How good was David Beckham?

[Solius]

Criminally underrated by people who never watched him or forgot how good he was.

Telling you, if he played these days he'd be in the De Bruyne position. He had fantastic stamina, an excellent eye for a pass, a fierce shot and of course a phenomenal cross.

I could see him operating on the right of a midfield three, playing balls in but also doing the work in midfield. Wasn't afraid to do the dirty bits either. World class for a good few years.

 

[Schmeichel's Cartwheel]

Really good. Annoyingly underrated by young people who barely watched him & talk about him being “more of a brand”

If he was playing today he’d be KDB with workrate & leadership. He was fecking incredible in his prime.

 

[manutddjw]

Thank you fellas it’s been a pleasure reading this to him. He’s pissed.

 

[united_99]

He was in the top 10 for balon d‘or 5 times in a row or something like that and came 2nd twice.
De Bruyne is actually a good comparison (quality/level and impact wise).
He would be our best player today, better than Bruno and Rashford. I won’t even start comparing him to Cavani or Pogba as he regularly played almost twice as many games per season as the latter two.
And even his bottom level (did he even have it?) was much higher than that of Bruno and Rashford.

 

[Lay]

I reckon if he was playing now, he would walk into most if not all of the top teams first XI. Can run and press all day, brilliant vision, great passer, best crosser of the ball and great at taking set pieces.

A black mark on his career is that he never really did it at an international tournament. 98 he was good until the red card, 2000 England were shite, 2002 vital penalty against Argentina but overall average and jumped out of a vital tackle against Brazil. 2004 missed a penalty against France and I think in the shootout against Portugal. He looked leggy that tournament and probably shouldn’t have started.

 

[Fingeredmouse]

Criminally underrated by people who never watched him or forgot how good he was.

Telling you, if he played these days he'd be in the De Bruyne position. He had fantastic stamina, an excellent eye for a pass, a fierce shot and of course a phenomenal cross.

I could see him operating on the right of a midfield three, playing balls in but also doing the work in midfield. Wasn't afraid to do the dirty bits either. World class for a good few years.

Definitely. I always felt that he never quite had a position that he fitted in. He was great on the right wing but it never quite felt that he was quite meant for the flanks.

 

[Foxbatt]

We had better players than him in the middle. Probably the best right foot. I feel he is lucky to have played under SAF who controlled him very well. SAF didn't let things out of hand. He always wanted to play in the middle but SAF wouldn't let him do it normally. He is better than KDB. I mean a lot of players those days were better than KDB.
A centre forward's dream.

 

[harms]

 

[SoCross]

He was a really, really good player. A top player.

 

[Luke1995]

I wish he had played a full season for PSG. He signed for them in the winter window but decided to retire after just three months.

Could he have carried on more or do you guys think he chose the right moment to stop ?

 

[calodo2003]

Sorry to bump an old thread.

I got into a heated argument today with a co worker about Beckham. Being a United fan I know how important he was for us and how many goals he contributed to. My co-worker (an Arsenal supporter) basically said he was English hype and average at best. We compared Figo and Becks and when the goal tally was similar he resorted to a Twitter pole with a bunch of jabronis slandering Becks (the pole was like 21-0 in favour of Figo). Worst of he was telling me how Mahrez and Pedro were better than Beckham.

Is selective memory deceiving me here? I always thought and still do think he was great player. How do you guys rank him?

Thanks a million for the help. I know he knows his stuff and we’re roughly the same age so I’m baffled by this.

Pedro?!?

Good god.

 

[Irwin99]

Be interesting to see what type of modern team and playstyle people would put him in if he played now. I think his workrate and long range passing would suit a counter attacking style and I think he'd work well in a midfield 3.

 

[FatTails]

Convinced that if he was playing now for some other team, half of our fanbase wouldn’t want us to buy him because he doesn’t have a lot of pace.

I don’t know what happened in the past few years, but it seems that many people see pace as the one and only attribute that matters, or at the very least, an attribute that a player can’t be a top player without.

 

[Eddy_JukeZ]

Better than Giggs and Scholes at his best.

He was an incredible footballer.

 

[RedTiger]

He was absolutely brilliant. Maybe just one tier below world class for me. I think the only thing that held him back from that next level was the lack of ambition he showed in leaving us. In terms of dedication and technical ability though he was right up there.

