David Beckham Proves his Critics Wrong!!

Rikand

David Beckham said he answered his critics after scoring the winning goal against Ecuador to send England through to the World Cup quarter-finals.

"It was an ugly performance but it was what we wanted and we'll take ugly performances," the England skipper told BBC Radio Five Live.

"It was nice to silence a few people who have been critical. I can handle my criticism and I'll prove them wrong.

"It was a great feeling to get a goal and put us into the quarter-final."

Anybody else agree that Beckham has shown us all how wonderful a player he is and how well he has played! ?? :rolleyes:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/world_cup_2006/teams/england/5103576.stm

5starpool

yes, *that* proves everyone wrong!!!!!

zAbbo

I think he has answered critics somewhat, goals are hard to come by in the World Cup, and he has now scored in 3 seperate tournies.

Dave!

That's the only thing he did in the match.

It will be interesting to see what Steve McClaren does about him, though... hmmm...

herbieflowers

I wouldn't drop him, his delivery (although he didn't show it today) is enough for me to leave him in

Jonny Arson

It's only during this world cup that the ''critics'' have finally woken to the fact that Beckham is the single most overrated footballer of all time. All he can do is take very good corners and free kicks. Aside from that he wouldn't have a prayer of being in the England team on merit. The only way he'll prove his critics wrong is by being adding another dimention to his game and that won't happen since he's always been the same player as we are seeing now.

herbieflowers

Zane from MTV2 wrote:

It's only during this world cup that the ''critics'' have finally woken to the fact that Beckham is the single most overrated footballer of all time. All he can do is take very good corners and free kicks. Aside from that he wouldn't have a prayer of being in the England team on merit. The only way he'll prove his critics wrong is by being adding another dimention to his game and that won't happen since he's always been the same player as we are seeing now.

"all he does"?! Hehe, seems like a lot to me!

Jonny Arson

Zane from MTV2 wrote:

It's only during this world cup that the ''critics'' have finally woken to the fact that Beckham is the single most overrated footballer of all time. All he can do is take very good corners and free kicks. Aside from that he wouldn't have a prayer of being in the England team on merit. The only way he'll prove his critics wrong is by being adding another dimention to his game and that won't happen since he's always been the same player as we are seeing now.

herbieflowers wrote:

"all he does"?! Hehe, seems like a lot to me!

Only having the ability to take free kicks and corners doesn't make you great footballer or a contributor. There's more to football than dead balls or crossing, ask Argentina, Brazil, Italy or Spain when one of them wins the World Cup.

wheres me jumpa

Johnny Giles put it perfectly.

SOmething along the lines... "hes in the team for his set pieces, a free kick takes five seconds out of 90 minutes"

And its true, I always liked Beckahm but Im amazed at how poor his play is. Not sure what has happend as he used to have a great engine and work ethic. Maybe its age but hes 31, really looks after himself, hardly over the hill?

Attractive Nun

Beckham does not deserve his place. Putting aside set piece play, there is, in my opinion, absolutely no argument against the idea that Aaron Lennon, Steven Gerrard or even Shaun Wright Phillips would do a better job than Beckham playing from right midfield. He is, for all intents and purposes, in this team for his set piece play, and to an extent for his crossing from open play.

This might be fair enough except for a few small facts. Firstly, the quality of his set piece play in this tournament has been below par. England have had very few, if any, decent chances from corners (despite having Crouch, Terry and Ferdinand as target men). Beckham has put in one world class delivery (when Paraguay scored the OG) and one good shot (when he scored today). Apart from that, I genuinely can't remember thinking "Ooh, good ball, someone should have got on the end of that", or "Jesus John Terry, how did you miss that one". Yes, his two excellent deliveries have been important, but so have the many more he has wasted.

What's more relevant, however, is the fact that there are two, maybe three other players in the team who can provide excellent service from set pieces. Lampard has been far more consistent for Chelsea from free xkicks this season than Beckham for Real, and Gerrard can take a fabulous free kick on his day. Rooney also takes great corners. The difference between the quality of Beckham's set piece play and Lampard's (if indeed there is a difference) is certainly not enough to justify the loss of a player like Aaron Lennon - who has shown more than once that he opens up the entire pitch for England - or the loss of a second striker, if dropping Beckham would facilitate that.

