How good was David Beckham?
- Thread starter Lord SInister
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Remember him against Greece, best performance ever!
It was the best performance by an English Man called Beckham that's for sure.
Keane was a beast but he wouldn't have been able to sustain 3 attacking midfielders + 2 strikers unless they helped on defensive duties big time. Beckham, Scholes, Giggs, Yorke and Cole performed wonders and in some ways they helped changing football. They blurred the line between attacking and defensive midfielders + goal poachers and mezza punta which, up to that time, were well defined roles in football. Every single player in that midfield and forward line could defend nearly as efficiently as they could attack (ie nearly at WC level). The only consequence of that all was that it spoiled us fans. We know expect midfielders to be able to do everything. Which explains why the likes of Matic, Pogba and Veron get/got so much stick.
My hero when I was a kid. Him, Rooney and Ronaldo are probably my top three of all time. Absolutely magnificent player.
ACE he was... top... worked so hard, vision and delivery... clinical, and his free kicks... plus ON THE RIGHT! 
He was consistently outstanding and did some incredible things. That goal against Madrid is my favourite - the combination of skill and sheer force of will is astonishing.
It is a myth that he couldn’t dribble. He did lack express pace but he could beat men in a tight corner and the point is he didn’t dribble unless it was the best option. If you can shoot, cross or make an effective pass from where you are, that’s usually better than dribbling.
It is a myth that he couldn’t dribble. He did lack express pace but he could beat men in a tight corner and the point is he didn’t dribble unless it was the best option. If you can shoot, cross or make an effective pass from where you are, that’s usually better than dribbling.
Agreed, David was one of the few wingers that passe through Europe, always succeeding.... like a successful Gareth Bale x 2... Gareth ought to have been as good as David by now...
As others have said, surpassed only by Keane in his time at United....that’s how good he was.
Well he was one. He came 2nd in 99. With a good distance down to 3rd.
one of the best wingers in the world -- ever
He was never really a winger though. Never had the pace for it. He was a right midfielder.
A United legend, that much is beyond all debate. Becks was the greatest crosser of the ball I've ever seen and I seriously doubt anyone in the history of the game was even that close. A free kick specialist, one of the greats. Awareness on the pitch, check. Worked his socks off, check. He was thoroughly professional throughout his career and at his peak was one of the top three footballers on the planet.
Though not ever the "best" player on any of the great sides he played for, club and country, could we have asked of anything more than we got from David Beckham? No chance.
Though not ever the "best" player on any of the great sides he played for, club and country, could we have asked of anything more than we got from David Beckham? No chance.
He was England’s best player for several years. Injury to Beckham was treated as a national crisis.
United were spoilt for quality in Beckham’s era but he was our main match winner in terms of crucial goals and sheer number of key chances assisted for at least a couple of years. Keane was also at his peak then, admittedly.
the point is, he didn't need pace. He didn't even need to beat his man a lot of the time: his crossing remains the best I've ever seen
When ever we had a free kick around the box, It felt like a penalty when Beckham was around.
It's kind of sad he ended his playing career in PSG, crying his eyes out at the Parc De Princes instead of Old Trafford.
Yes. I see it more like a freestyle diamond, no paper formation can depict that.
Scholes
Giggs ----------- Becks
Keane
Giggs ----------- Becks
Keane
Thing is all four MFs - Giggs, Scholes, Keane and Becks are equally good at both attacking and defending, and creating chances, connecting attack and defence. Giggs and Becks sort of like operating as wide LCM and wide RCM or CMs that like to drifting to the wide. Scholes and Keane are way better centrally with the former better in attack thus presence is higher and the latter in defend thus presence is more evidence in deeper position. Their movements are free and flexible yet doesn't clashed with each other. Good Team Tactical understanding. Complete midfield quadruple - that combo have everything.
This is exactly how I see it. If Pogba stays, I would like to see if we can replicate this ( sign Grealish). Then push Rashford up with Martial. Bruno in the scholes role and Pogba on either of the wide positions.
The home game v Inter randomly popped up on Youtube and feck me Beckham tortured them with his crossing. We would routinely only have Yorke in the box surrounded by Inter defenders and Beckham found him from every angle possible. They couldnt live with him
I wasn't lucky enough to watch him week in week out. Back then We barely had any live PL matches on TV. But when I was young, I remember a lot of girls used to talk about him. And his haircut was pretty popular too. At one time I went to a barber and a woman wanted her kid to get a haircut 'just like Bekcham' and praised him when He got it, calling him 'handsome like Beckham' regardless of the fact that the kid looked nothing like Beckham, more like Aristide Bance.
Regardless of his footballing abilities, you could tell He was good at manipulating people and building a cult. It's actually very scary.
Regardless of his footballing abilities, you could tell He was good at manipulating people and building a cult. It's actually very scary.
This is his hallmark. There was nobody and is nobody currently that could continuously torture a side with his passing, and he could do it from anywhere. Sometimes he would almost be back on the halfway line and shape a ball that came in like a cross, defenders couldn't live with it and he was a strikers dream.
Incredible technique.
Lukaku would score 40 goals a season playing in the same team as peak Beckham.
Good point,
I hope Pogba and Martial read your post.
He was part of the best midfield 4 ever. So, pretty good. The balance of the four of them, and the shift they put in, made them more than the sum of their considerable parts.
