Becks' Euro Tour & Sick note

Football (important) Segment

I watched PSG V Barcelona this week and was quite surprised by the negative reaction that Beckham's performance garnered. Here are my 2 centimes.

He was playing against the best midfield in the world and even the 2nd best team in the world would normally give up 65-70% possession to them.

He did exactly what I would do if I knew I was slow but could pass the ball. Sit deep, press only in the final third and spray the ball out to the wings quickly when you do see the ball.

He has strengths (passing) and weaknesses (lack of pace) and played to them. Everyone knows he can only manage an hour but I felt he didn't do a bad job. It might look that way because his replacement was  brilliant for 30 minutes but I don't think he deserved the bad press he got.

Even if it was to sell shirts, PSG obviously saw something in him and Ancelotti is no mug, so wouldn't have played him if he didn't have that exact game plan in mind. He has managed under Burlesconi and Abramovich so I think he can handle egotistical owners and talk of the owners forcing Becks to play is rubbish.

Non-football segment 

There is a big petition about GMC and social media here. You could sign it for the amount of good it'll do anyone. I know I'm not a snake oil salesman or quack so I should just do what I'm told. I want a training job more than anything!

In other news, this week I had my first sick day in 10 years of being working age. I've hurt my back playing football before and it's taken a few days of creaking and NSAIDs to get better but never stopped me working. This week however, there was no precipitating event and one morning I just couldn't get off the toilet. Searing pain in my back when not in neutral position. I'm hopefully not displaying any red or yellow flags so it should be a short time on the sidelines!

It does mean I will never silently judge any colleague or patient who needs time off for a bad back. The amount of pain I was in Thursday and Friday should not be inflicted on anyone, let alone making them go to work! It might even make me a nicer doctor to people in chronic pain. I know it seems harsh but when you spend your days telling people that they are dying slowly or quickly or have some terrible disease you find a lot of your emotional energy drained for the people with chronic abdominal pain with no discernible serious cause. This will be something for me to reflect on, and I've only spent 3 days in pain with a relatively minor pathology!