David Beckham the player

Gehrman

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We were lucky to have 2 different types of 'wingers'. Giggs is full of trickery dribbling but his crosses are average to say the least. Beckham cant dribble but you just can't mark him out of the game because he just need a minimal space to whip in his famous sumptuous laser-guide cross. His dead ball delivery is one of the best ever.

Still remembered the 1999 final, we had Keane and Scholes suspended. But I still believe we can win because we have Beckham. If it was Beckham and Keane or Scholes suspended, we would have struggled. That is how good I rank him personally.
Giggs was not an average crosser. He was very good in fact which is one of the reasons he is one of the top assisters ever. Beckham was just hands down the best crosser of all time, so Giggs might have been average in comparison. Giggs was a better crosser than any who has played for us since then.
 

SilentWitness

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Apparently him and Eriksen are the only two players to get 10+ PL assists 4 seasons in a row.
 

Bobski

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Jesus, that bit of Giggs skill and shot at 1 minute 20 is unreal.
2 of his great assists ever are that one and the turning volleyed shot from the half way line against Charlton that Ole finished off via the crossbar. His top goal compilation would be utterly ridiculous if both had dropped a few inches lower though.
 

Gehrman

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Beckham showed less loyalty to the club than Giggs and Scholes.

But he was also the non-manc and had played for another club already (Preston on loan).

No disrespect at all to Giggs and Scholes who (post 2003) achieved more than Beckham, but when Beckham left he was the only one of the Class of 93 who's star was still rising.

Giggs was turning 30 and losing pace. Some thought retirement might not be far off. Scholes was 29 and retired from England a year after Beckham left.

Beckham didn't rely on pace. He was 2 years younger than Giggs. I don't blame Becks for leaving. Water under the bridge.

Get him on a plane.
Never really understood any united fans giving Beckham grief for leaving.

Beckham was the biggest sports star in the world, one of the very best players on his team and Fergie kicked a boot in his face. Honestly player vs manager power and all that, but would take that crap from your boss kicking a boot in your face? I would look for another place to work too especially as one of the worlds hottest commodeties.
 

rcoobc

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Never really understood any united fans giving Beckham grief for leaving.

Beckham was the biggest sports star in the world, one of the very best players on his team and Fergie kicked a boot in his face. Honestly player vs manager power and all that, but would take that crap from your boss kicking a boot in your face? I would look for another place to work too especially as one of the worlds hottest commodeties.
Twas an accident though. Although I'd be a bit pissed off too.
 

Gehrman

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Twas an accident though. Although I'd be a bit pissed off too.
Well that what's Fergie says, but we also know that Fergie is full of shit sometimes when it suits him.
 

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Giggs was not an average crosser. He was very good in fact which is one of the reasons he is one of the top assisters ever. Beckham was just hands down the best crosser of all time, so Giggs might have been average in comparison. Giggs was a better crosser than any who has played for us since then.
Hell, even Neville is a better crosser than almost all of the players that has played for us since then.
 

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Top top player who was arguably becoming less effective by the time sold, and wanted to play centre mid when not really a centre mid.
 

Scholsey2004

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Fantastic work-rate and stamina. Medium and long passing were outstanding, close passing less so. Didn't really have the rat-a-tat close passing skills of players like de bruyne or scholes. He was effectively our primary out ball and probably the most important player for us on the counter attack since he'd almost always be the one who carried the ball up to the attacking third, at which point he'd look to release the forwards with either a long diagonal to Giggs at the left edge of the penalty area, or a bending cross across the face of goal for the likes of Cole to go after. Tremendously effective player.
 

Nevilles.Wear.Prada

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I feel like long passing has gone out of the game a bit. How often do we see players spreading the ball to the opposite wing now? There is a lot more focus on playing through the midfield with short intricate passing.
Just reintroduce a 25 year old Scholes, beckham into the game and see. Sometimes team tactics just evolve to suit some extraordinary players. Scholes is one, and beckham is another. We are trully fortunate to have such passers in the same squad. If only seba veron settled here.. :drool:
 
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Nevilles.Wear.Prada

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

Becks was never benched, unbelievable player in his prime.
In SAFs book he mentioned that he never seen an athlete who is naturally as fit as Beckham. Because most professionals including ronaldo takes weeks to get back to full fitness, becks will reach there within days.

