Comments on: Are David Beckham’s contributions on the field underrated?

By: joeyt360

joeyt360 — Mon, 26 Nov 2012 23:29:24 +0000

I think once fans have decided that a player ‘didn’t live up to the hype’, they have trouble seeing the rest of it. Even where it’s true, that’s often not all there is to say.

I think Beckham has fallen off a bit this year, to the point where he’s making the right choice to leave. But a year or two ago, he was giving the Galaxy a dimension that was very unusual in MLS and hard to defend–it was like having 75% of the playmaking ability of a top-notch A-Mid, even though he was playing so deep that to try to go out and defend him meant stretching your team out of shape. His style made many a good MLS d-mid basically irrelevant, marking space LA just didn’t need to use.

By: donjuego

donjuego — Sun, 25 Nov 2012 23:51:36 +0000

I’m thinking of all the LAG games I watched this year and what Beckham was doing and trying to picture him as a holding MF ….. and it is not working. I need more convincing on that one. If an attacking player withdraws further from the front in order to get the ball it doesn’t change what he is. Juninho seems to be the holding MF. Beckham moves forward without regard to the defensive shape left behind. This is not what a holding MF does — hence the name “holding.” Beckham plays as an attacking MF who plays the game in an unorthodox way but is well suited to his strengths. Still a player who makes everyone else on the field more dangerous through his ability to find them at any time.

By: danielofthedale

danielofthedale — Sun, 25 Nov 2012 19:39:09 +0000

I think what he has done the last few season on the field is being glossed over a bit. He has excellent last year on best team in the league and won the double with them (Supporters Shield and MLS Cup). This season while he a few injury concerns I think he still played at an above average MLS level.

I mean from my little corner of the MLS world he was far more successful on the field than off (in terms of MLS growth). No one I know that started watching MLS has done so because of the presence of David Beckham and the friend and family that talked Beckham did so more in celebrity area and never in anything soccer related. The fact that after an awful start to his MLS days that he has the chance to leave as a back to back Champion, that is real legacy I think.

By: dfstell

dfstell — Sun, 25 Nov 2012 18:36:02 +0000

Oh…..he’s a really good player. True…..he might not be worth his entire salary based on on-field contributions anymore and that’s probably why the Galaxy aren’t THAT sad to see him leaving. But, look at most professional sports. When you sign a 30-something athlete, usually their last year is a disaster where they’re horribly overpaid, always injured, a locker room cancer because they’re not in the starting lineup anymore, etc. The Galaxy got him back off a Best XI performance last year with only a 1 year contract. And he’s played quite well this year. No one ever suggested that the Galaxy sit him in favor of Michael Stephens or Sarvas. He wasn’t dominant, but he picked his spots, passes really well, is still deadly on set-pieces, seems to be a good teammate, etc.