That's not really fair, David never wanted to leave United.

 

[Giggs86]

World Class. 1998-2005 would walk into any starting XI in the world.

 

[JPB]

Better than Giggs and Scholes at his best.

He was an incredible footballer.

Calm down...

 

[RUCK4444]

Better than Giggs and Scholes at his best.

He was an incredible footballer.

I think he’d admit these two’s peaks were a level above his. Especially Scholes.

And I love becks.

 

[redrobed]

Better than Giggs and Scholes at his best.

He was an incredible footballer.

Both Zidane and Messi have declared Scholesy the best of their generation. Scholesy is in the argument for best ever - I think we have to be careful with suggesting Becks is in that same argument, much as I love him.

 

[calodo2003]

Better than Giggs and Scholes at his best.

He was an incredible footballer.

That’s a bit of a stretch.

 

[Maluco]

He was fantastic. He would have thrived in today’s games because he has the ability and the amazing passing, but he also had a great engine and was a workhouse. Someone like Kane would absolutely love playing with a Beckham. I don’t think there has been a better long passer in the last 30 years in football.

Really underrated and is several tiers above both Mahrez and Pedro.

 

[RikRuud]

Would love him in this United side. A world class footballer.

 

[Nori-]

As good as De Bruyne?! I'm a United fan and understand there will be a bias, but come on!

He had an unbelievable ability to kick a ball to an exact spot, down to an inch but apart from that he wasn't that great. I remember constantly being annoyed with him when he wasn't taking a beautiful free kick.

He didn't have any pace, wasn't very skilful (apart from his obvious ability to kick long distances), couldn't defend, wasn't a fighter when needed like a Keane or Rooney, etc.

The media status he had/has probably makes people people remember him more fondly.

 

[GifLord]

 

[Eddy_JukeZ]

That’s a bit of a stretch.

How?

Did Giggs and Scholes ever have a season as good as Beckham's in 1998-1999?

He finished 2nd in the Ballon D'Or voting. Keane himself was 5th. Beckham himself was 4th again in 2001.

Giggs and Scholes if I recall correctly never even finished top 10.

Both of them have the longevity edge over Beckham, but neither peaked as high.

I'm not the only one on here who thinks Beckham peaked higher than both.

 

[Eddy_JukeZ]

As good as De Bruyne?! I'm a United fan and understand there will be a bias, but come on!

He had an unbelievable ability to kick a ball to an exact spot, down to an inch but apart from that he wasn't that great. I remember constantly being annoyed with him when he wasn't taking a beautiful free kick.

He didn't have any pace, wasn't very skilful (apart from his obvious ability to kick long distances), couldn't defend, wasn't a fighter when needed like a Keane or Rooney, etc.

The media status he had/has probably makes people people remember him more fondly.

So let's take away his biggest asset and then downplay everything else about him.

It'd be like taking away Scholes' passing, then saying he had no pace, no skill(besides his passing), couldn't defend and wasn't a fighter when needed(like ????).

 

[calodo2003]

How?

Did Giggs and Scholes ever have a season as good as Beckham's in 1998-1999?

He finished 2nd in the Ballon D'Or voting. Keane himself was 5th. Beckham himself was 4th again in 2001.

Giggs and Scholes if I recall correctly never even finished top 10.

Both of them have the longevity edge over Beckham, but neither peaked as high.

I'm not the only one on here who thinks Beckham peaked higher than both.

If you want to simply use Ballon d’Or as the only metric, then you win.

But there’s more metrics than that.

Regarding the 98/99 season, using goals alone, both had multiple seasons with more goals than Becks had in 98/99.

 

[Raoul]

How?

Did Giggs and Scholes ever have a season as good as Beckham's in 1998-1999?

He finished 2nd in the Ballon D'Or voting. Keane himself was 5th. Beckham himself was 4th again in 2001.

Giggs and Scholes if I recall correctly never even finished top 10.

Both of them have the longevity edge over Beckham, but neither peaked as high.

I'm not the only one on here who thinks Beckham peaked higher than both.

Giggs was regarded as the best or one of the best wingers in the world during various stretches of his career.

Ultimately, its not worth diminishing United players to promote others. They all played relevant roles in the Fergie era ecosystem.

