[Loki]

The only criticism I have of Beckham is the league he plays in. He can't expect to play in that league, where he is afforded time and space and can stroll through games and then expect to step up to International level. If he was playing in a more competitive league he would still be in every squad without doubt.

When Capello dropped Beckham at Real, it was the players that revolted that lead to Beckham being restored. With his renewed belief he helped propell Real to the title as his delivery was top notch allowing Ruud Van Nistlehorse to score freely. Okay he wasn't the stand out player in that Real side, however he was one of the main components in the side. Without him they wouldn't have won the league.

[st jjp]

Supras, on Jun 1 2008, 14:11, said:

Certainly I would love to get paid millions to stand stationery on a pitch.

And about the cliched he is a "real winner on the pitch" what utter balls.

Ronaldo is better than beckham has ever been.

Ronaldo and Beckham are 2 completely different types of players.

The only similarities are that they both wore 7 for Man Utd.

Ronaldo can run at people and is better in the air than Beckham.

Beckham can pick a pass better than Ronaldo can and is better at setpieces IMO

How is "He's a real winner on the pitch" utter balls? Every team needs leaders on the pitch and Beckham is undoubtedly one of them, more of a winner than Fat Frank, Gerrard or Terry IMO.

[djn]

the_saints_are_coming, on Jun 1 2008, 12:08, said:

England got to the quarter finals of the last two tournaments, about their natural level, with beckham playing well in both. If a scapegoat is needed he should be the last player to be blamed

You obviously expect better things from your Captain, so to say he's the last person to be blamed is a bit silly. He can certainly take part of the blame for the English being knocked out in 1998 though...

Good at what he did, no doubt, but definately not an all rounder, and sadly let the off the pitch antics take over from his football.

[Supras]

st jjp, on Jun 1 2008, 14:17, said:

Ronaldo and Beckham are 2 completely different types of players.

The only similarities are that they both wore 7 for Man Utd.

Ronaldo can run at people and is better in the air than Beckham.

Beckham can pick a pass better than Ronaldo can and is better at setpieces IMO

How is "He's a real winner on the pitch" utter balls? Every team needs leaders on the pitch and Beckham is undoubtedly one of them, more of a winner than Fat Frank, Gerrard or Terry IMO.

They are both right wingers who played for Manchester united. In terms of ability they are miles apart.

Nobody is denying beckham is good at set pieces, he is a two trick player.

When beckham has captained england what have they won? With all the "real winners" on the pitch you'd think England would win everything.

Fabregas has also been called a "real winner", and yet has won very litte. It is a meaningless cliched in football attached to certain high profile players.

[shetlandbairn]

I'd probably still play him on the right but once he surrendered the captaincy he should never have got it back.

Good player but definitely someone who is far more appreciated than his talent deserves. His attempt to start crying (ala Gascoigne) when he came off injured at the last world cup is one of the most cringe worthy moments I've witnessed in football.

[celtic_glasgow]

dogma, on May 31 2008, 23:30, said:

If nothing else it shows the power of marketing these days when people still try to punt Beckam as being a 'world class'player. Its the same league that Kenny Deuchar and Tam McManus are shining in ffs

Against USA the players he hit most with his 60 yard diagonal Hollywood passes were the USA centre halfs. Cos he hits an England player who scores off the 18th attempted pass, then he is lauded as a great set piece genius but in truth he hasnt played 3 decent games in a row since leaving Man U. Ferguson took the money from selling him and bought 2 duffers..and Ronaldo. Best bit of business since the guy who made CATS EYES for the roads. England sacrificed the last two tourneys that they played in to indulge him and huis media hungry wife and if they arent careful they will miss another tourney.

TBF I saw a lot of people sayign he 'deserves' his 100th cap cos he gives his all for England.......bollox you find me one single pub player who wouldnt give his 'all' for 10 seconds at Wembley in the shirt. Truth is he was happy to participate in off field marketing campaigns instead of focusing on the real job at hand. Thats why he is playing against Deuchar and McManus instead of Milan, Madrid and Man U

You are wrong. David Beckham in his day was a superb player. Remember when he single handedly dragged man u back into the game against madrid, that was a david beckham in his prime. I remember wathcing him at tom boyd's testimonial and that game was what convinced me how good he was. the running he does is first class and i think he was not is some player

[st jjp]

Supras, on Jun 1 2008, 14:47, said:

They are both right wingers who played for Manchester united. In terms of ability they are miles apart.