And as for his crossing, it's quite clear that Beckham needs a player like Gary Neville behind him to facilitate his crossing, and even then he has gone wide very rarely. Particularly if Beckham's inclusion means 4-5-1, Rooney could be the only man in the box, and he is not good in the air. In any case, Neville is out, so the debate is pointless.

Drop Beckham!!!

casanova_kid

To be honest, his performance was 3out of 10 today. Yes, he contributed the goal, but it was a free kik that would have been saved by a decent keeper. He didn't put in any worthwhile crosses, his workrate was deplorable, he offered Hargreaves(awful aswell) no protection, he didn't give the full back any problems, and he looked extremely unfit(like a lot of Real players incidentally). This proving his critics wrong rubbish is just PR, and PR is all Beckham's been about for the last 6 years. If Lennon isn't brought in for the portugal match, it will be a travesty.

Freedomfighter

Sven choose a poor team to bring to the world cup. Becks should have been dropped. Ok he scored a good free kick. But like above a good keeper would have saved it. But the game was boring. They are up against Portugal next and its bye bye England. England do have the players to win the tournament but the manager is there down fall.
The interview he said " before the match i didnt feel great ". This statment alone should have had him dropped. It is the world cup gentlemen, if your not 100% you dont play. And because of this they are not going to win the cup. It annoys me to think a team full of stars cannot play together. But its because the manager cannot see the best 11 to put out.
Sven is useless.
Oh before i go, the critics never really questioned his ability to take free kicks its the rest of the match they are giving out about and in my humble opinion he has answered nothing. In fact i believe he should never wear the english jersey again.

mike65

The statement was delusional but having scored today if there ever was a chance he'd get dropped he won't now.

Mike.

casanova_kid

Ah, he'll never get dropped, that's what makes it so funny really.

PHB

Just an aside, while it's easy to say he is overrated now, but up until 2002, he was one of the best, if not the best, right winger in the world.

casanova_kid

PHB wrote:

Just an aside, while it's easy to say he is overrated now, but up until 2002, he was one of the best, if not the best, right winger in the world.

Beckham was at his best in 1999, treble winning season. At that time, he was playing in a disciplined right wing position, where he stayed out there. Gary Neville would then make space for him to deliver crosses into the box, which were nearly always excellent. He was also a far more consistent free kick and corner kick player. he was never, however world class, and was really just another part of an excellent midfield, with impeccable talents such as Keane and Scholes.
To see the perfect Beckham performance watch his CL quarter final performance against Inter Milan that season.

rcs

Freedomfighter wrote:

The interview he said " before the match i didnt feel great ". This statment alone should have had him dropped. It is the world cup gentlemen, if your not 100% you dont play.

Exactly, its about the team & not just one single (ridiculously over-rated, living on past glories) player.

Just take Germany as an example, Michael Ballack wasn't able to train a day or two before his opening match & he was dropped, rightly so. Since he's come back he has been excellent. Goes to show that putting the team before one player is the way to go.

Incidently, obviously i don't know what happened but if Beckham was unwell & didn't tell anyone before the game he should (but won't) be severely reprimanded. If Sven did know but still played him, it showed his complete & utter lack of balls.

Aarron Lennon, must (again, but won't) start against the Portugese for them to have any chance.

Attractive Nun

Strange how things change. Obviously it has something to do with age/loss of mobility etc, but I do think that Beckham needs the team formed around him for him to shine. With someone like Ruud Van Nistelrooy as a target, and someone like Gary Neville (or even Cicinho) creating space for you, yeah he can be good. But you don't base a team around a winger.

Nalz

PHB wrote:

Just an aside, while it's easy to say he is overrated now, but up until 2002, he was one of the best, if not the best, right winger in the world.

Beckham may have played right side of midfield, but I'd never call him a winger. He has been overrated for the last 4 years. true, United got 3 or 4 great seasons out of him 98-02, but he was never world class...and he is not half the player he was at his peak. Great crosser of a ball with half a yard of space, deadly dead ball specialist....but that is not enough to be world class. can anyone add anything to that? He can't tackle, control a game, head a ball, very rarely tracks back, poor left foot, cannot pass people with either pace or skill.

granted, great at what he can do, but there is alot that he cant. If he didnt score that free kick today, this thread wouldnt have existed...not in a positive fashion anyway. I'm a United supporter, and I see how much RVN missed beckhams supply to him, how important he was in the treble season, but like I said he aint half the player he was...and there was always key elements of his game missing to be called world class.

