David Beckham

[Kes]

Bentley needs to move to a bigger team competing in Europe every season IMO. Having good games against some poor Prem opposition doesn't justify him being selected for England.

[Tredder]

He is the person with the most successful crosses in the premiership, inclusive of Jonny Foreigner.

I would assume that includes games against the bigger sides, if you use your analogy then you can rule out Fat Franks last 9 goals, excluding the Liverpool one.

[Gordons Cumming]

Beckham can still offer something. He is still only 32 and is in very good shape. He can play for another 2 years at least in my view.

Bentley to start with Becks on the bench. What a good sub to have? Though Becks would fight hard to get first choice, such is the man.

[BR2]

That surely is the last time that we see Beckham playing for England.
Successful international football is much about pace and whenever the baldy tattooed one plays the whole team performs at his pace-slow.
Aimless long-balls from deep positions may be o.k in rugby but in football you need wingers to get to the bye-line and pull crosses back to forwards and midfielders arriving in the box.
We are so far behind internationally and can only hope that Capello will see through all the hype and get a proper balance to the side.
Friendlies do give him a chance to suss out what he thinks individual capabilities are and last night will surely have shown to him that Beckham and Brown are yesterday's men and that Rooney cannot play the lone striker role.

[Hampshire Royal]

Maybe we are so far behind Internationally because we havn't replaced Beckham adequately. I didn't see much evidence of pace in the France's style of play, nor do I see it when Italy play. So maybe Beckham's lack of pace isn't too important. He is, and has been for a long time, Engalnd's best passer and crosser of the ball. In the same way that Little isn't the fastest thing on a football field, we have missed his play this season. The only thing that should stop Beckham continuing his England career is the fact that he is playing at a relatively low level of club football.

And before anybody comes back to say that he is/was overrated, when I speak to Man U fans or Real Madrid fans, they talk of Beckham as being one of their true greats.

[BR2]

Maybe we are so far behind Internationally because we havn't replaced Beckham adequately. I didn't see much evidence of pace in the France's style of play, nor do I see it when Italy play. So maybe Beckham's lack of pace isn't too important. He is, and has been for a long time, Engalnd's best passer and crosser of the ball. In the same way that Little isn't the fastest thing on a football field, we have missed his play this season. The only thing that should stop Beckham continuing his England career is the fact that he is playing at a relatively low level of club football.

And before anybody comes back to say that he is/was overrated, when I speak to Man U fans or Real Madrid fans, they talk of Beckham as being one of their true greats.

HR,
Are there really that many Real Madrid fans that you know who speak so highly of the boy David when he played well in about 5 games for them in all the time that he was in Madrid having been dropped for much of the final season and only getting back in through injuries to other players?.
You miss my point about pace-it's about the sudden turn of foot that the likes of Anelka,Henry,Drogba and so on have that turns international games and when you have Beckham in the side the game is reduced to a slow tempo and loads of long-balls and no penetration with swift inter-passing.
Incidentally Little does beat players and does get to the bye-line to make telling crosses and he doesn't whack the ball forward 60 yards or so in the vague hope that somebody might just do something with it and that is why we have missed the great man so much this season.

[Wax Jacket]

Beckham can still offer something. He is still only 32 and is in very good shape. He can play for another 2 years at least in my view.

Bentley to start with Becks on the bench. What a good sub to have? Though Becks would fight hard to get first choice, such is the man.

I would agree - if he wasn't playing f-ing MLS

og foucrse the MLS season will work in his favour as he'll be playing games all summer in the elad up to the qualifiers.

[Hampshire Royal]

I know quite a few Real fans (about a dozen, including some who are STH), about the same as the number of real Man U fans that I know. They all say the same thing. I also know a lot of people in France and Switzerland, who although they're not Man U or Real fans, are fans of football in general. They all expressed surprise when Beckham didn't play for England and said words to the effect of 'If you have Beckham available, you should play him.'

I maintain that it was because of McClaren's big idea to be his own man and drop Beckham from the England setup that ultimately cost us a place in Euro 2008. I know that people see the circus surrounding Beckham, what with his wife and all, and think that all the hype surrounding him extends to his football abilities as well. This is simply not the case. He was (and possibly won't be again) a truly world-class player, and if you cut through all the crap surrounding him, he comes over as being a genuinely nice bloke as well.

[Dirk Gently]

I'm not a great fan of Beckham, but I agree that the way McClaren publicly announced that he was dropping him was shoddy and the FA should have been ashamed of "their man" acting like that in a futile attempt to stamp his authority on the team.