He is either injured or running his lungs off on the first team for that reason. Absolute beast.
 

VidaRed

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How is this in such good quality ? I clearly remember video quality to be shitty till a decade back but this 20 years ago!!

 

TRUERED89

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How is this in such good quality ? I clearly remember video quality to be shitty till a decade back but this 20 years ago!!

MUTV have done something called "Upscaling" amazing right? If you actually watched the video you'll also see the channel is MUTV HD (high definition).
 

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Some short memories on here. Brilliant for most of his time here but totally lost interest in his last 2.5 seasons when he became more interested in his brand. Rallied a couple of times to prove a point whilst out of favour and brought on as sub for England vs Greece and Utd vs Madrid. Shame he cast a cloud over on otherwise excellent career with United. To say he was still on the rise when he left is absolutely blinkered.
 

TRUERED89

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Some short memories on here. Brilliant for most of his time here but totally lost interest in his last 2.5 seasons when he became more interested in his brand. Rallied a couple of times to prove a point whilst out of favour and brought on as sub for England vs Greece and Utd vs Madrid. Shame he cast a cloud over on otherwise excellent career with United. To say he was still on the rise when he left is absolutely blinkered.
We won the league in his last season 02/03. You say 2.5 years, so okay 2000 we win the league, 2001 we win the league, 2002 Arsenal win, 2003 United win it back and Becks leaves in the summer cause of his bust up with SAF and the flying boot. Where exactly did he loose interest? He loved the club and couldn't even watch our games for 3-4 years because of the emotion and attachment he still felt. I think you've been a bit blinkered because he had some perfumes and adverts, However he was a lot less in your face than lets say Pogba, JLingz, Rashy etc. Also he was never a sub for England vs Greece he started that game Subs were (Cole, Sherringham & McManaman), he had about 10 freekicks in that game, 90th min one last attempt, and what does he do? Stick in it the top corner to take England to the World Cup in the final minute of the game, #LEGEND

Oh and United vs Madrid, he scored 2 goals, one freekick and one tap in from a deflection. I'd take a 45 year old becks over any wide men we currently have.
 
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elmo

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Comfortably, I think he’s also the type of player who could shine and be an effective player in a dysfunctional team.
For one we would actually be doing something with our set-pieces instead of giving possession back to the opponents.

Pretty sure even Lukaku would get at least 10 goals from headers if Beckham just pings them off his head. All he has to do is just jump and Beckham would do all the rest.
 

Irwin99

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Outstanding player, weirdly underrated by some. However, as i said in another thread, I kind of wish we had had a more competition for Giggs and Beckham in the years following 99 as Blomquist never played for us again. Luke Chadwick and Solskjaer or Scholes moved to either wing wasn't enough really. Someone a bit more direct like Luis Figo would have been great.
 

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Some short memories on here. Brilliant for most of his time here but totally lost interest in his last 2.5 seasons when he became more interested in his brand. Rallied a couple of times to prove a point whilst out of favour and brought on as sub for England vs Greece and Utd vs Madrid. Shame he cast a cloud over on otherwise excellent career with United. To say he was still on the rise when he left is absolutely blinkered.
One of our best players in 01/02.
 

Denis' cuff

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We won the league in his last season 02/03. You say 2.5 years, so okay 2000 we win the league, 2001 we win the league, 2002 Arsenal win, 2003 United win it back and Becks leaves in the summer cause of his bust up with SAF and the flying boot. Where exactly did he loose interest? He loved the club and couldn't even watch our games for 3-4 years because of the emotion and attachment he still felt. I think you've been a bit blinkered because he had some perfumes and adverts, However he was a lot less in your face than lets say Pogba, JLingz, Rashy etc. Also he was never a sub for England vs Greece he started that game Subs were (Cole, Sherringham & McManaman), he had about 10 freekicks in that game, 90th min one last attempt, and what does he do? Stick in it the top corner to take England to the World Cup in the final minute of the game, #LEGEND

Oh and United vs Madrid, he scored 2 goals, one freekick and one tap in from a deflection. I'd take a 45 year old becks over any wide men we currently have.

In his last 2.5 years, as I said.

He didn’t leave because of the flying boot

Not remote blinkered. I was there. He absolutely lost interest.

