion of him began to change when I watched him in the 99 final and seeing how much understanding of the game he displayed. Since, I have held unto the conclusion Beckham and Giggs are the best players to come through the academy in my football watching years. The two same players I believed would perform at any other club if they were to leave because a manager doesn’t have to deliberately cater to them. They were adaptable enough to prosper in other environments. It was quite evident when you watched them play in their respective national team.
His skill set was unique to him and that’s world class by any standard. He had abilities incomparable to non and no direct competition to what his ability was.
He is one of the greats of the game. I will always remember him as the player I always wanted us to get rid of and feel a buffoon, when I decided to just enjoy the beauty of his game. It was marvellous.
This is a player I never appreciated when he was at United. It’s more to do with him being a winger and lacking certain attributes I rated highly in a wide man. This was also during a period, football did not lack quality wide men if you were also watching other leagues.
My opinion of him began to change when I watched him in the 99 final and seeing how much understanding of the game he displayed. Since, I have held unto the conclusion Beckham and Giggs are the best players to come through the academy in my football watching years. The two same players I believed would perform at any other club if they were to leave because a manager doesn’t have to deliberately cater to them. They were adaptable enough to prosper in other environments. It was quite evident when you watched them play in their respective national team.
His skill set was unique to him and that’s world class by any standard. He had abilities incomparable to non and no direct competition to what his ability was.
He is one of the greats of the game. I will always remember him as the player I always wanted us to get rid of and feel a buffoon, when I decided to just enjoy the beauty of his game. It was marvellous.
It wasn't Glenn Hoddle, was it?
He didn't actually say Ando was better, just that he favoured him for that right wing back role in the first couple of games of 1998.
When Beckham came in, he was in a centre mid role, with Anderton staying right.
I remember listening to the commentary when we played West Ham at their place. Trevor Brooking was lauding Beckham, who was 18 or 19 at the time and had just come on as a sub. Brooking was fuming that West Ham never signed him, being a local lad and all. If memory serves, we picked up a ton of yellow cards that night and maybe a red too, but all Brooking could talk about for the last ten minutes or so was how good Beckham was.
Overrated for England, probably underrated for Manchester United.
Loved Beckham. Brilliant at crosses, free kicks and those long range diagonal passes. Must have been a dream for Cole, Yorke, RVN etc to play with him knowing the quality of the delivery they'd get from him.
I don't think it's a coincidence United went 3 seasons without a league title after Beckham left. Ronaldo came in the summer that Becks left but he was only a kid and was not in a position to replace what Beckham provided. And it also led to Ruud's frustration at losing a guaranteed source of chances in place of what he would have seen as a show pony (which let's face it, that's what Ron was for most of his early years at United!)
It was a shame how it ended for him at the club, it would have been great to have him see out his career at the club that he loved. But when you got in Fergie's bad books.....adios!
I don't think it's a coincidence United went 3 seasons without a league title after Beckham left. Ronaldo came in the summer that Becks left but he was only a kid and was not in a position to replace what Beckham provided. And it also led to Ruud's frustration at losing a guaranteed source of chances in place of what he would have seen as a show pony (which let's face it, that's what Ron was for most of his early years at United!)
It was a shame how it ended for him at the club, it would have been great to have him see out his career at the club that he loved. But when you got in Fergie's bad books.....adios!
They're not even close to being at the same level. It's ridiculous to say otherwise.
He was okay. Pace merchant and a brilliant dribbler, but he lacked end-product. He was a terrible crosser and set-piece taker, and also lazy as feck. Awful team player. He was only a 'star' because of his good looks.
Arguably the No.7 who made Manchester world famous. Being Asian, I genuinely believed David Beckham euphoria introduced Manchester United and PL to commercial success that it is today.
To be that famous, he must be really damn good. Which he is, I guess a proper world class winger/right midfielder.
To be that famous, he must be really damn good. Which he is, I guess a proper world class winger/right midfielder.
He looks terrible these days, covered in tattoos and a bad wig constantly flogging shoddy products. For all his interest/ownership in FC Miami you never see him there - just appearing in the background of his wife's exercise videos - strange bloke.
I think originally the Munich crash made United world famous.
Then winning the EC and George Best.
Beckham certainly contributed though. Giggs and Cantona also just before.
The treble is one thing, introduced Manchester United to the world. Beckham solidifies the commercial success.
Agree to disagree, I think he is the most famous No.7.
In America and Asia maybe but George Best was huge, Robson and Cantona also.
I agree he's the most famous no 7 though cos he transcended the sport.
Some people transcend their sport such as Gretzky or Jordan or Ronaldo etc... they're known by everyone
That's how you win commercial success, entering Asian market is difficult at that time. I was a kid back then and Beckham was the star boy.
I think it's individuals rather than teams which initially hook in young fans.
I agree Beckham was huge and probably our most famous number 7, maybe Ronaldo might rival him.
If he were around today, there'd be debates about who was better, Beckham or De Bruyne.
De Bruyne would probably be the majority pick but nobody would be saying it was by a landslide.
Also, Beckham's 1999 season was at least as good as KDB's peak. Both in the conversation for world XI in their generation.
De Bruyne would probably be the majority pick but nobody would be saying it was by a landslide.
