Opta puts David Beckham's all time career assists at 269. Recently KdB equalled his record. KdB was is an attacking position, Beckham played deep in the midfield. Absolutely insane stats.

Peak Becks was unreal, covered more distance than any player in the world at the time, scored important goals and assisted important goals, big game player, could play anywhere in the middle. One of my favourite players

Beckham was world class. He could play at a world class level at RM and CM (he played CM in the 1999 FA Cup Final and 1999 UCL Final). He was intelligent in link up play with the midfield and forwards, he would track back and defend well, and he is one of the best passers of the ball the game has ever seen. And he was also a big game player who scored crucial goals and assisted when it mattered most (goal on the final day of the 1999 PL season vs Spurs, a crucial goal in the 1999 FA Cup semi-final vs that Arsenal side, the 2002 free-kick vs Greece to qualify England for the World Cup, and he delivered the two corners that sealed the Treble for United in 1999). An absolute legend of the game.

I realised David Beckham is a beast when I was in college and we had to do the bleep test, we were talking about high scores and who was gunna run the best, the fastest guy could just about scrape level 13 and he was basically just built different out-stripped everyone. Then the instructor joined the conversation and casually mentioned that the test goes up to level 25 and that David Beckham complete 'the HARD version' of it pretty easily as part of his fitness regime o.O David Beckham is basically Jay from the Inbetweeners but can actually back up what he says o.O

Data analyst here. The stats on distance covered at 9:00 are raising big red flags with me, for various reasons. 1. The degree of difference (DB's avg much greater than anyone else's best) is so large as to raise suspicions about data consistency. 2. You offer no contemporaneous comparisons for DB distance that might reveal different definitions, methodologies or trends. 3. The sources do appear to be different (I don't know where Kevin Mitchell got his figures, and I assume you don't either or you'd quote the primary source directly) The two things I'd look for initially are whether there's a consistent methodology that can be used to compare these figures, and whether the general increase in high intensity bursts you commented on is correlated with a reduction in total distance covered - think marathon v sprint. It may be that the reality really is as crazy as your stats suggest. But this is sufficiently outlandish that you need to eliminate at least the obvious confounders.

That trophy Beckham won in his last season of Madrid was was crazy. Beckham carried that team

I remember watching him being subbed off for England ( in his last game? ) in a pub full of fans who considered him a wanker. Couldn't believe the abuse he got. He always gave 100% for England. Seemed an alright guy and very good player to me

Becks was an overall outstanding player. His workrate was crazy, he could set the tempo of the game, he could score and assist and everything you expect from a great midfielder. But on top of that he is by far the best crosser i've seen on this game and one of the best fk takers ever. And he was also a clutch assisting and scoring on the most important matches. And dude... was that boy pretty.

David Beckham is the kind of player that can actually break Guardiola football. With him in the team, nobody would dare complain against long ball, because they would always loose. Gosh I miss him.

Big thing was his uncanny self-assurance. I don’t know if he was always like this, but I watched his interview with Gary Neville (the one in Qatar) & he just seemed like he could be put into any situation and not be overwhelmed.

Paul Scholes was another reason Beckham wasn't in the middle at United, another World class underrated player. But yes Becks was just awesome and so was Scholes.

best right foot in the history of the game. No one could cross like he did and his freekicks were out of this world. His long passes were always perfectly timed and dropped exactly were they needed to be. But what lot of people forget because he's a pretty face is : his work rate, his grit, his tenacity and the fact that he covered more ground than anyone in both direction of the pitch. He was a great defender and wasn't afraid to dirty his kit. He was the perfect RM and he sacrificed himself for the team and had amazing vista, vision and awareness. And more than that, he's always delivered on the biggest stage, in the biggest games with assists, goals

This guy paved the way for the modern-day iconic RW position (and Utd #7). Will forever be a legend! GGMU ❤

This was one of the most interesting football KZfaq videos I’ve ever watched. Would love to see more analysis of players from the past like Zidane or R9

Yes. His mental fortitude was extraordinary: hammering that penalty straight down the middle against Argentina and the undisguised catharsis in his celebration remains an iconic moment in the story of the England national team. And he’s carried that fortitude into his present successes. An England legend.

