He was robbed of the Ballon d'Or. Rivaldo's Barca didn't even get out of the CL group stage that year.
How good was David Beckham?
- Thread starter Lord SInister
- Start date
Great post, enjoyed reading that.
Ah I'm misremembering, that's not as mental then.
He was great. Thought he was unappreciated here at the time. Watching the recent documentary about 1999 i realised/ remembered how much he actually did for that team.
What a player. What you'd give for him in the team now. With wingers being slightly different this day and age he would have been fantastic in the deep lying playmaker role, he wasn't the quickest, but what a wand of a right foot
What a player. What you'd give for him in the team now. With wingers being slightly different this day and age he would have been fantastic in the deep lying playmaker role, he wasn't the quickest, but what a wand of a right foot
I think if you factored in his celebrity appeal, ability, clutchness, work-rate and the English uplift he'd be the first £1billion player if he was 20 today. He'd almost certainly be banging either Kate Middleton in a Diana 2.0 esque-drama and/or Taylor Swift.
Career would pan out exactly the same (ETH falls out with him, big move to Madrid, retires early to America with Taytay, etc.) but with bigger numbers all round.
Career would pan out exactly the same (ETH falls out with him, big move to Madrid, retires early to America with Taytay, etc.) but with bigger numbers all round.
Thank you.
It is also worth noting that Beckham still holds the record for most direct free kick goals in premier league history (18), despite leaving for Madrid at just 27. In the end, he finished his career with 32 free kick goals just across league competitions. If he had stayed at United for the entirety of his career, like Scholes, it’s fair to assume he’d probably be somewhere around 30 FK goals in the league, which would put him nearly double the next highest player - James Ward Prowse (17). Which just shows how deadly he was from a dead ball.
He’s also 10th in the all time assists table for the PL, with everybody above him in the list having played anywhere from 75 to nearly 400 games more than him. With the exception of Kevin De Bruyne, who has 30 more assists in 5 less games, but plays a much more attacking role. Steven Gerrard for example, has just 13 more assists despite playing 250 games more than Beckham in the PL. James Milner has 9 more assists in 400 additional games. Dennis Bergkamp, a creative striker known more for his providing than his outright goalscoring, just 14 more assists in 50 extra games.
It’s a story that actually brings me to another United player who sometimes fails to get the plaudits he deserves, Wayne Rooney. People know him for being the third highest PL scorer of all time with 208 PL goals, but not many remember that he’s also the 4th highest assister in PL history, behind Giggs, De Bruyne and Fábregas.
For sheer, versatility, threat, work rate, team work and technical brilliance, there is no version of a best United XI of the last 30 odd years that doesn’t include Beckham and Rooney. Players that possessed true world class ability, but players who could always be counted on to play for the team and run themselves into the ground. Legends.
Last edited:
As a kid, I would just say Beckham was the best because he was my favourite. My footballing hero back then. I tried, and failed, to style my hair after his, practiced his kicking technique for hours on end, had him on the back of every shirt, constantly passed to him in the older fifa games just to score with him
After going back to watch classic games from this period, though, I can say without bias he was our best player for the majority of it. The fact that he became such a huge celebrity really impacted the general opinion of his talent in a negative way. It even effected me in that, years later, I wondered if I overrated him, but, no, I didn't. He was a huge part of why we were so successful, and why we won one of our three European Cups. His 98/99 season is the second best season I've ever seen an individual player have here behind Ronaldo's 07/08 one. Keane, Stam and Yorke were the other standouts that season, too, but I think Beckham was our best and, in my opinion, as good as Rivaldo was, deserved the Ballon d'Or.
He was 31 when he joined real Madrid.
He was actually 28.
No he wasn’t. He last played in the PL at 27. The Madrid transfer was announced in June 2003. He was born in May 1975. He last played in the PL in the 2002-03 season when he was 27. He joined Madrid in the summer of 2003, shortly after he turned 28.
