Beckham left out of GB Olympic team

[Ozztheboss]

Anyone who is glad that Beckham isn't in the Olympic team is either:

1) Utterly clueless about football

2) Completely heartless

3) Both of the above

It's the f**king Olympics on home soil, it's sports. Either you go with young players who can develop into great players (for 2014, 2016 etc etc) or you go for the win with the best players. Beckham ticks none of the boxes.

You are talking about a guy who chose to f**k off to the States whilst still having a few good years (if he is as good as the hype says he is) in him. He hasn't gotten any better with all those years of shagging his missus and sipping wine with his celebs friends.

 

[dkw]

He`s still the only wide player we have who can cross a ball, which shows just how sh*t the current young talent in this country are.

 

[shedpensioner]

The whole Beckham thing shows just what an arrogant prick Pearce has become, I used to think he was great as a player, but as a manager and coach he is far to interested in himself!

For all those saying this is a serious competition get real, no-one outside of the Olympic association see's it as that!

Plus if Team GB do win it, or even do well, the cries from the rest of world football for us to have 1 team instead of 4 will be deafening!

We should have picked Beckham as captain and played it out for the exhibition it was supposed to be for team GB! Its the only competition I think that its the taking part that counts and not the winning!

But Pearce hasn't grasped that!

Perhaps thats because he's still deluding himself that he should of been England manager! TWAT

 

[Davey Baby]

He`s still the only wide player we have who can cross a ball, which shows just how sh*t the current young talent in this country are.

And that my friends, is the point. Whenever Beckham has returned to the England team, even coming on as a sub with 20 minutes to go, he has looked head and shoulders above his teammates. He has more class in his left buttock than most of them have in their entire bodies. He can deliver a ball. He can ping a ball. I'm not saying he's still worthy of a spot, but you can see his class. Remember, this was a guy who in normal circumstances would have been a central midfielder, but he was just so good at crossing. The best crosser of a ball I have ever seen. Every single time he got the chance, the ball went in early, and it was expertly delivered. Fergie probably got rid of him at the right time because Beckham had started to have other priorities, but at Utd, he was one hell of a player. Goals, assists, free-kicks. Tenacity.

Some of you will say I'm just sticking up for him because he's pretty and us pretty boys stick together, but that's not the case. The fact that I'm pretty is neither here nor there and I wish you lot would stop talking about it. Please, concentrate on the football.

 

[bluedave]

Best player in England by miles at his peak. Not being able to head the ball, dribble, or tackle doesn't change that, nor does having an annoying wife.

As he was the player who's job it was to provide crosses to others, his poor heading wasn't often a problem. He didn't need to be able to dribble past players due to his crossing and long range passing being second to none. His tackling was poor but no worse than most other wide players.

It's a shame he's not going to the Olympics, all the younger and less experience players would have benefited a lot from having him around even if he hasn't played a proper competitive match for years.

 

[ace]

Don't necessarily want to link to them, but Martin Samuel has a pretty good article on it over at the Daily Mail.

 

[just]

Better / more important England players for me from Beckham's international era;

Seaman, Terry, Cole, Sheringham, Scholes, Campbell, Gascoigne, Shearer as you can see it is a pretty long list.

Michael Owen, in the brief few years when he was fully fit and fast, was also more of a key player than Becks IMO.

 

[shedpensioner]

Better / more important England players for me from Beckham's international era;

Seaman, Terry, Cole, Sheringham, Scholes, Campbell, Gascoigne, Shearer as you can see it is a pretty long list.

I'm assuming that your dislike of Beckham is clouding your judgement here??

I'd perhaps give you Gascoigne and Shearer, even though I'd argue that Gazza was a different era, but the rest above Beckham in his era, I don't think so!

 

[Katon]

Cole and Campbell were both among the best defenders on the planet in the early 00's, and Owen's '98 World Cup and performance against Germany match up with anything Beckham did. Of that list, I'd say Seaman, Sheringham, and Scholes were all noticeably worse for England than Beckham, Gascoigne's obviously from a different era (his last tournament was Euro 96; Beckham's international debut came that September), and Terry also didn't start playing for England til Beckham was starting to wind down a bit (2003). Shearer, Cole, Campbell, and Owen . . . I don't know that I'd argue any of them were clearly better than Beckham on the international stage, but he certainly wasn't head and shoulders above the rest.

 

[Englishman]

And that my friends, is the point. Whenever Beckham has returned to the England team, even coming on as a sub with 20 minutes to go, he has looked head and shoulders above his teammates. He has more class in his left buttock than most of them have in their entire bodies. He can deliver a ball. He can ping a ball. I'm not saying he's still worthy of a spot, but you can see his class. Remember, this was a guy who in normal circumstances would have been a central midfielder, but he was just so good at crossing. The best crosser of a ball I have ever seen. Every single time he got the chance, the ball went in early, and it was expertly delivered. Fergie probably got rid of him at the right time because Beckham had started to have other priorities, but at Utd, he was one hell of a player. Goals, assists, free-kicks. Tenacity.

But that's the point. The issue is not how good Beckham was at his peak, but whether a 37 year old Beckham should be in the GB squad. If it's a serious team intent on winning/going far in the competition, then there's really no case for picking Beckham based on footballing merit. If it's all about sentiment and filling seats (though I'm not sure how Beckham's presence in the GB team will make Morocco vs Honduras a sell out) then let it become a Beckham farewell tour. Pearce made his choice and I agree with him, though I doubt the organisers do.

 

[ace]

So apparently Senegal are bringing Ba and Cisse, and Uruguay are bringing Forlan, Cavani, and Suarez. Both are in GB's group.

There might not be much of a chance for our boys to impress, although that would get them back to us sooner.