Nalz

rcs wrote:

Aarron Lennon, must (again, but won't) start against the Portugese for them to have any chance.

Lennon is a great talented youngster, but I fancy England even without him as Prtugal will be without 3 players, and possibly 4 if Figo is brought up for his antics. I rather have Lennon, but it wont happen and I think England have a good chance, despite being extremely poor in this WC

rcs

Source

England's match-winning captain David Beckham was suffering from dehydration before the last-16 clash against Ecuador even kicked off, it has been revealed.

The Real Madrid midfielder scored the only goal from a curling 60th-minute free-kick but was later seen being sick on the pitch. Beckham was visibly struggling in the closing moments of the match and was eventually replaced by Tottenham winger Aaron Lennon in the 87th minute.

After the match a Football Association spokesman confirmed the 31-year-old former Manchester United player had been suffering from dehydration prior to kick-off.

If this is true, How could he possibly be suffering from de-hydration, in a professional setup such as England's??

someone should have thrown him a pepsi before the game!

Attractive Nun

Jesus to play Beckham is bad enough in itself, but to play him with dehydration in 35 degrees when England's main problem was handling the heat... jayney. Probably his own decision.

Daemonic

If Beckham was the only player who could deliver good free kicks then fair enough, but Gerrard and Lampard can both deliver a good freekick or score from them.
Given the difference Lennon made when he came on, even if it was against very tired players, I think he would give the team much better attacking options.

PHB

You can say everything you want to say about Beckham, but would anybody be really suprised to see him play **** against Portugal but still score the winning goal from a free kick?

Pigman II

The way I look at it England are a pretty blunt instument no matter what XI you pick so why not have the Beckham dead-ball and crossing option in there? It's not as tho if you leave him out and put someone else England are suddenly going to become this amazing free-flowing attacking machine.

He proved today that he was the difference. If Lennon or someone else had been in there the game would probably have ended 0-0 and England would have been showing us how good they are at penos.

MisterAnarchy

rcs wrote:

Source



If this is true, How could he possibly be suffering from de-hydration, in a professional setup such as England's??

someone should have thrown him a pepsi before the game!

Most likely he had diarrohea.

Andrew 83

Although I do consider Beckham over-rated and think he's had a terrible World Cup he had more assists than any other player in La Liga this year. I've never really liked him but I think some of the criticism goes overboard, he's one of Real's better players at the moment.

The Clown Man

The guy adds absolutely nothing to the English football TEAM at the moment. He makes sure england have no shape whatsoever and he should be sent packing asap.

England is playing with no width at the moment and and no drive because their captain is a guy who would prefer to sit at the touchline commenting than actually get involved in a game.

I'm so annoyed that he scored today because it marres an otherwise dreadful performance and only again disguises another meagre showing from the england "captain" so he can pretend that he actually belongs on a football field. The guy is such an incredible liability and is the main reason that England have had no width or attacking prowess. For christ sake they have been playing with an empty right wing; what do you expect?

I still fully believe that england have the talent required to win the world cup. I just can't see anyone stopping Ericsson from singlehandedly turning english football into the laughing stock of the world.

I am so glad Ireland did not qualify for the world cup because not playing at all is soooooo much better than watching a team of talented individuals being turned into a team of talented individuals who do not have a bloody clue what they are trying to do by a guy who looks mainly at the tabloids for inspiration for his next team formation. Imagine Ireland actually had a chance of winning the WC this year, and imagine watching one lone sweedinsh man bring it all tumbling down in the most obvious fashion imaginable. It would be so ridiculously frustrating. Thank god I can sit quietly for this year and laugh as it happens to someone else.

God help Ericsson, the absolute pure and utter capper, and let's hope he can prove all the women got to his head or something cause he will be the first man executed in the UK for 100 years if he doesn't come up with something soon. The fcking total retard.

Such a haemerroid on the arse of football I have never seen before. The complete tool.

Never mind their "glorious" queen, God save the English football team cause they are totally fcked by theie sweedish media queen.

vorbis

ok are people criticising him just because he's David Beckham? What I saw today was an absolutely DREADFUL performance by the English TEAM. Do you honestly think dropping Beckham would have made that much of a difference?

