http://www.premierleague.com/en-gb/20-seasons.html The Premier League have put forwards shortlists for best games, goals, celebrations and saves of the last 20 years. At the end you are asked to compile an All-Time XI from these 20 years! Don't worry if you've forgotten as there are clips for every nomination so it brings back some memories! Good fun and MLT is in there with two nominations for best goal and also listed for Team. Which did you vote for? Game: I've forgotten which one I picked! Goal: Le Tissier - Southampton vs Newcastle Celebration: Sir Alex and Kidd - Manchester United vs Sheffield Wednesday Save: Craig Gordon - Sunderland vs Bolton Team: Schmeichel; Jones, Adams, Bruce, Pearce; Ronaldo, Scholes, Le Tissier, Giggs; Shearer, Henry. Found picking the team very hard but that's what I ended up with! DTLW
I felt the same about that! Oh well, think I may have gone for the Spurs 3-5 United game, can't remember.
I'd be willing to bet that the one name that everyone puts on their "team" is Schmeichel, regardless of who they support. He was rather good, wasn't he?
Game: Arsenal 4-4 Tottenham Goal: Dennis Bergkamp - Arsenal vs Newcastle Celebration: Jimmy Bullard - Hull city v Man City Save: Craig Gordon - Sunderland vs Bolton Team: Peter Schmeichel Neville, Terry, Adams, Cole. Ronaldo, Le Tisser, Viera, Giggs. Henry, Shearer. ...It is so hard to pick just 11 players! Can´t believe I´ve left Zola, Van Nistelrooy, Wright, Makelele, Lampard, Beckham, Bruce, Desailly, Seaman!!!!!
Game: United 4-3 City Goal: Le Tiss v Blackburn Celebration: Fergie and Kidd Save: Gordon v Bolton Team: Schmeichel Dixon, Stam, Adams, Riise Beckham, Le Tiss, Scholes, Giggs Henry, Shearer
...good fun picking a team of Brits from the list they give. How about: Seaman, Dixon, Adams, Bruce, Pearce, Beckham, Le God, Gerrard, Giggs, Shearer, Wright .....may even have won something with that! Heck of a battle over who takes the free kicks though!!
Beckham, hands down. Probably the best free kick taker I've ever seen. I've been lucky enough to see him score one in person. His only rivals would be Roberto Carlos and Juninho Pernambucano.
So was Antti Niemi. And Niemi never screwed up a cross so that the ball could be whipped out of his hands by Le Tiss and stroked into the corner during the 'grey shirts' match. Plus, where is the Niemi triple save..?
So you never saw Le Tiss take one then. He could bend the ball around or over a wall without all the palaver that Beckham had to do. Plus, he had every over skill at his disposal too.
Le Tiss was a superb set piece taker, no doubt, but he can't have had the hit rate that Beckham has from free kicks. I don't think many people would name Le Tiss in a list of the world's best free kick takers (other than us Saints fans of course), though they would probably have a lot more to say about the things he could do from open play. A quick internet search appears to have concluded that Juninho Pernambucano in fact has the best conversion rate with Beckham in second.
Basically because they won't have seen them or bothered to look. Matty wasn't actually hyped that much because he was never going to be able to sell underpants or perfume. Beckham was a very good player who worked very hard to make the best of his limited talents. But there were an awful lot of people nodding in agreement about him, because it was the herd thing to do, instead of standing up and saying... Actually Pepys, he isn't that special..! Conversion rates don't tell the whole story. The clubs Beckham played for would have plenty of options for free-kicks, so he was always going to take one with a high chance of conversion. Matty played for Saints. More often than not he realised that even from 40 yards direct, he was probably the best option because he was playing with, let's face it, relatively crap players around him. Hence, he was more ambitious, and hence his conversion rate would have been lower. I tend to go for skill players, and MLT had so much it was ridiculous.
I think people like to undermine Beckham, because he's become such a celebrity and poses in his underwear on billboards and all that, and claim that he's overrated. I think it's actually the opposite of what you say. The "herd" is now trying to make out that he was never that good a footballer, because they don't like the celebrity he's become, when in fact he quite obviously was on the of the best players of his generation. And in terms of free kicks, the best. Manchester United immediately looked a different, less brilliant team after he left, and the same can be said for the England squad now. Like Le Tiss, the only thing he ever lacked was pace, but he could strike a ball like no one else. Considering he never had the physical edge, lacking pace, height and strength, surely Becks could only be described as a "skill player"?
