Totally Extra: Let's talk about Becks

Ian Irving (0:02)

The Athletic FC.

James Richardson (0:09)

Totally Extra, Totally Beckstra, yesterday we're looking back at the career of DB7, Manchester, Madrid, Milan, MLS and Metatarsals. We look back and ask, who was Becks before he was Bram Beckham? Was he really as good at bending as he is now at vending? And how did he always come through with those big game moments? Let's talk about Becks in this Totally Extra.

Monday, the 5th of October. Woo. I'm excited. Duncan Alexander is here and he's pumped.

Duncan Alexander (0:49)

Big time.

James Richardson (0:49)

Big time. Ian Irving is in the studio.

Ian Irving (0:52)

Hello again.

James Richardson (0:52)

Hi Ian.

Been a while. Down from that Manchester.

Ian Irving (0:56)

Yes.

James Richardson (0:56)

It's been Asia since we saw you.

Ian Irving (0:58)

I've not been on The Totally Show. I was looking the other day for about six years, I think.

SPEAKER_5 (1:03)

Wow.

Ian Irving (1:03)

It's probably a reason for that.

James Richardson (1:05)

Statue of limitations. And now.

SPEAKER_5 (1:06)

Yeah, exactly.

Ian Irving (1:07)

All good reasons, clearly.

James Richardson (1:09)

No, it's great to have you in and with such a kind of firsthand part to play.

Ian Irving (1:14)

Yes.

James Richardson (1:14)

In today's show. Also joining us, Michael Cox. Hello, Michael.

Michael Cox (1:19)

Hi, James.

James Richardson (1:20)

Michael is on the video link like Charlie and Charlie's Angels on a big screen behind us. Very nice. We're doing David Beckham today. Why are we doing David Beckham, Duncan?

Duncan Alexander (1:29)

Well, ostensibly because it's the anniversary of many things he's done.

James Richardson (1:33)

Yeah, true.

Duncan Alexander (1:34)

Including the last minute free kick against Greece, which happened 25 years ago.

James Richardson (1:40)

On the day that we are dropping this show. It was also because we've done a number of these extras and invariably there's a certain amount of research involved. And the thing that's come through to me most when looking at old footage is this one player putting in a staggering array of pinpoint precision passes down field and David Beckham is not Peerler. Although had he been born in Italy, maybe it would have been.

Ian Irving (2:08)

Is he underappreciated? I think there's a massive cliche with these sort of individuals where they are talked about so much and they are rated so much despite being supposedly underrated. But there is one thing with David Beckham.

His football has been forgotten because of everything else and there is a lot of everything else to squeeze in with this particular individual. But the football was really, really good.

James Richardson (2:33)

Michael, was he better than we remember? And did he also spend much of his career out of what maybe should have been his position?

Michael Cox (2:42)

I think he's a funny footballer. I think he's probably overrated by people who don't know that much about football because he's such a big name. And I think he can be underappreciated by people who want to see silky, classy, creative players because in a sense, he wasn't that player. But yeah, he was hugely effective in a role that we don't see that much anymore, which is the wide midfielder that was a pure crosser.

I think later in his career, he had to change his position a little bit. I don't think he adjusted particularly well when he had to, but certainly at his peak, that Ferguson Manchester United team on the right of a 4-4-2 crossing the ball into two strikers, he was the best in the world at doing that.

James Richardson (3:20)

Because there is this body of opinion that had he been playing in the middle, like he did for example at the Champions League final in 1999, which turned out pretty well, that he could have unleashed a whole new aspect to his game, an ability to dictate beyond just dinking in those magnificent cross-field balls.

Duncan Alexander (3:38)

Well, you say it went well, but they weren't very good in that game and...

SPEAKER_3 (3:41)

They were awful in that game. Yeah.

Duncan Alexander (3:43)

I mean, it took famously two late goals to turn it around, but I think Beckham tried many times to play. I mean, Sven tried to use him as this quarterback. I remember England, they lost away in Northern Ireland. Laurie Sanchez is Northern Ireland, and Beckham was playing a deep role in that. And yes, he could ping a ball a long way with a lot of accuracy, but it didn't really add much to a team.

James Richardson (4:05)

So this notion that had he been born in Spain or Italy, he would have grown up as a Davide Pirlo figure.