Nobody is denying beckham is good at set pieces, he is a two trick player.

When beckham has captained england what have they won? With all the "real winners" on the pitch you'd think England would win everything.

Fabregas has also been called a "real winner", and yet has won very litte. It is a meaningless cliched in football attached to certain high profile players.

Miles apart no............syles apart yes.

Beckham was never a winger.

He played on the right side of midfield but not as a winger.

Mix the two and you have one heck of a player.

Also for the winner comment, our own John Potter has been described by our coaching staff as being a winner, what exactly has he won?

You're showing you ignorance as to what people mean when they describe a player as a winner.

It refers to their attitude and willingness to win.

[Supras]

st jjp, on Jun 1 2008, 14:59, said:

Miles apart no............syles apart yes.

Beckham was never a winger.

He played on the right side of midfield but not as a winger.

Mix the two and you have one heck of a player.

Also for the winner comment, our own John Potter has been described by our coaching staff as being a winner, what exactly has he won?

You're showing you ignorance as to what people mean when they describe a player as a winner.

It refers to their attitude and willingness to win.

The willingness to win? John Potter?

It is a cliched staetement, one that can not be used to make an average player appear good.

[st jjp]

Supras, on Jun 1 2008, 15:22, said:

The willingness to win? John Potter?

It is a cliched staetement, one that can not be used to make an average player appear good.

Attitude can make all the difference between two players of similar ability.

[djchapsticks]

I like Beckham, always have. Despite his public image and the slating he has taken through his career on both a professional and personal level, he has always shown fantastic strength of character and a huge amount of diginity.

As far as I know, he has never been one to shun supporters of an autograph or photo oppurtunity despite the hysteria that seems to follow him everywhere.

Beckham is one of these lads who seems to be hated by many simply for the sake of it. Yes, he has never been one of the top 5 players in the world at any given time, but there is no doubting the ability he had when with Manchester United and would have walked into any club side on the planet 5 years ago.

This is despite him clearly being an imposter who does a bad impression of footballer.

[Supras]

TFC REDS, on Jun 1 2008, 18:53, said:

poor league MLS, i hope your joking. even Becks says it's better then most people give it credit for...MLS teams would have a field day with most of the clubs in scotland. Beckham will still get called up for england for the qualifyers, and maybe for the world cup if England advance.

Oh yes, such SPL stars Kenny Deuchar and Tam McManus have done wonders in the the MLS. Tam McManus is a first divison player at best. And of course becks thinks it is good, he's hardly going to say it's crap.

[MarreZ]

People saying beckham cant tackle? Beckham is a fierce tackler, i have seen him go in with everything time and time again for meaningless 50/50 balls.

The reason he's playing in the MLS isnt because he cant get a job elsewhere, he could have gone to most teams in England, stayed with Madrid, or any top team in europe, he went for the money, its incidental that Tam McManus plays in the same league.

[craigkillie]

Beckham is still deserving of a game in the England team, and is a far more inspirational captain than Terry. His attitude is unquestionable, and he never hides even when he comes under criticism.

I think almost any manager in the world would still want to have Beckham in his team, or at least in his squad, and not purely for financial reasons. David Bentley will be learning so much just from training with a player of Beckham's quality, and it is clear that he is being groomed as his successor.

[port-ton]

Supras, on Jun 1 2008, 12:27, said:

But you agree, he can't run, hit the ball with his left, tackle, header or score many goals. What he can do is actually very limited, it was him wimping out of a tackle that led to the goal that put England out of World Cup 2002.
And to suggest he was Real's best player is simply rubbish.

until the last couple of years it has been proven that beckham covered more grass than any other player at Man Utd and England, so you saying he can't run is bollocks. why does he need to hit the ball with his left foot, tackle or header? you see plenty of wingers who take it by a player and then cross it into the stands.