Also, Beckham's 1999 season was at least as good as KDB's peak. Both in the conversation for world XI in their generation.
he was born in 1975, joined Madrid at 28 and stayed for 5 seasonsI've seen many a comments section on various social media amongst rival fans for all the 99 players saying how overrated they were individually, and got away with it because they had (add other player from that team) around them
Beckham left at 28 for almost semi retirement in the USA, and then arguably at the end of his England days was collecting almost ceremonial caps when his best days were gone.
But I defy anyone to watch the 98/99 season and deny he was incredible that year.
Very similar player. Only difference is that KDB is probably better physically, being nurtured with modern diet and fitness level.
But their deliveries came from the same area,at the right side of the field. Both have unreal whipping and curving delivery skills.
Beckham is probably the better set piece specialist though.
I agree and most football purists will agree that KDB and Beckham has the same level of ability.
He was more attacking than them and attacking players usually get selected for awards more. He also played for a bigger national team than Keane which participated regularly in international tournaments. Plus for several reasons England managers didn’t know how to use Scholes, but Becks in his prime was the first name on England’s team sheet. Stuff like this helps for awards.
But no nomination was unjustified. For me only Keane was better while I rate Becks slightly higher than Scholes and Giggs. On longevity of course the latter two win.
In the 8 seasons he was in United’s first team we won 6 PL and 1 CL and he contributed heavily to it with 97, 99, 00 and 01 him being exceptionally good. During most of this period he was definitely among the best players in the world.
Fair comments. I felt there was very little between the famous four midfielders really - Keane, Scholes, Beckham, Giggs - with Keane being the best but Beckham tended to be put forward for awards the most because he was the most famous. In that way I could see how someone might say he was overrated. But then of course it's possible to have the other way around too, where people might say he was only considered good because he was famous, which isn't true either. He was a fine footballer and really, really good in very specific skills.
I do think that from Real Madrid onwards he was dining on his name a little. He was never very quick but I do remember the young Beckham had a little bit of pace and agility about him to go with his superb dead ball and crossing ability. As he got older he almost got a bit caricatured for just sort of slowly ambling around and playing Hollywood balls across the pitch. Certainly by the end of his career, the concept of his type of right midfielder in a 4-4-2 had died in favour of attacking wingers/inside forwards. And he was never that good of a centre midfielder. Eriksson tried him DM quarter-back style against Northern Ireland once and he was a complete disaster. In today's game he might actually have been a right-back like Alexander-Arnold.
For all the debate about his pace, I reckon Beckham at 22 was just as fast as Antony or Sancho. I think he may even be faster than Sancho. He didn't look fast but he had a huge running stride and covered loads of ground.
For sure he looked slower and more unwieldy towards the end of his Madrid days in his 30s, but isn't that the same with anybody?
For sure he looked slower and more unwieldy towards the end of his Madrid days in his 30s, but isn't that the same with anybody?
He did adapt well to Madrid’s tactics and did well there, too. In his last season there Capello - after openly declaring he would never play for Madrid again (because he announced his move to LA Galaxy) - had to do a U-Turn as he was doing so well in training. He then helped them win the league and was man of the match in CL against Bayern. Madrid fans liked him/rated him highly.
It was only after he left Madrid that he became a semi retired footballer.
He finished in top 8 of balon d’or list in 5 consecutive seasons between 99 and 2003 while finishing 2nd in 99 and 2001.
So during that period and also during most of his time in Madrid he was definitely not caricatured. Maybe afterwards once he left for Hollywood.
A “fine” footballer is vastly underrating him in my books. Nicky Butt was a fine footballer. Beckham was a brilliant footballer.
In today’s game he would most likely play CM.
The semi retired footballer bit is harsh. While I appreciate the MLS standard wasn't what it is today, he was still playing a part in pretty much every England game despite McClaren and Capello both trying to retire him, and he also twice went out on loan to AC Milan during the MLS off season and was a critical part of their team during both loans, in addition he would obviously have been a part of England's World Cup 2010 squad if not for his achilles injury - frankly that is a testament to him maintaining his own levels whilst playing in a considerably lower standard of football than he'd been used to.
Hey great story. Still got a few in my wardrobe now including a 99 one and England.
He was world class.
And because these players are still sore and fresh in the memory for them
I'll always believe he should've won the Balon d'Or in 1999. He was that good.
I think the typecast as crosser and free kick specialist is that blinded people to the other parts of his game.
Every team is exploiting half space in modern football and few teams put in crosses from 30 yards out. If this kind of crossing is in demand, the likes of Arnold, Trippier, and Ward-Prowse would have been superstar nowadays. Like I said Beckham was a great player back then, but that doesn't translate to a success in a different era.
He'd play as a CM which was his primary position before he got converted to a RM and ping long ball's in a similar fashion as Scholes.
One of Fergie’s few mistakes.wonder what he saw in Becks.
I think a lot of it has to do with his position no longer really existing in modern football too.
Happens with all our players, you wonder how we won anything with such a bunch of overrated dossers.I've seen many a comments section on various social media amongst rival fans for all the 99 players saying how overrated they were individually, and got away with it because they had (add other player from that team) around them
Beckham left at 28 for almost semi retirement in the USA, and then arguably at the end of his England days was collecting almost ceremonial caps when his best days were gone.
But I defy anyone to watch the 98/99 season and deny he was incredible that year.
didn't need to be - just passed the ball beyond him! his passing was extraordinary: his contribution to The Treble is sometimes under-appreciated