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The Crowd Says (19) | Page 1 of Comments

• Luke W said | March 19th 2010 @ 5:59am | Report comment

  I feel a bit sorry for Becks that his free kicks were always of such a world-class standard, because it made people overlook the fact that in his prime he was one of the best wingers in the world. He could play on the right or left, and like his free kicks, his crosses were always superb. I suppose his celebrity status didn’t help his cause for serious credibility on the world stage either.

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• Midfielder said | March 19th 2010 @ 9:42am | Report comment

  Just adding a bit more to Luke’s comment…

  Beckham while certainly not the fastest player nor the best dribbler nor a great defender … but in all these areas he was not poor just not great….

  What Beckham had was an uncanny sense of shape and the field lay out…

  In football if you are reading this from another code, what we call touch is the difference between park, state, grade and international players… that ability to control a ball and not loose it or loose control (even if for a fraction of a second) … Shape is another important aspect of football i.e. keeping in position to show for a ball close down play and hold a shape that can both defend and counter attack… these two things touch and shape are the foundations upon which football is built.

  Beckham processed IMO unique ability in the areas of shape and touch always in position always tracking back or sideways. But more importantly and why so many coaches and football lovers adored Beckham was he not only controlled the ball with deft touch, and was always in position … but his decision making on what to do next .. who to pass it to… were to put the ball for that player for maximum effect was almost flawless…

  He also developed an undeliverable crossing ball into the box that bent, curled, and drove defensives mad.. On top of all that he is the best dead ball taker I have ever seen he just did it so many times…

  It will be sad if he is lost to the game. Not one of the greatest of all time but a hard working player that created for others and in touch and shape with excellent decision making skills …

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    Tristan Rayner said | March 19th 2010 @ 10:22am | Report comment

    Just short of waxing lyrical Midfielder – but I share many of the same sentiments. I valued his work ethic very highly, especially in his later years when many, many others have had their fill of too many games and grown out of their love for the game, or have been paid too much and have gone a bit silly.

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    • Luke W said | March 19th 2010 @ 10:42am | Report comment

      Couldn’t agree more. No matter how much money he earned or how big his stardom grew, he never lost the passion for the game, and always wanted to play at the highest level he could. It’s a shame that he won’t have the chance to become England’s most capped player, because he has certainly been their most loyal servant in the modern era.

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• Davstar said | March 19th 2010 @ 9:58am | Report comment

  I a true superstar

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  • Punter said | March 19th 2010 @ 3:26pm | Report comment

    Not the greatest ever, but truly a superstar.

    Together with Tiger Woods the most famous sportsperson in the world.

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• Shahsan said | March 19th 2010 @ 7:15pm | Report comment

  Sorry, but I don’t agree with most of the comments here. Beckham was a very good player but not a great one. he was found out at the highest level, never quite performing when the pressure was on and teh best was needed, aside from perhaps the game against Greece and those corner kicks in the 1999 European Cup final. Every where else and any other time, he was a good support player, but no more.
  Regarding his touch etc, many many players had those same attributes in spades. The difference is that Beckham had much more publicity, exposure and coverage than many players as good if not better than him.
  As an exercise, a few soccer-nut friends and I made a list of players that we considered better than him since we started watching the game in 1970, and we came up with more than 80 without much effort.
  Even among England players we came up with more than 20 easily.
  And with regard to his prime time at Man Utd, which many would say were his best years, this description by a journalist put it best: If Roy Keane was the heart of the team and Scholes the brains, then Beckham was the hairstyle (or something like that).

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  • Rob said | March 19th 2010 @ 7:48pm | Report comment

    Id have to agree with Shasan. He seems to be a nice bloke. Great with a deadball, but only an average team player. For a long time he was obsessed with making long Glen Hoddle type passes regardless of the game situation.

    Worth remembering that his appearance coincided with the whole Cool Britannia thing when the poms were actively looking for homegrown heroes. He just happens to be better looking than Paul Scholes.

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    • Colin N said | March 20th 2010 @ 12:35am | Report comment

      “Great with a deadball, but only an average team player.”

      That’s a contradiction in terms. How can a player who provides people with assists not be a team player?

      And I disagree with Shahsan that he didn’t perform at the highest level. You’ve mentioned the obvious which nevertheless is handling the pressure. But what about coming back and helping Madrid to the La Liga title? Scoring the penalty against Argentina? The freekick against Ecuador and the various Champions League excusions.