Ok. Not a sub. He scored after ten free kicks. A cracker, tbf.

I did cover that.

So would I, tbh.
 

jesperjaap

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Some short memories on here. Brilliant for most of his time here but totally lost interest in his last 2.5 seasons when he became more interested in his brand. Rallied a couple of times to prove a point whilst out of favour and brought on as sub for England vs Greece and Utd vs Madrid. Shame he cast a cloud over on otherwise excellent career with United. To say he was still on the rise when he left is absolutely blinkered.
Utter nonsense
 

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Giggs was not an average crosser. He was very good in fact which is one of the reasons he is one of the top assisters ever. Beckham was just hands down the best crosser of all time, so Giggs might have been average in comparison. Giggs was a better crosser than any who has played for us since then.
I remember Giggs being average crosser when he's young and still has lot of pace. But after early 2000s he became so good at it and basically become our main corner takers. Basically he changed his game because he lost his pace, he become more incisive with his passes and crosses.
 

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Utter nonsense
No, Denis' cuff has the better actual memory here. Beckham was one of the most dependable United players for most of his career. However, you could see the changes in him back in the day.

That was when we didn't know too much about his decaying relationship with Alex Ferguson - unless you were actually close to the Beckhams or a staff member. I am not saying Beckham gave up doing his best - no way - but he did seem distracted as supporters we were hearing stories about him in the dressing room with Alex Ferguson.

There were also growing media stories and some of them were definitely planted by Beckham's PR. He was not an innocent, 'I only want to play football' type after he became focused on branding himself - he was a decent, unremarkable bloke except for his outstanding football skills and of course what some consider 'model' looks although I always thought he would look different with his natural brown hair and his eyes have always been small.

And with Victoria to encourage him he made himself a brand and was happy to plaster his face and make money everywhere. He used and still uses the media just as they used him. But as the old wiley Ferguson commented in a number of ways, if you do that you are open and make complications for yourself.

When I was reading all the speculation about Real Madrid and it had been going on for some time, I never thought it was initially United's plan to sell him - Beckham got what he wanted there and because of the problems with Alex Ferguson could blame him and United.

On the pitch he did look distracted sometimes in the last two seasons and his performances changed to some extent. He reminded me of Eri Le Roi - another man who gave his best for United but in the last two seasons didn't perform to the level we had come to expect and looked as if he were elsewhere at times.

Beckham wasn't sold at his peak - I think he had passed that although he performed well for Real Madrid and at least busted his guts to play while other over-paid Galacticos looked bored. However, Becks' set piece mastery didn't fade. I bet he could come on in a game at key moments and still score or assist somebody else.
 

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I think he said something to that effect in an interview. I wish he had stayed because although somebody here said he was never a Manc, Beckham Senior was a Cockney Red and his son followed despite his maternal grandfather's Spurs membership.

Sir Alex said in his first book, 'I never met anybody who wanted to be a footballer more than David Beckham'. What a fantastic tribute to Becks' attitude for most of his playing life.

I don't blame him for his ambition of playing for Real Madrid - it's one of the legendary footballing giants and he would have been keen to experience that high of playing for them and in a different country.

It's the way it all happened that left the sour taste. Beckham has never admitted that he and his PR/Management were chasing and fuelling the Real Madrid move.

I don't blame Beckham for standing up to Sir Alex - he snapped after years of taking the hairdryer and apparently Sir Alec called Victoria 'That woman' another time which a loyal husband wouldn't accept. If only he hadn't been so eager along with her to chase publicity to make money. People brands do that - they play the game. Beckham was either naïve or not very bright to misunderstand the consequences.
 

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I think he said something to that effect in an interview. I wish he had stayed because although somebody here said he was never a Manc, Beckham Senior was a Cockney Red and his son followed despite his maternal grandfather's Spurs membership.

Sir Alex said in his first book, 'I never met anybody who wanted to be a footballer more than David Beckham'. What a fantastic tribute to Becks' attitude for most of his playing life.

I don't blame him for his ambition of playing for Real Madrid - it's one of the legendary footballing giants and he would have been keen to experience that high of playing for them and in a different country.

It's the way it all happened that left the sour taste. Beckham has never admitted that he and his PR/Management were chasing and fuelling the Real Madrid move.