 

[Nori-]

So let's take away his biggest asset and then downplay everything else about him.

It'd be like taking away Scholes' passing, then saying he had no pace, no skill(besides his passing), couldn't defend and wasn't a fighter when needed(like ????).

Unfortunately, being able to kick a ball well isn't enough. You know what makes the best players the best? Their ability to do multiple things and VERY well. Just look at Bruno Fernandes this season. He scores lots, he assists lots, he's a team player, he single handedly wins games when we're down, he's got a fighting spirit, he's faster than Beckham etc.

De Bruyne might not be as good as Beckham at kicking a ball to a certain spot......but in almost every other area he is miles better and I'd take that in my team anyday.

 

[Eddy_JukeZ]

If you want to simply use Ballon d’Or as the only metric, then you win.

But there’s more metrics than that.

Share them then.

Giggs was regarded as the best or one of the best wingers in the world during various stretches of his career.

Ultimately, its not worth diminishing United players to promote others. They all played relevant roles in the Fergie era ecosystem.

I'm not diminishing either Scholes or Giggs.

If anything, he's the one diminishing Beckham.

 

[calodo2003]

Share them then.



I'm not diminishing either Scholes or Giggs.

If anything, he's the one diminishing Beckham.

Multiple years both Scholes & Giggs had more goals than Becks’ 9 across all competitions. Even Becks had a couple of years with more goals than that. Giggs scores 10 that season, Scholes had 11.

Giggs had two seasons with higher goal tallies over more matches than Becks did in 98/98.

Assists per season are more difficult to ascertain, Scholes didn’t have as many assists as one would expect, but Giggs had 162 over 25 seasons v Becks with 80 over 11 seasons (181 extrapolated out).

There’s really no clear daylight between the three. I cherish all three, but I probably would give top end quality to Giggs, then Scholes, then (with Scholes & Becks roughly similar).

But the separation between each is minimal. Good debate to have, no doubt.

 

[reelworld]

Unfortunately, being able to kick a ball well isn't enough. You know what makes the best players the best? Their ability to do multiple things and VERY well. Just look at Bruno Fernandes this season. He scores lots, he assists lots, he's a team player, he single handedly wins games when we're down, he's got a fighting spirit, he's faster than Beckham etc.

De Bruyne might not be as good as Beckham at kicking a ball to a certain spot......but in almost every other area he is miles better and I'd take that in my team anyday.

I don't know how old you are, but if you seen Beckham at his best, he absolutely did all that bar the scoring part. And that's even more on tactics that Fergie deployed at the time. He didn't need to score as much due to the make up of the team.

Incredible footballer, who got underrated in recent times because they see him as a pretty boy with a brand.

 

[Giggs86]

Unfortunately, being able to kick a ball well isn't enough. You know what makes the best players the best? Their ability to do multiple things and VERY well. Just look at Bruno Fernandes this season. He scores lots, he assists lots, he's a team player, he single handedly wins games when we're down, he's got a fighting spirit, he's faster than Beckham etc.

De Bruyne might not be as good as Beckham at kicking a ball to a certain spot......but in almost every other area he is miles better and I'd take that in my team anyday.

Were you watching United regularly from 1998 until his departure to Madrid? Because that bolded part is literally Beckham during that period. Not to mention some of his England games like that one vs Greece.

 

[The United]

He was a top player. And, I thought he was very underrated until I read people saying how he would be better than Giggs and Scholes. Then, I realize how much people underrated Giggs as well.

 

[Eddy_JukeZ]

Unfortunately, being able to kick a ball well isn't enough. You know what makes the best players the best? Their ability to do multiple things and VERY well. Just look at Bruno Fernandes this season. He scores lots, he assists lots, he's a team player, he single handedly wins games when we're down, he's got a fighting spirit, he's faster than Beckham etc.

De Bruyne might not be as good as Beckham at kicking a ball to a certain spot......but in almost every other area he is miles better and I'd take that in my team anyday.

There is no way you watched Beckham.

 

[RedRonaldo]

As good as De Bruyne?! I'm a United fan and understand there will be a bias, but come on!

He had an unbelievable ability to kick a ball to an exact spot, down to an inch but apart from that he wasn't that great. I remember constantly being annoyed with him when he wasn't taking a beautiful free kick.