Yes he was WC. Very underrated player. Best passer of the ball in the world.

I always thought Beckham and Pirlo had a similar skillset. So glad to hear someone else say it. But because Beckham was English and his "celeb lifestyle" he was either idolized by people that hardly knew football, and those that actually did (but not really) underrated the hell out of him.

Beckham was exceptional his 'one trick pony' stuff. But what regularly gets overlooked, and I'm glad Adam brought it up here, was his work rate & defensive intensity. He was very happy to leave some studs in, showing no mercy. As nasty as Neville was, Beckham more than stood up for himself. You can't hit those kind of running averages if you aren't working back again. Teams would target Beckham's side as it was perceived as weaker than Giggs' side. Total mistake too. United were a brilliantly balanced team, left & right, skill & endeavour, intensity & moments of magic!

Great video. As a season ticket holder for his entire time at United his work rate shone through clearly at every game. He was also much better on the ball than people give him credit for. Glen Hoddle spotted his potential for central midfield and people remember the Argentina sending off rather than the quality of those England performances. A lovely fella off the pitch, always patient and courteous with fans and devoting lots of time to charitable causes from very early in his career.

What's fascinating about that 98/99 season was it was off the back of the sending off against Argentina where he was vilified by the English media and by the British public (which is why I think he gets underrated). The papers put his face on a dartboard and pubs were hanging effigies of him, yet he would go on to have the best season an English player has had in the PL. He turned up in every big game that year with key goals and assists, his goal against Arsenal in the fa cup semi, his assist for Roy Keane a goal against Juve as well as those in the final all spring to mind, the list goes-on. It's a great injustice he lost to Rivaldo for the ballon d'or who's Barcelona didn't make it out of the group stage because Man United knocked them out.

Honestly that whole United squad needs one of these videos about them. So many people these days underrate and frankly disrespect the likes of Neville, Scholes, Keane, Beckham, Yorke and Cole.

Beckham for me was a genius, even if like you say I only ever saw him do the same thing for Man Utd and England what he did very few came close. If you have never covered Paul Scholes would love to hear your thoughts. A player I never appreciated until he retired a master of the game.

His short passing in tight spaces was excellent as well. Becks, Keane, Scholes all passing it round and never losing it. All technically skilled players which controlled games and won titles

People always forget Beckham STARTED his career in the middle, especially when he was number 24/10.. when kanchelskis was out on the wing He was playing centrally in THAT world cup campaign under Hoddle too, but eventually he slotted into that custom built WIDE wide man position so long he nearly forgot how to play centrally till he got around Zizou &R9 &Figo &re-upped his game, whilst retaining his inhuman workrate &commitment

Actually he was better than most people nowadays think. His massive star power and his lifestyle has led some people to believe that he was kind of a primadonna in the pitch, but that couldn't be further from the truth. Not only he was an amazing playmaker but he was physical, running and marking like there's no tommorow(in an era where most playmakers of his class werent)

Let's put aside Beckham as a global icon, at his prime, off the pitch, he is famous as Cristiano and Messi, on the pitch he is top player with high level footballing skills, particularly his unique ability as a free-kick specialist and to make an accurate cross even when he's running, also Beckham was runner up 1999 FIFA's best player and third place in 2001

Love this video - I always argue he was world class and underrated, and my mates laugh at me - will send them this vid

2 Things: 1. The ball moves faster than any other player, and when you can play a ball that flies over 50 yards and it hits your teammate on the run, yeah, you’re fucking good. 2. Read number 1

I think it's insane when we think about this. So many people put bad energy out there for one mistake literally. I mean could you imagine being him? Just being a good athlete and having all that pressure at such a young age. The loyalty was very questionable during his down years my god This man went through so much and still proved to the entire world. That he was a true natural.

This has easily become one of, if not my favorite football tactics and analysis channels! Love your match breakdowns and insight, and thank you for yet another great video (Beckham was really damn good). I have one bit of friendly audio feedback- sometimes when you produce plosive sounds while speaking, the mic picks it up as deep bumps which are quite audible on headphones or bigger speakers and can be distracting . A pop filter and/or low cut EQ might help mitigate this. Again, fantastic work! You have a faithful subscriber in Los Angeles who is always looking forward to the next four four two drop ⚽️

Thank you for doing this video. The amount of disrespect he gets from people who haven't a clue really gets my goat. I watched every Real Madrid game, and he was incredible. He used to sweat that shirt.