I don't blame Beckham for standing up to Sir Alex - he snapped after years of taking the hairdryer and apparently Sir Alec called Victoria 'That woman' another time which a loyal husband wouldn't accept. If only he hadn't been so eager along with her to chase publicity to make money. People brands do that - they play the game. Beckham was either naïve or not very bright to misunderstand the consequences.
I remember him saying something about his grandfather after us winning at spurs when we beat them to clinch the title. Something like "even though he would be upset they lost he'd be smiling down on me now"
 

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I think that over the course of the eight seasons he was in the first team, he played at a higher level and with more consistency than Giggs and Scholes. Obviously he ultimately didn’t quite match the career longevity of those two, although it’s interesting to ponder on how Ferguson might have managed him in later years.
 
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How is this in such good quality ? I clearly remember video quality to be shitty till a decade back but this 20 years ago!!

Wow! Just after a couple of minutes I've seen a pass from Giggs to Cole and a pass from Sheringham to Giggs that we just wouldn't play today, or well, we'd try it but get it wrong and the other side would be on the counter.
Seriously hope that Ole is doing everything possible to bring that fast paced, crisp passing back to the club.
 

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Do you think he regrets not finishing his career with United?
He pretty much says so everytime, doesn't he? How playing for Utd was his biggest dream and he wanted to stay here all his career. I don't for a minute think, in an ideal world he would have wanted to leave. It's just that at the end of the day he had to choose between his wife( and the lifestyle she bought with her) and his boss( who didn't want the media circus that lifestyle bought with it).
 

Billy Blaggs

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He pretty much says so everytime, doesn't he? How playing for Utd was his biggest dream and he wanted to stay here all his career. I don't for a minute think, in an ideal world he would have wanted to leave. It's just that at the end of the day he had to choose between his wife( and the lifestyle she bought with her) and his boss( who didn't want the media circus that lifestyle bought with it).
Yeah I guess he does. And point well made. All I've ever heard was he got kicked out or he kicked up a fuss and flirted with Madrid.
 

King7Eric

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Yeah I guess he does. And point well made. All I've ever heard was he got kicked out or he kicked up a fuss and flirted with Madrid.
He was kicked out quite literally by Fergie. Becks even said in a latter interview he was told over the summer that the club wanted to sell him to Barca, when he found out there was no way back for him, then he pushed for going to Madrid over Barca.
 

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In his last 2.5 years, as I said.

He didn’t leave because of the flying boot

Not remote blinkered. I was there. He absolutely lost interest.

Ok. Not a sub. He scored after ten free kicks. A cracker, tbf.

I did cover that.

So would I, tbh.
If from 2000 to 2003 we won the league twice (not including 2000) with Becks having great seasons also, I don't see where he lost interest in his last 2.5 years.
 
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Sky1981

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He pretty much says so everytime, doesn't he? How playing for Utd was his biggest dream and he wanted to stay here all his career. I don't for a minute think, in an ideal world he would have wanted to leave. It's just that at the end of the day he had to choose between his wife( and the lifestyle she bought with her) and his boss( who didn't want the media circus that lifestyle bought with it).
Beckham could be bluffin about his love for united. But all these years, and after retirement he still show up occasionally for our matches. Never said a bad word. Stay friends with giggs and co.

Suffice to make me think he really loves united, why not? How hard it is for is to believe that david Beckham loves united while we're so easilly led to believe that ander herrera loves us. This man has given more to united in both tangible and intangible ways. God knows how many kids ended up supporting united because of Beckham. I know i did.

For overseas supporter it always start with idolizing a player, then the club he plays for.
 

King7Eric

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Beckham could be bluffin about his love for united. But all these years, and after retirement he still show up occasionally for our matches. Never said a bad word. Stay friends with giggs and co.

Suffice to make me think he really loves united, why not? How hard it is for is to believe that david Beckham loves united while we're so easilly led to believe that ander herrera loves us. This man has given more to united in both tangible and intangible ways. God knows how many kids ended up supporting united because of Beckham. I know i did.

For overseas supporter it always start with idolizing a player, then the club he plays for.
Well said. Couldn't agree more.
 

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Beckham could put a ball on a sixpence.
Correct. And the reason he could do that repeatedly was that he used to practice it until he could do that.
In my opinion a vastly under rated player.
Not on the same level as Ronaldo but still very good.