The post quoted below, correcting yours, is accurate. As was mine saying he last played in the PL at 27. No idea where you got 31 from. Maybe you are confusing it with his move from La Liga to MLS.
I googled it and it said 31, the Google ai failed me.
There’s no real substitute for a ball struck squarely and firmly… — Billy Bragg
Billy’s right. Beckham provided so many incredible dramatic moments, a breathtaking cross, a free kick sailing into the back of the net, he was the epitome of the club. He was a delight.
Billy’s right. Beckham provided so many incredible dramatic moments, a breathtaking cross, a free kick sailing into the back of the net, he was the epitome of the club. He was a delight.
Eh? WTF?
What a great post Simon. I agree with everything you said, Specially the bit of Beckham walking into our current XI and instantly becoming the best player of the team and captain. Probably not the kind of player who would single handely makes us compete for trophies by himself, he´s not CR7 or Messi tier at all (Who else is?) but he would be the light among these bunch of wankers of todays Utd
Sign him up！
Many people forget what a workaholic he was on the pitch for us. It seems to be a forgotten skill (at least with this current mob).
Mark Hughes also had that fire to chase down every player. It set the tone for the rest of the team
Closest player to him in todays game is De Bruyne. And id still chose Becks over him.
Would almost certainly play on the right of a midfield 3 in todays game but could easily play centrally as a deep lying playmaker - i remember him playing there once for England against Wales and the ball was almost always at his feet and he was spraying passes around like it was nothing. Completely effortless!
The amount of love Alexander Arnold gets from the media for 1 or 2 nice balls a game makes me chuckle. Becks was doing Trents best bits for fun umpteen times a game.
Would almost certainly play on the right of a midfield 3 in todays game but could easily play centrally as a deep lying playmaker - i remember him playing there once for England against Wales and the ball was almost always at his feet and he was spraying passes around like it was nothing. Completely effortless!
The amount of love Alexander Arnold gets from the media for 1 or 2 nice balls a game makes me chuckle. Becks was doing Trents best bits for fun umpteen times a game.
He was an excellent player for United. His decline in his last two seasons with us was unfortunate though. It won't be a popular opinion but by the end he was rightly a squad player with Ole regularly playing on the right wing instead.
He seemed to offer less to United the more his role with England increased, the bigger profile he had the less he produced for us but Beckham from 95-96 to 2000-01 was exceptionally good.
I will add that any iteration of Beckham throughout his career would be light years ahead of what we've produced over the last decade.
He seemed to offer less to United the more his role with England increased, the bigger profile he had the less he produced for us but Beckham from 95-96 to 2000-01 was exceptionally good.
I will add that any iteration of Beckham throughout his career would be light years ahead of what we've produced over the last decade.
Last edited:
Obviously a lot of my favourite moments of his are going to United and England based, but this assist to Ronaldo at Real Madrid always blew me away:
Decline in the last two seasons? His best season for United in terms of goals was 01/02.
Love the way that ball goes inches over the defenders head only to drop onto Ronaldo's foot right behind him.
He’ll help us qualify for the CL alone if he played like how he did for England.
He's become underrated. Aside from his attacking play, the man was a proper work horse. Top top player. We had a great midfield, didn't we.
Totally agree. The celebrity has diluted the footballer over the years. So many wonderful goals and moments, we were blessed.
Brilliant player. Such a fighter too. The way he came back from the abuse after 98 WC made all that seasons success all the sweeter. Can you imagine MR weathering that level of hostility and what was directed against his fiance/wife?
Beckham and Giggs provided great balance to the team. Pace and dribbling on one flank and a wand of a right foot on the other. Too often people ignore the importance of balance within a side that a player provides.
Beckham and Giggs provided great balance to the team. Pace and dribbling on one flank and a wand of a right foot on the other. Too often people ignore the importance of balance within a side that a player provides.
Very good player but hugely overrated.
No left foot, couldn't tackle, poor header of the ball, no burning pace.Great right foot though, good attitude, good work rate.