Cracking video. I've definitely had conversations with people fairly recently addressing the fact that most people nowadays overlook the fact that he was a REALLY REALLY good footballer.

Excellent analysis. Beckham was criminally underrated in England. One of my all time favourites.

wonderful player, surely the best footballer in the world for a time.

That was a terrific video.. Love the format

When Beckham came to the MLS, my friends and I were watching a game. He hit every single pass and created like 5 chances but ofc it’s the MLS so they only got like 1 goal.

I realised after watching the Netflix documentary that he was the first global "brand" celebrity footballer I could think of, but it didn't affect his game. He showed up almost every week, and if he had a bad game he'd make up for it almost immediately. Thinking back now, thats unreal, take a look at your Neymar, Pogba, whatever these days, they're always getting distracted. Beckham was a machine!

I was never really watch football, only big events like world cup. until one day i saw beckham had a free kick, totally blew my mind, made me an avid football ffans, manunited fans ,a football fans in general ,and ofcourse his fans up until now!

That was really good mate. Stumbled across this in my feed and given u a sub off the back of it (which I almost never do). Looking forward to more content.

I used to literally have a footie-knowledge test called the ‘Becks test’ to establish if it was worth talking to someone about the game or not and it went thus: “Is David Beckham underrated or overrated as a footballer.” You smashed it. And I’m a Liverpool fan.

On a similar note, I'd love to see a video on Peter Beardsley. How he would fit into the modern game etc. The most underrated footballer in English history. Go watch one of his highlights videos and then watch a Messi highlights video. Obviously you can only tell so much from that, but they are EXACTLY the same. To the point where it's genuinely a bit spooky. Hugely important difference though. Beardsley was playing at a time when they grazed cattle on the pitch and defenders were out to remove your kneecaps, making his skills and abilities even more amazing. One of the best English players of all time and it blows my mind that he gets so overlooked so often. You can be the one to set the record straight, Adam!

David Beckham was actually my idol. He was the reason I started playing football/soccer as you like to call it. And he was the reason I was training my fri kick.

Excellent video Adam. Cheers.

I think most people are confused when talking about Beckham. He was a right sided midfielder, not a winger in the mould of Robben, Giggs etc People who compared him to a traditional winger will think he’s overrated as he does not provide what a normal winger will provide. People who compare him to a right sided midfielder will know and understand his true value to the team.

First video I’ve seen of yours. Love the info, graphics, energy, personality. Immediately subscribed, will be binging your back catalogue ❤

I’ve seen David Beckham play . His work on the field was outstanding. He seems like he was running everywhere. And his crosses were magic. Also I love Fabregas crosses too.

What another fantastic video. This channel just smashes it video after video.

Great vid bro, couldnt agree more. He was world class.

Becks never seemed to get tired. His sprints and runs to get the ball back asap often resulted in some form of high pressure.

Great vid!!!

He had it all, there's a forgotten goal against Madrid in the champions league in 2000, took it past 3 players with ease and rifled it last casilias into the top bin. Unreal player, massively under rated.

Yes. I'm a Chelsea fan, but I genuinely think David Beckham is one of the English greats. He's one of the most accurate passers of all time and his workrate is second-to-none. He's the best crosser of all time too, had like 25 assists when United won the treble back in 99. His only real weakness is average pace for the winger position, but even then I feel like putting him as a right sided central midfielder in 4-3-3 would be the best position for him. He can spray balls all over the field and any striker would love to have someone like him on their team.

I have never seen many players strike a ball as cleanly as Beckham! Imo he was very underrated because of his celebrity lifestyle! He played for UTD, Real Madrid (as mentioned the only galactico to survive the cull), AC Milan, PSG and ofcourse LA Galaxy where he signed a 5 year contract worth $250m with the guarantee he could own the next franchise club if he wanted. I am pretty sure he won trophies at all 5 clubs and now he owns Inter Miami in the MLS where he has attracted Messi, Busquets, Jordi Alba and rumour has it Luis Suarez is signing. A great player who has maximised his talent!

