Monday, September 03, 2007

Pundits right over Beckham and the club v country debate...

I never thought I'd find myself agreeing with BBC Radio 5 Live's Alan Green, but over the current David Beckham club v country situation I do agree.

Green has pointed out that apparently Steve McLaren allowed Beckham to play the full 90 minutes against Germany because the former England captain wanted to play the whole game. On returning at speed to LA to play for Galaxy, his club manager Frank Yallop did likewise, again because Beckham 'wanted to'.

Green also quite rightly pointed out that Beckham was clearly injured and so shouldn't have even been expected to fly home for what was only a friendly, especially given that he was clearly not fully fit and carrying an injury.

Beckham, as so often happens when playing with injuries, has now picked up a potentially more serious injury to his knee.

Another pundit commented recently that Beckham isn't apparently capable of looking after himself when it comes to matters concerning his fitness and decision making. It seems that Steve McLaren and Frank Yallop are also guilty of not using common sense. McLaren should have told Beckham not to return home for the game with Germany, it was ridiculous to allow him to do so under the circumstances. I have some sympathy for Yallop, given Galaxy's situation having shelled out so much money to entice Beckham to the USA, but again playing injured players is stupid.

Gabriel Marcotti says that Beckham should retire from playing international football, given what has happened of late I tend to agree with him. Something has to give. That does not alter the fact in my view Beckham was treated disgracefully by Steve McLaren when he axed the former England skipper. If that had not happened then things would be very different, for starters Beckham wouldn't be playing for Galaxy.

2 comments:

  1. The injury against Pachuca had nothing to do with his ankle. It was a 50:50 ball and Beckham came off worse. end of. Alan Green is a tired, biased old blowhard who has always had it in for Beckham. I cannot stand him. When England struggle to break down Israel this Saturday, Beckham's value to the team will be clear. Agreed, he should never have played in the Germany game, and 2 games in 24 hours was ridiculous. Better managers than McLaren and Yallop would have prevented that. But he is definitely still more of a goal threat than the terminally inconsistent Wright-Philips, who is no more than a sub at international level. Beckham should be fit for the final game in Russia and if so should play, regardless of what these morons calling for his retirement say.

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  2. I agree with you about Green. But he did have a point about DB calling the shots. It is silly given his injury problems.

    Regardless of the 50:50, Beckham looked as though he was playing with an injury when he played for England and when you do that you are always liable to pick-up more injuries and Beckham himself has said that maybe this is a sign he needs to rest now - I'm not quite sure why DB said that, but I take your point about the Pachuca challenge.

    On the wider issue of whether or not he should retire. As I posted originally, he has been treated very badly, but he is still the most effective player in the squad when fit. The big problem is this travelling which isn't being helped by managers who are under pressure and seem incapable of making the right decision for the good of the player, club and country.

    It's such a shame that he decided to join Galaxy.

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