No left foot, couldn't tackle, poor header of the ball, no burning pace.Great right foot though, good attitude, good work rate.
WardProwse has 17, is 29 so probably beats Beckhams 18. Ward Prowse also has a significantly better conversion rate, Beckham in PL was about 9%, JWP is about 14%
Now say something nice about our Becks.
He peaked higher than Scholes and Giggs and was genuinely one of the best players on the planet.
Best crosser ever, arguably the best set piece taker ever after Juninho, great passing range, amazing shot and very hardworking. His only weakness would be his dribbling ability.
His global celebrity status resulted in him being majorly underrated by football fans.
That right flank of United is one of the most underrated ever. Beckham due to his celebrity status off the pitch and Neville because he downplays his own career at every opportunity. Nothing annoys me more than Gary Neville pretending he was a bang average player.
Best crosser ever, arguably the best set piece taker ever after Juninho, great passing range, amazing shot and very hardworking. His only weakness would be his dribbling ability.
His global celebrity status resulted in him being majorly underrated by football fans.
That right flank of United is one of the most underrated ever. Beckham due to his celebrity status off the pitch and Neville because he downplays his own career at every opportunity. Nothing annoys me more than Gary Neville pretending he was a bang average player.
Especially when he's standing next to Jamie bloody Carragher or "burst onto the scene" Micah Richards.
Beckham was one of the best right wingers in the traditional 442, passing and set pieces world class
JWP also had almost 400 matches in the P.L to reach 17 goals - Becks played 265
Not to be all nerdy, but it kind of irks me when people argue about Beckham's position as a winger or where he'd play in the modern game. Football hasn't actually changed that much in some respects.
There's a sort of overarching narrative that the 90s in England was all 442, wingers and strikers, etc. That's not my recollection. Sure, it defended as a 442, and sometimes you would push both wide players on, but it was pretty commonplace for one of your wide players to be a "winger" and another the be a "midfielder." Newcastle and Liverpool were good examples of this, as were Arsenal when they used Parlour off the right. We were the best.
And Beckham was the best at that in-between role, where you had to be a midfielder covering ground and an attacker making chances. It's a position that still exists in the modern game, they just usually defend in an ever so slightly different space. It's also part of the reason Beckham didn't often dribble, the other being why the hell would you when your distribution is so good that you don't need to move into a better angle to play the vital pass? At youth level he was pretty great as a dribbler, but he was so outstanding at other things that it made that skill largely irrelevant, so it didn't really develop once he hit the first team.
If he was coming through now he'd probably be an even better player.
There's a sort of overarching narrative that the 90s in England was all 442, wingers and strikers, etc. That's not my recollection. Sure, it defended as a 442, and sometimes you would push both wide players on, but it was pretty commonplace for one of your wide players to be a "winger" and another the be a "midfielder." Newcastle and Liverpool were good examples of this, as were Arsenal when they used Parlour off the right. We were the best.
And Beckham was the best at that in-between role, where you had to be a midfielder covering ground and an attacker making chances. It's a position that still exists in the modern game, they just usually defend in an ever so slightly different space. It's also part of the reason Beckham didn't often dribble, the other being why the hell would you when your distribution is so good that you don't need to move into a better angle to play the vital pass? At youth level he was pretty great as a dribbler, but he was so outstanding at other things that it made that skill largely irrelevant, so it didn't really develop once he hit the first team.
If he was coming through now he'd probably be an even better player.
Sounds like what George Best said
"
"He cannot kick with his left foot, he cannot head a ball, he cannot tackle and he doesn't score many goals. Apart from that, he's all right."
hence conversion rate, Beckham had a lot more opportunities, two greats of the direct free kick
Hands down the greatest pass ever made, I love this clip.
Genuinely top class in application and output. Not overrated in the slightest.
I think he was without question overrated if you're benchmarking it relative to his popularity and fame. But overtime that has made him generally underrated as a player.
Ha!
I pity the fool who thinks Beckham was overrated.