David Beckham the player

RedFish

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Maybe im misunderstanding what your trying to say here, but what has scholes and Keane's selection got to do with beckham?

Ah, just that although he was a versatile player and could play in the middle, he separated himself from the others by his ability in wide positions. I guess him playing in central midfield for the final in 99, made me think about that. Clearly he would have played wide had Scholes and Keane been available.

He had a fantastic range of passing, and didn't need to beat a man to cross the ball with pin-point accuracy and obviously a world class dead ball specialist to boot. In the middle of the park, he was good but not in the elite tier. (No criticism of course, that was not his natural position).
 

arthurka

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One of the best right foot of the game. Plus great attitude and work ethic.
 

Wumminator

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Not sure he forced a move as much as was forced out. And if the wally with a brolly hadn't decided to bin him from the national team he would have stayed in europe. He pretty much has said as much.

Beckham cared about two things in football. United and england. Once he had england taken away he went to america and why not? It was a shame really but i understand why he did it.
He organised a move out with his agent.
 

RedFish

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Can't believe some on here who has the audacity to say anything negative about Beckham. Guy was utd through and through, true legend who had the work rate that would put a lot of this current crop to shame. De Bruyne is the only one at close 2nd to him in terms of style of play, passing and crossing.
And then you see Lingard and rashford at the match, and you think to yourself, how depressing.

Not negative, just looking at the minutiae. No player is perfect. I love Becks, and yes, I wish he was playing for us now!
 

VorZakone

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His highlight compilation is fantastic tbh. What a right foot he had.
 

Sandikan

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You just need to watch the treble year highlights to see how influential he was, in an already superb team.

In our current mess, he'd be the star player by an embarrassing distance.
 

Champagne Football

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He was so unique. Hard to compare him to anyone.
The best freekick taker of all time without question. The best crosser of a ball in history. Work rate second to none.
His pace was nothing special but his awareness and passing in tight spaces was immense and underrated.

I was devastated when he went to Madrid. And he simply was never the same player there. I believe not having all his best mates, like he had with class of 92 in the Utd dressing room, affected his confidence on the pitch. He was a shadow of himself at Madrid. Didn't have the spring in his step there. They had so many galactic is that he was insignificant in the dressing room there.
 
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Celoti23-81

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He organised a move out with his agent.
No he didn't. He was sold without his knowledge. He has said countless times he would have wanted to retire at Utd! If Ronald hadn't have happened, people would have been cursing SAF!
 

RedFish

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Beckham was a bit like Steven Gerrard for me. He did a lot of dramatic looking stuff, sweeping crossfield balls, brilliant crosses, spectacular free-kicks, but he couldn't do what David Silva does - make a simple but clinical pass in the final third. That's why England have struggled on the international stage for so long, because we don't produce players with that skillset.
That is what I was thinking in my posts above. He isn't a David Silva, but then David Silva couldn't bend it like Beckham. He was world class though, just in a different way.

I think he was more progressive/cultured in his play than many of his England teammates but to be the creative spark by doing the unexpected or some piece of fluid link up play just wasn't his game. England had players like Gazza in the past that could perform that kind of a role.. That's not to say he didn't make a difference for England because that is clearly bollocks.
 

RussellWilson

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No he didn't. He was sold without his knowledge. He has said countless times he would have wanted to retire at Utd! If Ronald hadn't have happened, people would have been cursing SAF!
Exactly, he's spoken loads of times about just getting a call informing the club accepted a bid out of the blue.

Fergie wanted him out due to Victoria and her influence in him.
 

Class of 63

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Haha, Coppell gets massively overrated by United fans due to the shiteness of our side back them.
Beckham’s the best crosser in the history of the game.
:lol::lol::lol:

See below


Steve coppell was before my time but duly noted. Becks is the best I’ve seen since the 90s.
Crossing a static ball Beckham had few equals for any team in any era, but where Coppell get's the drop on him was his ability to put in pin-point crosses whilst in stride(a much more difficult skill) with either right or left foot.
 

Raees

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He was so unique. Hard to compare him to anyone.
The best freekick taker of all time without question. The best crosser of a ball in history. Work rate second to none.
His pace was nothing special but his awareness and passing in tight spaces was immense and underrated.
He was Utd's most important player in terms of where the goal was gonna come from, whether insane assist or 35 yard worldie, for about 4 seasons.
As beautiful as Beckham was at taking free kicks he wasn’t the best of all time at it. Crossing? Yes most definitely IMO.
 

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No he didn't. He was sold without his knowledge. He has said countless times he would have wanted to retire at Utd! If Ronald hadn't have happened, people would have been cursing SAF!
Ferguson has said in his autobiography that Beckham’s application in training has dropped and he let it be known he wanted out.

Edit: his agent was already in negotiations with Madrid. What he says and what happened IMO is a different kettle of fish.

Edit 2: really good link for this

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/beckham-revealed-part-1-6958162.html
 
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Champagne Football

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That is what I was thinking in my posts above. He isn't a David Silva, but then David Silva couldn't bend it like Beckham. He was world class though, just in a different way.
Scholes and Wilshire were top class playmakers for England in their prime. The problem was more to do with the garbage coaches at England, not getting the best out of what they had at their disposal. Like how Moyes/Van Gaal/Jose have all failed horribly in the same way at Utd.

How Steve McClaren got that gig I'll never know. Cappello was already a dinosaur by the time he took over. Southgate has dispelled the myth that you need to have a few world class playmakers to succeed. Klopp at Liverpool also doesn't have a world class playmaker. Maybe Naby Keita soon.

