David Beckham's new side LA Galaxy have been dismissed as a pub team by English reporters who watched their 3-0 loss to Mexican side Tigres in a friendly.
The Sun newspaper on Thursday described them as a shambles and said: "Frankly, Becks' new team resembles a Sunday morning pub side.
"When the ex-England skipper arrived at the Home Depot Centre on a 125 million pounds deal last week he stated his ambition was to take US football to a different level.
"Little did he realise that on the evidence of Galaxy's 3-0 home defeat against Mexican side Tigres, lifting them to a level of rock bottom will be a major achievement."
The verdict of The Times newspaper was just as damning.
With Beckham unfit for the match with an injured ankle, The Times chief football correspondent Matt Dickinson wrote:
"Beckham spent the match asking polite biographical details about his new colleagues. One question -- "how on earth do you expect me to improve that lot?" -- would have sufficed."
There were only about 2,000 fans at Tuesday's match and The Times said the occasion was a "cold shower" for Beckham after the razzmatazz of his presentation last week.
MISERABLE DISPLAY
The Daily Telegraph also expressed fears for the England midfielder.
"When Alexi Lalas (the LA Galaxy president), one of the most ardent champions of soccer in America, describes a display by his Los Angeles Galaxy side as "miserable and unacceptable" you know it is time for David Beckham to worry.
"The Galaxy are in a tailspin, falling through the League and embarrassing themselves even in a mid-season friendly."
The Daily Star added: "Forget the fact he is facing a fight to be fit for Saturday's high profile clash with Chelsea, the real battle is trying to turn Galaxy into anything that looks like a football team."
Paul Hayward, the Daily Mail's chief sports writer, summarised the situation saying: "David Beckham is a Beverly Hills star in a skid row team.
"No skyscraper of dollars can protect him from the realisation that he has not just dropped a couple of tiers so much as fallen 20 floors and woken up in the post room.
"In mitigation, there are probably better days to come when hype's carnival has passed. But this week the MLS's "Beckham comes to America" blockbuster is in danger of ending up in the "turkey" section of Hollywood DVD shops."
Galaxy are second bottom of the MLS Western conference, having won only three of 12 league matches this season.
Beckham is expected to make his debut in the high-profile friendly against English FA Cup holders Chelsea on Saturday.