One underrated aspects of Beckham was his workrate, he could run up and down the field all day long.

He wasn't blessed with pace, but he wasn't exactly a slouch. His ability to pick a ball and how far he could do it from is just outrageous

Great video! Would love to see one about what makes Modric so great.

Thay running stat is absolutely wild 😂😂 well done 👏

From Malaysia ur explanation is awesome and super

When people asked me which footballer I want to play like, it has always been Beckham. The bend is one thing but the passes are the main reason. To spoonfeed your attackers... That's the best pass ever

Bruh. James Ward-Prowse is quite good looking. No homo.

LFC fan here, and I always felt the lad was a quality footballer.

Thank you for this! I was still on the fence if he was good or not

My favourite football magazine has poached my favourite presenter from WhatCulture. I’m so happy!

George Best said this about Beckham, “He cannot kick with his left foot, he cannot head a ball, he cannot tackle and he doesn’t score many goals. Apart from that, he’s all right.”

That 14 plus KM running is one of the stats I remembered about him and that was amazing back and even today.

There's so much revisionism going on 😂 His last two seasons at United he was arguably the best player in Europe, as a winger (mainly) He then went to Madrid, didn't have an overlapping full back, was asked to play inside and it exposed his limitations. Brilliant as a winger, limited as a midfielder. And without an overlapping full back to function as a "outside width" player, he was always restricted... People underestimate how important Gary Neville was for making Beckham look brilliant

Brilliant video

I watched as many games as I could back then only year younger and massive united fan from the 80s witnessed everything. Beckham was World Class

Fantastic video, couldn’t agree more

Brilliant video. Always amazingly fit, even at Milan.

Whoa Adam Clearly has a football channel?? Hell yeah! I'm here for it.

Love the video, Beckham is underrated. But holy smokes was that a bad use of stats when talking about his distance run as a proxy for fitness.

The three players I've ever seen with the ability to eliminate an opposing defense (half a team really) by the most beautiful passes were Beckham, Pirlo and Riquelme. Those three were the most amazing playmakers I've ever seen.

yeah, didn't know he existed before Real Madrid, but boy his Real Madrid days.. he was so good R9 just need one touch to score.

Brilliant piece as ever. The number of looks I had over the years telling people how incredibly underrated he was. Ferguson was a ruthless exploiter of his players and put Beckham in a straight jacket before discarding him. Can't argue with all the titles but not a nice person. Hoddle had to push down on Beckham because of his own ego and should also be ashamed. I am 52 and knew all this before the documentary. In the end they couldn't keep him down, and people who really know footy know the truth about his level. Well done for exposing this to people, great to see. Sadly the resentment that brits feel towards posers and dandies will be forever obstructing people's views of one of our finest ever products

Awesome vid

He was a god in the England game against Greece. Much as I was against him due to his popularity and being a Liverpool fan myself, I cannot tell a lie. I've never seen effort, heart and skill like that since, so you can shut up.

Great video. As always! Only thing I’d say is that it was him Roberto Carlos and Raul who were still there as part of the Galacticos era. If you’re saying RC was there beforehand (98?), and Raul was homegrown, fair enough! But they were both of the same calibre as Zidane and Figo (just for the unfamiliar!) Famously, Zidane made that comment about selling Makelele and buying Beckham as being similar to selling the engine and putting another lick of paint on your sports car. All that being said, Beckham was an incredible footballer. None of that is his fault. But RM probably didn’t need him when they signed him.

YES ! AT LAST someone else noticed it was Beckham v Greece

Fabulous video

Great video and all the observations spot on, especially Madrid years, no joke i was gonna make a video almost identical to this ! 😊 hopfully your vid can inspire younger generations and further their football education 💪🏻 Great job thanks 👍🏻 subsribed⚽

It's a little ironic that Beckham's favourite player was Glenn Hoddle, and there are echoes of the same situation that Hoddle faced, underappreciated at home and more highly valued on the continent.

