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To be fair, Giles has never proclaimed himself to be an expert student of world football. His ability has always been in the fact he can analyse what's in front of him brilliantly, which I always thought would make him more suited to being a co-commentator but maybe he doesn't like the cold weather.
He used to do the odd match with George if I remember correctly. But it's been a while
Giles as co-commentator came up with one of my all time favourite commentary quotes. In the era before coloured boots were common AC Milan striker Marco Simone wore white boots in a CL match where Milan was wearing their all white away kit.
"He looks like he's making his Holy Communion George".
I like that Giles isn't that knowledgeable. It's kind of what he brings to the table if you pardon that horrendous expression. Past performances and reputations are pretty much redundant in his analysis of teams like PSG. Plus, he doesn't let on that he knows more than he actually does, like the "Spanish Soccer student" to his left.
They were fierce proud of TOD's interview with Jose. "Ah Tony's great", said Bill. Reminded me of this...
https://fbcdn-profile-a.akamaihd.net..._7297200_n.jpg
Jose Moronho.
If Giles just sticks to what he sees in the match then fine, but last Wednesday Bill asked Giles to expand on an "extraordinary" bit of insight, that he expressed off-camera, into why Torres is not scoring goals. Giles sagely proceeded to explain why Torres has become Torres, with Bill exclaiming "extraordinary" under his breath after every phrase.
The theory that Giles put forward re Torres has been doing the rounds for 2 years, I assume Giles overheard it (by accident) on one occasion, forgot about it, later it popped out of his head and he thought he owned it.
Overall, the rte pundits and presenter show is desperately low standard fare, once you have Bill and Dunphy involved.
I'd have looked at that a different way. I'd say Giles had just said it off camera as no big deal, and something pretty obvious to everybody bar Bill. However, Bill thought it was profound and beautiful, so he got John to share this incredible insight with the world.
That's why I named Bill (and Dunphy) as the main characters who bring the show down.Quote:
Originally Posted by DeLorean
Yeah but I presumed you were implying that Giles was quite eager to proceed with his acclaimed theory. I thought he was half embarrassed being put on the spot with a fairly basic (but now glorified) concept.
I was pointing out that you presumed incorrectly :)Quote:
Originally Posted by DeLorean
The previous points were about Giles' strengths, e.g. match analysis /co commentating and I agreed with them. It's up to the presenter to get the best out of Giles.
Fair enough. We don't have to endure (probably a bit harsh) Bill for much longer I suppose.
What's Giles' theory on Torres?
Remember Gilesy classic on 10 V 11, that the team with 11 really should win, etc?
It was more a summary of what has happened than a theory to be honest. The first point was a bit dubious as well. This is what I remember anyway.Quote:
Originally Posted by Stuttgart88
- Came to Liverpool relatively unknown without pressure
- Scored goals for fun
- High profile big money move to Chelsea
- More pressure
- Started poorly
- Lost confidence
- This has made him uncomfortable with his surroundings
- Strikers need to be comfortable with their surroundings
- Has nothing in his game other than goals so if he's not scoring goals he's not contributing to the team (compared to somebody like Suarez who has a good all round game)
- Struggled to get confidence back
- Won't get confidence back
- He's finished
"- Has nothing in his game other than goals so if he's not scoring goals he's not contributing to the team (compared to somebody like Suarez who has a good all round game)"
That's pretty harsh imo. His link-up play in and around the box is pretty good. His goalscoring record isn't good enough - granted - but there is no need to exaggerate (Giles).
Gilesy would never agree with that. He'd say punditry is a simple game - it doesn't matter who the presenter is, you always put your best pundits out on the field.Quote:
Originally Posted by geysir
How about, "you always play your best pundits".
I think the theory bit was that Torres has nothing in his game other than scoring goals and at Chelsea he was asked to do more (contributing to the team) and he couldn't do that properly, that added to what made him feel uncomfortable, as a result of that - affected his confidence re his default role, scoring goals.Quote:
Originally Posted by DeLorean
But is Gilesy working hard enough these days? When it was his turn to get the coffees, he forgot the Danish and refused to track back!Quote:
Originally Posted by Charlie Darwin
giles does tend to hide behind his "senior analyst" role as an excuse that he is not expected to know basic stuff - it's just lazy.
There's plenty of things that annoy me about Giles especially how upset he gets with players that don't do enough work (in his eyes) . His opinion on ronaldo for years was very embarrassing.
a few years ago he bizzarely said Rooney was the best midfielder in the PL after he played 2/3 games there for man utd!
He he constantly says that neither Gerrard or lampard are great midfilders but patronisingly says they are players capable of great things. He has a very narrow definition of 'midfielder'.
Gerrard and and lampard gave their flaws but they have both had phepenomals careers from midfield
At least he had the moral courage to make those statements.