      I agree he’s never had the talents of the top player, but that makes his success all the more remarkable – he’s a bloody hard working player and practised endlessly on his free-kicks and corners when he was younger.

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      • Shahsan said | March 20th 2010 @ 1:56am | Report comment

        Go look at the La Liga thing again. He played but it is arguable to say he was instrumental. Beckham benefited from being a media drawcard. Look at every game he played on tour or in the US league or when he returned to La Liga: even when he did little the only reason many journos turned up was to write about him. As long as he didnt screw up it would have been reported as a job well done, and he would have got the day’s headline. The papers know that people would read about whatever he did.
        Let’s look at his World Cup record: sent off against Argentina in 1998, costing them the game. In 2002 pulls out of tackle, costing them the equaliser against Brazil, which they eventually lost 2-1. 2006: misses penalty when it mattered. England go out. Net impact at World Cup and Euros: nothing much, really.
        He is all about drama: all about screwing up first, only to be able to have his redemptive moment subsequently.
        But look, I never said he was lousy, just not as good as he is made out to be. He is not someone to put his stamp on teh team and makes them win things, like — to name just players of the past 10 years — both Ronaldos, Ronaldinhos, Messi, Kaka, Zidane, Wayne Rooney — and yet he gets more publicty, press and attention than all of them combined, especially among the uninitiated. Ask any non-fan in teh past 10 years who teh best player in teh world is and most would have named Beckham.
        But he does strikes me a nice guy, with a sweet, disarming personality. He has never been obnoxious or full of himself, and is generally sporting and good to fans.
        And teams want him because he is a good man to have in the team: he puts them all in the spotlight, makes their game more important than it actually is, and he draws fans and girls especially to them all, and sells jerseys (meaning more money for the club) and makes the bandwagon huge and more crowded.
        But never mistake popularity and a huge following with true brilliance.

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        • Shahsan said | March 20th 2010 @ 2:14am | Report comment

          Correction: he left the field early against Portugal in teh quarterfinal in 2006, but he was ineffectual until then, while his replacement, Aaron Lennon, proved much more dangerous and should have come on earlier.

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          • Colin N said | March 23rd 2010 @ 11:45am | Report comment

            Should have come on earlier? He came on after 51 minutes.

          • Shahsan said | March 23rd 2010 @ 11:49am | Report comment

            earlier in the tournament.

          • Colin N said | March 23rd 2010 @ 12:01pm | Report comment

            And the guy who scored England’s goal in the previous round was…..?

        • Colin N said | March 23rd 2010 @ 11:57am | Report comment

          I watched the La Liga and he was influential in Real Madrid’s up-turn in form.

          In 1998, it wasn’t his fault England lost. The game went to penalties, but alas, the players bottled it.

          2002: scored the penalty against Argentina. The Brazil thing, he actually kept the ball in, nothing to do with limply going into a challenge.

          Yep, agree about Euro 2004, he missed a penalty, but so did Rui Costa, a very experienced player, who was more talented than Beckham, but never achieved what he did. England lost it when they sat back after Rooney went off.

          I don’t think Beckham comes anywhere near the talent of many of the top players, but he’s worked very hard to get where he is and his achievements must be respected.

          Good bloke as well:

          http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvvKUtHlDK8&feature=PlayList&p=A4ACA970F0CF733A&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=36

          2:31

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• Midfielder said | March 20th 2010 @ 12:29am | Report comment

  Shahsan & Rob

  HMMMMM…Beckham has many knockers saying he is not as good as some make him out…

  IMO Beckhams qualities as I said where aside from his touch… his shape was excellent… and I would agree with you that a number of players had this… but Beckham nearly always made the correct pass to the player in the best position…

  But the real proof is in what coaches and players say about him… Inter play him … England wanted him… other top players rate him…other top coaches rate him…

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  • Shahsan said | March 20th 2010 @ 1:57am | Report comment

    See my post above.

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  AlexMilic said | March 20th 2010 @ 4:28am | Report comment

  the best of David Beckham was that penalty against Portugal at Euro 2004 that was class

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• Rob said | March 20th 2010 @ 1:13pm | Report comment

  Midfielder. I think you will find he wears a red shirt when in Milan not a blue one.
  Thats important because one of his primary roles these days is to sell shirts.

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