Would love to see you do this for Paul Scholes too. He’s the one where the perception of him over time has become wildly different from the reality. Not to be as basic as saying he’s over or underrated, but the quote from Zidane has really warped his reputation. On a separate but similar point, fascinating that Beckham was doing the central midfield role in the late 2000s and that not even Capello noticed - instead trying to bring Scholes out of retirement (I know Beckham was injured in that tournament though).

I would say yes when you think hes basically a better version of Trent Alexander Arnold. Dude could literally put the ball on a line and looked like he handed you the ball on the right spot to kick it which had no choice but to score 😂 granted in today's game he probably would play inside more but he had the range of passing to be deadly

Absolutely love it!! Hate Manure but Becks was soooo! underrated. His workrate was phenomenal.

Hey Adam, could you do a similar video about Jordan Henderson? Not comparing him to Beckham obviously, but I feel there's a huge difference in opinion on his career and I'd love to hear your take on it!

I have watched football for over 60 years and wouldn’t argue against anything in this video. As a Liverpool supporter I don’t like admitting that George Best is probably still the most naturally gifted player I have seen but as the video says Beckham was so good at what he was good at that he would have to be in my all time team even though in decades of watching thousands of games and players, there have been some outstanding talents. The only thing I would add to what is said here is that Beckham’s consistency and career long application along with a lack of histrionics and cheating was as remarkable as his playing ability.

One of my favourite videos on youtube is a compilation of 50 greatest passes of Beckham.

brilliant watch and so damn accurate! More power

Massively underrated. I still can’t believe England never won anything with the teams we had back then

My only criticism of Beckham is he didn't work on maintaining his pace with age. He focused purely on strengthening his passing and positioning, which I guess worked at the clubs he chose but it shortened his effectiveness for England.

Beckham was genuinely great. World class. Not an all time world great, not one of the absolute best, best players in the world, but a legitimately great player. Crucially, world class with the deadball, and quite possibly the greatest crosser of the ball in the history of football. Also his all around game allowed him to play centrally later in his career, and for England there was a period when he was the complete captain: inspirational player, leadership figure, and the coach's voice on the pitch.

Thank you!! At last, at last- yes he was completely under rated - I watched him from the age of 18 to 32.... we are the same age - he was a fabulous player- he would cost 150 million today- what a player, and anyone who disagrees (thanks for your opinion) does not at all know what they are talking about

People who are too young to remember or simply didn't watch him regularly often talk about Beckham like he was some male version of Kournikova and like he was only popular for his looks and a relationship with a pop star. The guy was an absolutely amazing player, especially during his Real Madrid time. As a Liverpool fan, he is one of the very few United players that I always liked.

The Beckham wide midfielder role plus Giggs an actual winger on the opposite flank was common practice in England since the '70s. Previously in '66 Engand won the world cup with 2 wide midfielders. Only kick and rush teams had 2 out and out wingers.

Finally someone who thinks like me ! I think he would do pretty much watch KdB does! I do love KDB playing

Something that also doesn't help Beckhams case for our perception of his real ability is Fergusons rating of Beckham. Fergie holds a grudge like no other and after the boot to the face incident that led to Beckham wanting to leave Utd, Fergie took a dislike to Beckham (also not helped by Beckham being arguably more famous than Utd at the time and Fergie not being able to stand Victoria). He still to this day refuses to rate Beckham as World Class which i think we can all say is just bitterness on Fergies part. Shame really as you could see in the doc David is really hurt with how the relationship with Fergie turned out. Also as a Scot even i rate Beckham as World Class and the best English footballer i have seen in my lifetime - and i am 43 so ahead of even Gazza. He was that good.

He was a top-3 player in the world until around 2004 and the only reason people don't think he wasn't that good is because he was also a great businessman and an amazingly handsome man. Honestly, if he was fat and his name was Paul Scholes, people would have him right up there with Zidane and Platini.

You never mention that one of his big issues with Ferguson was that he wanted to move into central midfield, but Ferguson refused for all the reasons you give. It’s funny, because you explain it all perfectly, but missed out mentioning that Beckham was desperate to play in central midfield for years at Utd.

“…and this has been David Beckham, well you can sort of see it, although he’s ginger” 😂 Top, top research & analysis, the athleticism stats were really insightful