Great player but,unpopular opinion time, he was a poor playing style choice for Madrid at the time.
Same it popped up on mine and I forgot how much Beckham tortures them. His crossing was unplayable. Total big game player.
I rate him over Giggs and Scholes
I watched a documentary with him where he had a football camp for children. When they were going to have a sribblibg session he openly admitted that he couldn’t dribble. Therefore, he used his first touch to create space for himself. He was great at other things, but dribblibg wasn’t one of them.
He definitely wasn't very good at dribbling. We had a specific strategy to give him the ball when space opens up on right and quickly overloading the box as he sends the cross in, kind of similar to how City use De Bruyne. We hardly ever have to rely on him to beat a man.
Dribbling wasn’t his strength, mostly because he wasn’t quite fast enough to make it an effective option in most scenarios. He could pass or cross the ball from anywhere on the pitch so why dribble? Even so, he often beat people with skill to create space and if you really think he couldn’t dribble, watch his goal vs Madrid.
Just to correct you Arjen Robben was not average at RM. He was very good. The problem was that he was injured a lot.
In 2009 when Florentino Perez came back Robben was sacrificed along with Sneijder mainly because they were brought in by Calderon. Florentino wanted his own players at the club. He went on to buy Ronaldo, Kaka, Alonso and Benzema.
Had it not been for Injuries Robben would have made a big mark at RM if Florentino Perez did not sell him.
Beckham was bought because of his commercial value and not his footballing ability. We already had Figo as right winger and he was miles better than Beckham at pretty much everything.
Beckham was one of the best at crossing, long range passes and free kicks. Like most british players he could not dribble.
Whatever else you say, Beckham was one of the very best players in the world at that time. Most of the RM players were very happy with his contribution especially the forwards as he laid a ton of goals on a plate for them. You will know that he played a lot of games in centre midfield for Madrid (which is where he wanted to play) probably in consideration of his lack of pace. Granted, he wasn’t a Robben type. Robben was amazing and became even better at Bayern. Ideally you would have both of them on the pitch.
Beckham time at Real Madrid has been so overrated. In those 5 years he was there, think it was the worst few years for Real Madrid in their history. Even in the final year, when they did finally win the league, he only played a hand ful of games.
But what he did at UTD was amazing.
Why does it matter what I think when he has publicly stated that he couldn’t dribble. Probably doesn’t mean he was incapable of doi g a step over, just that it wasn’t part of his game. One time doesn’t disprove that. He had many other great attributes that meant he didn’t have to dribble. There are slow players that can dribble, btw.
He only had 4 seasons there, not 5.
But yeah, the first 3 years were terrible for Madrid and they made some horrific managerial appointments. He joined at a bad time.
Wonderful player in my view, was always a dynamo in that great team and was pure class in terms of technique.
Just to correct you on a few things - Robben signed for Madrid in his prime as a 23 year old. Beckham was 28 when he signed for Madrid and like Bale, Owen, Fowler and Rooney etc, the demands of over a decade starring in English football and the Premier league on his body, meant he was finished as an elite performer at 28 years old more or less.
Beckham was not brought in solely for commercial reasons for Madrid. Zidane desperately wanted Madrid to sign him, and is quoted at the time as saying 'If we had Beckham we'd be unstoppable'. Madrid probably felt they could win tight Champions League knockout games with a freekick or a cross from Beckham.
Was Beckham on Robbens level? No way. Robben on his day is the only player of the past decade or so who was at Messi/Ronaldo level.
Was Robben a success at Madrid? That's debatable. He was always injured and only scored 11 goals in 2 seasons. Madrid certainly did not miss him when CR7 turned up to take his place.
I think his legacy was tarnished a little by all the hype around his celebrity and there were suggestions Fergie got rid of him because he was messing the club about, wasn't there something like he spent 18 months going back and forth with United over image rights before signing a new contract and then immediately agreed to Madrid's offer. He was outstanding up until the 2002 World Cup, he was rightly dropped by Fergie the following season with Ole playing on the right side of midfield for the run-in that saw us win the league before Beckham was finally sold. He will go down as an icon but I think he wasted the second half of his career. There was a story at Madrid too that he phoned in sick and was then photographed by the paparazzi at a ski resort with the family. It goes without saying he was, in his prime, contender for the best crosser and free-kick taker ever.
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The guy has some humility and believe it or not a sense of humour.
The fact that he dribbled sometimes proves that he could do it.
I’m not a Beckham fan boy and the hype used to annoy me but I object to people using his preference to pass, cross or shoot rather than to dribble as a means of arguing he was a lesser player because of it.
Beckham was a big name at the time. No doubt he was a good footballer, but Florentino Perez bought him mainly for his commercial value. As I said we had Figo for the right wing position and he was miles better. At the time we played 442 and there was no real room for Beckham in the team. It ruined the balance of the team because Figo was too good to be replaced by Beckham and Beckham had to play. Beckham was not bad at Real Madrid. He just did not fit at the time. If we did not have Figo he would be a good signing.
Literally hated Bartez. Always a liability in big games.I know it's not the right thread but Barthez has got to be up there with one of my favourite United Keepers the crazy Bast*rd!
Would run out the box, dribbling it like a mad man.
Would run out the box 40 yards up the pitch to do a clearance that wasn't need
Who can forget the P*ssing on the pitch incident
Probably my least favourite of our number 1 keeps post Schmeichel