IMO the definition of world class or top class is someone who is someone like beckham who is the best at what he does and not a jack of all trades but a master of none.

there is no way you'll find a more productive right midfielder over the last 10 years than David Beckham, he's also made Van Nistelrooy's career be considerably better than it would have been. He's consistently done well in big games for club and country, scoring important goals time and again for England just when they needed it, being Madrids best player the 2nd half of last season, and it was his two corners that the goals in the champions league final came from for Man Utd, the second more so than the first.

He seems like a thoroughly nice, decent, genuine bloke who always has time for his fans, loves his kids and tries to live as normal a life as possible considering the circus that goes on around him, the guy just loves to play football and has an amazing attitude towards football.

if i had a choice between someone with Beckhams attitude and a fud like john terry then it would be beckham everytime.

[Dunning1874]

That interview was annoying after the game. He said "y'know" 14 times. Defoe proceeded to say it 17 times in his 3 sentences.

[BerwickMad]

7-2, on May 31 2008, 23:57, said:

It was the same for the 'legendary' free kick he scored against Greece at OT to get England their 2-2 draw.

The media conveniently never mention that he had missed something like 6 or 7 other attempts to score from free kicks before that one. Englands main tactic was a punt up to Shearer who dived at the edge of the box to get the kicks.

Id have loved to have seen him stuck on 99 caps. It would have been just reward for his boasting about deliberately getting himself booked in one qualifying game so that he missed a meaningless game to avoid a possible future suspension for the bigger games to come!

He was brilliant all game. He was the only England player who came out if it with any credit, didnt get downhearted and never gave up, basically dragging England to the World Cup single handed. A brilliant performance capped by a brilliant goal.

Supras, on Jun 1 2008, 14:01, said:

And most wingers run fast, something beckham could never achieve.

Do you just come on here to show how totally clueless you are about football?

[djn]

TFC REDS, on Jun 2 2008, 03:39, said:

but remember people have been saying scottish football is crap as well...a two team league with the only talent coming from outside scotland!! McManus scored a cracker the other night for Colorado. Becks should remember who pays his nice salary where he can live in Californis , the MLS fans.

You could argue the same about the English league, the Spanish league, the...

[djn]

Gallacticos, on Jun 2 2008, 13:23, said:

Doesn't really work with La Liga, when you consider some of the division's biggest stars include Raul, Xavi Hernznadez, Andres Iniesta, Bojan Krkic, David Villa, Pablo Ibanez, Fernando Morientes, Iker Casillas and Carlos Puyol, and of course, until last season, Fernando Torres. Of course, they still have Ronaldinho, Lionel Messi, Ruud Van Nistelrooy, Nihat, Diego Forlan, Maxi Rodriguez, Theirry Henry and Sergio Aguero but I'd suggest the balance is significantly more towards homegrown players in La Liga than say, in the Premiership or even the Bundesliga.

EDIT because I included Aguero twice

Fair point, it was more the criticism of Scotland for having a top division that only two teams win the majority of the time, which can be said of plenty of other countries (the Big Four in England are fast becoming a Big Two)...

But, just like anywhere, Spain has had it's share of imported superstars, like Jonathan Woodgate

[MarreZ]

Supras, on Jun 2 2008, 17:29, said:

Fierce tackler

50-50s balls

What beckham are you talking about



Having seen beckham square up to a guy for an illegal but thoroughly normal tackle, I have to disagree.

Of course he is miles ahead of john terry, but who isn't?



George Best compiled that list, but then again what does he know



This coming from the man who thinks he knows more about football than George best.

And who thinks given is better than gordon.

Oh dear

I also have the backing of Diego Maradonna, who thinks beckham is an average player and there are 100s like him around the world.

You have shown time and time again that you are a moron, you are not helping your cause here.

[Supras]

MarreZ, on Jun 2 2008, 18:26, said:

You have shown time and time again that you are a moron, you are not helping your cause here.

MarreZ you threw your toys out the pram when someone used your name in a sig, and your over moderation in e-chat has made you a laughing stock.