[BR2]

I know quite a few Real fans (about a dozen, including some who are STH), about the same as the number of real Man U fans that I know. They all say the same thing. I also know a lot of people in France and Switzerland, who although they're not Man U or Real fans, are fans of football in general. They all expressed surprise when Beckham didn't play for England and said words to the effect of 'If you have Beckham available, you should play him.'

I maintain that it was because of McClaren's big idea to be his own man and drop Beckham from the England setup that ultimately cost us a place in Euro 2008. I know that people see the circus surrounding Beckham, what with his wife and all, and think that all the hype surrounding him extends to his football abilities as well. This is simply not the case. He was (and possibly won't be again) a truly world-class player, and if you cut through all the crap surrounding him, he comes over as being a genuinely nice bloke as well.

I respect the views of you and your European mates but don't fans from all countries think of another national team and know one "name" in particular and are often amazed that the "name" player might not be selected?
Whether he has been a genuine "great" is very much a matter of opinion and not really worth debating but regardless of how good or average he may have been in the past do you really think it is the way forward for England and the World Cup in 2010 to keep him as the fulcrum of the side?

My view is that this has been a poor England side for some years with certain players being regulars such as Beckham,Gerrard,Lampard,Rooney,Owen,Ferdinand and Neville and getting nowhere near winning anything so surely there have to be significant changes to the personnel and the way that we play if we are to threaten to win something?
Long-ball football has proven not to be the way forward.

[Hampshire Royal]

If we're honest about it, we haven't had a good England side since 1996, or maybe even 1990. The players you mentioned are all very good players and most of them would get a game in most European national sides. Regardless, they are the best we have available and, unfortunately, with the influx of very good foreign players into the English game, for a long time to come.

Even at our level, we have a lot of foreign players at Reading. Where is the next Kerry Dixon or Neil Webb coming from if even we think that the way forward is to use foreign imports. I don't know what the solution is, or even if there is one. My belief has always been that having a good domestic league is better than having a good national side, but that's not to say I wouldn't like to see England do well.

[Victor Meldrew]

If we're honest about it, we haven't had a good England side since 1996, or maybe even 1990. The players you mentioned are all very good players and most of them would get a game in most European national sides. Regardless, they are the best we have available and, unfortunately, with the influx of very good foreign players into the English game, for a long time to come.

Even at our level, we have a lot of foreign players at Reading. Where is the next Kerry Dixon or Neil Webb coming from if even we think that the way forward is to use foreign imports. I don't know what the solution is, or even if there is one. My belief has always been that having a good domestic league is better than having a good national side, but that's not to say I wouldn't like to see England do well.

I agree with you HR on both counts.
The rays of hope are that most of the foreign players in our game play passing football and most have a good first touch so maybe the style will start to rub off on upcoming English players.
My grand-daughter attends a "gifted and talented" club for 2 hours every Saturday morning at Bournemouth University and although the name of the club is a bit pretentious the idea is to get young kids playing a number of sports and she probably got in by virtue of playing netball for Bournemouth U12s.
As well as netball,volleyball and a number of other games she also had football coaching termed "Brazilian" football.
Others on here may well have come across his before but for the benefit of those that haven't the kids are not allowed to put the ball in the air and the emphsis is on control and pass and move.
If kids are getting that sort of coaching rather than playing offside and hitting the ball long that I have seen forced upon kids in junior football then surely there is hope in the long term for our national game.

[Hampshire Royal]

My grand-daughter attends a "gifted and talented" club for 2 hours every Saturday morning at Bournemouth University

To make the teas, I assume.

You hit the nail on the head when you said that the style of football taught to kids at the more competetive level of football is not the way forward, and for all the good things done at the sort of clubs you talk about, they will be driven out by the reality of what's happening in the leagues. I would love to see all English players playing like Ronaldo, Henry, Klinsmann or Zola, but it ain't going to happen until we have a root and branch change happen to the way that junior football is played. That will take generations, if it ever happens at all.

[Dirk Gently]

As well as netball,volleyball and a number of other games she also had football coaching termed "Brazilian" football.

Is that where it's all played in a single line up the middle of the park with nothing out wide?

[Hampshire Royal]

Boom boom tish!!

[rg6royal]

Bentley needs to move to a bigger team competing in Europe every season IMO. Having good games against some poor Prem opposition doesn't justify him being selected for England.

No no......We dont want all the good players going to the big clubs ffs !

[Ian Royal]

Bentley needs to move to a bigger team competing in Europe every season IMO. Having good games against some poor Prem opposition doesn't justify him being selected for England.

No no......We dont want all the good players going to the big clubs ffs !

Especially Chelsea or Liverpool

One would teach lots of bad habits and dirty tricks and the other would teach how to be 3rd or 4th best at everything. Mind you that would be a huge improvement for England.