At the 2002 World Cup, Sven had Joe Cole and Carrick as 2 players who could open up a defense with the likes of Rooney/Owen/Beckham to latch onto the pass, but he was obsessed with the Gerrard/Lampard thing, which was so ineffective and disjointed, that Beckham pumping the ball into Crouch became the only tactic.
 

arthurka

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Not sure you can say somebody who decided to miss training so he could look after Brooklyn whilst Victoria went shopping had a great attitude :nono:
Are you sure? Fergie went on a Victoria offensive for a long period but you never saw him throw a fit. He was the biggest brand in football but still worked his socks off and gave his all. I bet you most of us have taken a sick day from work to take care of our kids for less. Todays footballers could learn a lot from him.
 

RedFish

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Are you sure? Fergie went on a Victoria offensive for a long period but you never saw him throw a fit. He was the biggest brand in football but still worked his socks off and gave his all. I bet you most of us have taken a sick day from work to take care of our kids for less. Todays footballers could learn a lot from him.
At the time, It was more that it seemed like he was constantly in the media and not for footballing reaosns. It seemed like a distraction tbh, and when he left I wasn't devastated. He had his time and he is a legend of the club, pure and simple.
 

Eddy_JukeZ

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His technique was incredible for crosses.

Might be controversial, but at his best, he was better than Scholes and Giggs imo.
 

FujiVice

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If you think he's overrated, you probably never saw him or just watched the odd highlights when he was in his 30s. Workrate was unmatched, rarely ever injured and brilliant long range passer.

For me, only Ronaldo matched his workrate as a professional. Even though he was a superstar, always the last the leave training.
 

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Watching United highlights from 98/99 season have a felling he either assisted or scored all United goals that season.
 

BehemothTerror

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Beckham is my all time favorite player and I would argue was our best player in the treble season.

While points about lack of pace, power and no left foot are valid he was an absolute monster of a player sadly overshadowed by his celebrity. He could deliver inch perfect crosses from any where within 30-40 yards with only half a yard of space. Pirlo-level through balls. Further more the need for opposition players to get tight to him left gaps behind for the strikers and G Neville who was at his best overlapping with Beckham on the right. I maintain Yorke in particular owes so much to Beckham for his output of goals in 99.
If Beckham era 98-2006 was in our team this season it wouldn't surprise me if our existing Strikers had a bucket more goals. He was a machine for assists in his prime and suited playing with target men and strikers who like the run the offside trap alike. Then there is his sheer threat from long shots which is still unrivaled in our first team since despite Scholes, Ronaldo, Rooney etc.. having some great efforts in there catalogs. Plus for a large chunk of his time here he bled our colours.

To think of him only as a crossing machine or as a celebrity is to massively underrate one of our academies best exports
 
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Garethw

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Absolutely fecking brilliant player. Truly world class. The best crosser of the ball I've ever seen.

One of my all time favourite players. We were spoilt bloody rotten having Giggs, Scholes, Keane and Becks as our midfield four.
 

nickm

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Scholes was often benched during Becks prime, benched for Nicky Butt.

Becks was never benched, unbelievable player in his prime.
My memory is Scholes tended to play the home games and Butt the away games.

Becks was a great player but a lot of the treble season was Becks putting the ball on Yorke’s head, and that got a bit found out in the end. I think his lack of pace was a more apparent weakness in subsequent seasons.
 

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To see him and Scholes still pinging those accurate diagonals..we have one player capable of picking out a pass like that today, who turns up half the time. We used to have such a phenomenal team.

Becks looked superb today.
 

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Scholes is clearly a better player than Beckham. Scholes is unparalleled.


“Thought that no one wanted him”! Come on! He knew exactly why he went to Los Angeles. He wanted to be a celebrity.

This is a player who orchestrated a move away from United. A player who once refused to train without a hat as he was waiting to unveil his new haircut.

He was a great player, but his footballing prowess and circumstances of him leaving United mean for me he’s not as fondly thought of as others of his generation.
did you not see the match today? besides the Scholes' "shoot" shouts he had the largest shout throughout the game and had the most energy and passing range. he's loved Wumm, come on mate.

and yes, he wanted to go to LA, but again as per my post he was 32 no? don't see people complaining about players in their mid / late 20s going to china as it's a common thing now. He went in his early 30s ffs
 

Celoti23-81

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My memory is Scholes tended to play the home games and Butt the away games.

Becks was a great player but a lot of the treble season was Becks putting the ball on Yorke’s head, and that got a bit found out in the end. I think his lack of pace was a more apparent weakness in subsequent seasons.
When you said Scholes played the home games and butt the away games! Scholes played every game, home or away.

Beckham never relied on pace. His passing and crossing was enough to take the opposition out!
You look there at those players and the crap serving us now, like your Lingards, Martial's and rashford! It's depressing.
Yeah, but they have 4million followers on Instagram, Great!!
 
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A superb wide player but also brilliant at playing narrow so the midfield was never outnumbered.

The assumption was he'd end up as a centre midfielder post Keane, obviously Fergie disagreed.
If becks hadn't left United due to prioritisibg non football activities it's highly likely he would have moved into the middle when Keane was getting injuries and then left in 05

Loved Becks and was gutted he left United but it was inevitable
 

Classical Mechanic

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He was a top player no question. Had a unique technique of striking the ball. His predator boots were the holy grail when I was about 12 years old.

People forget that he had a crazy work ethic and would definitely adapt to the way the game is played today.

At the time many United fans used to whinge that he preferred playing for England and ran more for them.
 

Sparky Rhiwabon

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Watching the game today, you have to wonder if he’d be more effective on our right wing than what we’ve got now at age 44
 

Classical Mechanic

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The idea that he was overrated came from him being the most famous person on the planet at that time. His celebrity status indicated that he should have been the undisputed best player in the world.

You could have argued that he was only the 4th best midfielder at United at that time, however.