He didn't have any pace, wasn't very skilful (apart from his obvious ability to kick long distances), couldn't defend, wasn't a fighter when needed like a Keane or Rooney, etc.

The media status he had/has probably makes people people remember him more fondly.

Its not really bias by United fans at all. He was 1st runners up in Ballon D'or once and 1st runners up in FIFA world player of year twice, something which 29 years old De Bruyne hasn't quite managed yet (his best season is 9th in Ballon D'or, 5th in FIFA awards). He was also PL top assist in 3 seasons, so his stats is also up there with the other best midfielder. His inc perfect crossing and long pass is just out of this world, and has won us many points. Imagine if teams like Juventus have peak Beckham this season, players like Ronaldo even at 36 would be easily scoring 50+ goals. "Bend it like Beckham" is really a thing back then. Apart from his worlclass passing/crossing/freekicks, he also has top class workrate.

But for sure, there are some distraction when he was focusing more on his brand in later years. But he still has great career, winning total 17 trophies for Man Utd, Real Madrid and PSG. De Bruyne has won 15 trophies for City, Wolfsburg, Genk. So their career is actually comparable in every sense.

Trophies won in Europe*: Beckham 17 >= De Bruyne 15 (or 16)
Ballon D'or: Beckham (2nd place) > De Bruyne (9th place)
FIFA best player: Beckham (2nd place x2) > De Bruyne (5th place)
CL: Beckham 1 >= De Bruyne 0 (or 1)
WC: De Bruyne (3rd place) > Beckham (quarter finals x 2)
Euro: Beckham (quarter finals) = De Bruyne (quarter finals)
International*: Beckham (17 goals 115 caps) = De Bruyne (21 goals, 80 caps)
Best season: De Bruyne (16 goals 20 assists in 48 games) > Beckham (16 goals 8 assists in 43 games)
Career stats*: Beckham (127 goals 205 assists) = De Bruyne (113 goals 190 assists)

*De Bruyne is still playing, at 29 he still has at least a few more years playing and winning at the top, so things could still change in future. But as of this point, Beckham is just slightly ahead (but they are very close).

 

[Ixion]

Beckham, Keane, Yorke, and Stam were the heartbeat of the Treble winning side. He was amazing that season, and around that time in general. I always thought after that he sort of leant into his "style" a bit too much and became less effective but during that 98-2001 period he was out of this World and the runner-up in the Balon Dor was well deserved.

I always thought this cross for Yorke was amazing in the Liverpool game


Makes it look so effortless. And this cross for Cole even though the keeper saves it, at 3:14


That Inter game inparticular Beckham was sensational. It was massively important to us winning the whole competition and Beckham covered every blade of grass.

 

[Gehrman]

I think whether he is underrated or overrated depends on how you rate him. Had one of the sweetest right foot's of all time. Goat crosser, goat passer and goat free kick specialist. Execellent mentality and work rate. Great vision as well. Still not sure I'd rate him better than Giggs, Scholes or Keane for that matter. They were all more or less equally good in my opinon, but obviously not at all times and had a different skillset.

 

[clarkydaz]

Unfortunately, being able to kick a ball well isn't enough. You know what makes the best players the best? Their ability to do multiple things and VERY well. Just look at Bruno Fernandes this season. He scores lots, he assists lots, he's a team player, he single handedly wins games when we're down, he's got a fighting spirit, he's faster than Beckham etc.

De Bruyne might not be as good as Beckham at kicking a ball to a certain spot......but in almost every other area he is miles better and I'd take that in my team anyday.

Are you saying Beckham wasnt a team player and lacked assists? Get real, Bruno scores lots on pens and gives the ball away cheaply

 

[united_99]

Unfortunately, being able to kick a ball well isn't enough. You know what makes the best players the best? Their ability to do multiple things and VERY well. Just look at Bruno Fernandes this season. He scores lots, he assists lots, he's a team player, he single handedly wins games when we're down, he's got a fighting spirit, he's faster than Beckham etc.

De Bruyne might not be as good as Beckham at kicking a ball to a certain spot......but in almost every other area he is miles better and I'd take that in my team anyday.

Becks did everything Bruno did and most of it even better and also against the best teams.