Lampard and Gerrard again were woeful in the center, for most of the match rooney was off the pace. England had NO chances in the first half. Is that Beckham's fault? When you're playing that badly you have to keep him on since he offers a threat.

Pigman II

The Clown Man wrote:

Imagine Ireland actually had a chance of winning the WC this year, and imagine watching one lone sweedinsh man bring it all tumbling down in the most obvious fashion imaginable. It would be so ridiculously frustrating. Thank god I can sit quietly for this year and laugh as it happens to someone else.

Were you not watching our qualification campaign? Change "winning the WC" to "qualifying" and get rid of that sweedinsh and thats pretty much how I've felt about watching Ireland 2004-05.

Only difference is we had to endure it over 10 games instead of just 7 (or just 5?) and in places like Basel instead of Berlin.

Nalz

PHB wrote:

You can say everything you want to say about Beckham, but would anybody be really suprised to see him play **** against Portugal but still score the winning goal from a free kick?

thats alot of ifs and buts...especially as he has already scored a winning goal from freekick in this WC, but come on is that enough to earn your place in the team? Lennon deserves a chance, even though he is raw. I would not play beckham in the next game...and if he does play and plays well against Portugal; it is still the case that he has had a poor WC, alot poorer than other English players ( thats saying something)

super_furry

Gerrard and Lampard are both equilly as capable of scoring from free-kicks as Beckham. Now admitidly, Lampard was the only player on the pitch yesterday that looked worse than Beckham, but Beckham's been consistantly poor for two years.

Mitch Connor

I think it is completely uinfair to blame englands lack of shape on beckham - Lampard and gerrard have been useless so far, Gerrard's only saving grace is the fact he has scored - but the overall performance of both players has been terrible, especially lampard who only seems interested in personal glory.

People give out about beckham, but it was David who supplied the needed moments against Paraguay, T&T and Ecuador - without him would england have made it though? to say lampard or gerrard are just as good with the set peice is ridiculas - lampards passing and shooting has been terrible, as has gerrards apart from his one good shot against T&T - why would they be any better at free kicks?

super_furry

Because they score from free-kicks week in, week out for their clubs. They never get a chance to take any for England because glory boy Becks hogs them all, despite yesterday's being the first one he'd scored in three years.

Mitch Connor

They also play well week in week out for their clubs, while they have been crap for england. I especially take note with Lampards inclusion. All his free kicks are touched off and then hammered, why would he be any more likely to score doing that then he has from open play - his shooting has been horrible. Gerrard has skied a lot of efforts too. Beckham is still one of the best with a dead ball.

Duras

PHB wrote:

You can say everything you want to say about Beckham, but would anybody be really suprised to see him play **** against Portugal but still score the winning goal from a free kick?

Even without 2 of their main guys, Portugal is the first real team that England will face. So I doubt that Becham will get lucky again. Score a goal from freekick? Maybe. Score the winning goal? For the sake of football, Portugal should score the winning goal(s).

BaZmO*

Freedomfighter wrote:

The interview he said " before the match i didnt feel great ". This statment alone should have had him dropped. It is the world cup gentlemen, if your not 100% you dont play

Rooney, anybody?

therecklessone

PHB wrote:

You can say everything you want to say about Beckham, but would anybody be really suprised to see him play **** against Portugal but still score the winning goal from a free kick?

IMO, Beckham's untouchable position in the England team was cemented at OT against the Greeks when he scored the last minute equaliser from a free kick.

Sheringham, who had scored England's first, tried to take the ball of Goldenballs to take the free but Beckham was having none of it. Beckham had taken seven frees that afternoon, none of which troubled the keeper.

Had he missed, he would have been vilified.

That he can hit a deadball is without question. Does he deserve to be in the team? No.

Mitch Connor

neither does Lampard, but he ain't going to get dropped either, or threads devoted to his suitability.

therecklessone

Tauren wrote:

neither does Lampard, but he ain't going to get dropped either, or threads devoted to his suitability.

Lampard's not come out with a Beckham-like statement during this WC though.

And check every England thread for eirebhoy vs WWM on Lampard.

ianmc38

The difference when Aaron lennon comes on is ridiculous. they actually look threatening on the wing. It'sa disgrace the Beckham is playing instead of Lennon or SWP. He is useless at everything other than set pieces and the odd long diagonal pass.