to be fair, the short piece by Lawrenson about Spion Kop was excellent.Quote:
Originally Posted by Charlie Darwin
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to be fair, the short piece by Lawrenson about Spion Kop was excellent.Quote:
Originally Posted by Charlie Darwin
Lawrenson can be good on the Matt Cooper show, but when he's on BBC he's a pain.I hate to say it but Shearer can be quite painful as well,....and Hanson. However, I'd take any of them over listening to Redknapp,Tyler, Keys or that clownn Andy Gray. They have gone so bad that I rarely watch premier league on sky now. at least when they cover the lower division games there is less chance that one of those fools will be on the box
You forgot the part where Giles says "We can only go on what we see".Quote:
Originally Posted by OwlsFan
You never hear or learn anything new from Dunphy, Giles or Brady. And they only reason they are so well liked is because the competition from the likes of the BBC, Sky and ITV is so poor. Jurgen Klinsman on ESPN has been outstanding during this World Cup. He goes into detail how the German team prepares. Describing how the German back room team make sure the German players are happy and confident before they get out on the pitch. And his knowledge of the other teams is outstanding. Not just the players and managers. But their training routines. Set pieces. Fitness levels.
General rule of thumb, coaches/managers make good pundits because they actually know a lot about the game.
Ex-players are hit and miss because if they were really knowledgeable they would have gone into coaching/management.
George Hamilton was terrible during the Uruguay vs. Ghana match last night. He made so many mistakes in his commentary. Off the top of my head he said that it was the first penalty shoot-out of the tournament (Paraguay vs. Japan was) and that the winner would play either Argentina or Germany (they'll play the Netherlands). There was a lot more than that though. He's usually alright in his commentary so maybe it was just a bad night last night. Trevor Stevens I think was doing co-commentary and didn't correct him once either.
I agree - he's very articulate and intelligent. The very antithesis of a UK / IRL footballer, for the most part.Quote:
Originally Posted by Noelys Guitar
He was a very intelligent footballer, which is probably part of it. I imagine somebody like Bergkamp would also be really good.
The difference with Klinsmann and the other continentals is they see more than the sky leagues! Most other countries have have decent commentary and analysis, how many of the Irish and British heads know about anything more than their own insular world?
Eamon Dunphy is the world's foremost expert on La Liga.
Had to laugh at the end of full time in the Ghana vs Uruguay game when Laughing Bill asked Dunphy who he thought would win and Dunphy said "It's anybody's game". "What do you think, John?" "It's anybody's game Bill".
The prolonged discussion they had earlier on the dominance of South American teams and the decline of European football seems to have died a death.
Hamilton mentioned that Ghana were the last African team in the tournament and "carrying the hopes of Africa" at least 15 times. Does he think we all suffer from Alzheimers ?
What was I saying?
Was going to just start spouting, but have decided to look at the networks one at a time
RTÉ
Have liked RTÉs coverage best of the 3. Highs & lows obviously, but from what I've seen Dunphy is still Dunphy, and god bless him. I've come to see what people say about Giles having a bit of knowledge, But i still think his time has come, and the same goes for Brady. But its been the others I've liked most. Whelan, and Irwin have been really good, and I would like to see one of them in Giles seat come the next qualifiers. Steven and Souness have been good as well, but for me the real star of the show has been Ozzie Ardiles. I've really liked having a south American view on things. As for Didi Hamann, it doesn't really matter what he says, that Germano-Scouse accent of his is like someone scraping their nails down a blackboard.
Bill should be put out to grass.
BBC
Hansen is all that remains of what used to be excellent coverage, and even he is a shadow of his former self. That perma-tanned jug-eared fool is still has all the authority of an 8 year old sitting on Des Lynams seat on bring your son to work day, and the sooner Colin Murray is given the job the better. The only one who offered any kind of opinion was Adebayor, who was actually very good. And as for that bus....
ITV
Better than they used to be I would have to say, but coming from a very low base. Steve Ryder was rightly dispensed with, and I have to say I like Adrian Chiles in the chair. He asks the right questions of the experts - the questions the man in the street is asking himself - which is something Lineker will never be able to do having played the game. Southgate and Townsend are still awful, and always will be. Keegan was terrible, Chris Coleman actually refered to England as 'we', but Clive Tyldesley and jim Beglin are still a solid team, Beglin in particular is terrific.
Also saw Klinsmann on a channel somewhere, and he was excellent as ever. can't remember which station though
Don't think these two words should make into the one paragraph....;)Quote:
Originally Posted by backtowalsall
Just watched the wrinklies on RTE dismiss Holland as a poor side. Can't understand why tbh.
Is it because they beat Scotland home and away? Is it that they won all their qualifiers?? Is it that they won all their finals games?? Or that they were the first qualified European team last year?? Beat Brazil maybe??
Or is it, as I suspect, that they didn't think they'd make the final 4 weeks ago in the first place?
To be fair I don't think they are writing them off a poor side.Quote:
Originally Posted by mypost
They have the "Beautiful Game" goggles on and Holland don't really play in the way we all expect them to or have become accustomed to. In an ideal world Holland will not win the world cup with the mindset they play with.
For example (correct me if you can point out the positives) Van Bommel and De Jong (although he didn't play tonight) it's very hard to see what they bring to a game other than the G.B.H they inflict on other players.
Don't know what they're complaining about though. They've won all their games, scoring a fair quota of goals. They've only won one game 1-0. If they win the final, they deserve the trophy. I have been very impressed with them.
I think their hatred of Holland is 99% van Bommel-based, but I do think they're right in that they haven't played with a lot of fluency so far. van Persie's injury seems to be affecting them a lot.
Was Van Persie offside or not for the second goal? He looked level but ITV have this great freeze frame when you can whirl around and look at it from the view of the linesman and while his body was level, his foot was slightly ahead so technically he was offside. From the view the RTE panel, he looked level when the ball was played but that didn't stop Dunphy launching in to one of his attacks on officiating and how he can't understand how linesmen can get their decision right and how poor they are. I still think the latter's job is the most difficult in sport and I am amazed how they get so many correct. A linesman has to be looking at two places at the one time and make a split second decision. The panel is treated to slow motion replays and then castigate the hapless Official. I don't think I'd take on that job for all the money Dunphy makes from being controversial. As for his praise of Kuyt before the game, I almost fell off my chair. He and Giles have incessently attacked the player and yet there were paeans of praise for him last night.
Giles was right about Van Bommel though. He gets away with murder and ironically was booked at the end for protesting about some decision.
Is Murray that fool from Northern Ireland? what a creep! He licks the **** off the guests, and may as well wear an England shirt. His comments about Maradona were sad.Quote:
Originally Posted by backtowalsall
Chiles annoys me also - another brown -noser. However, I forgive him somewhat because I really enjoyed his book, and he does seem to have serious passion for the game
I think RTÉ were right when they said that offside is any part of you - bar your arms - ahead of the last man. In that case, he was offside I think. But I think the law also states that in the case of doubt, you give benefit of the doubt to the attacking team, in which case, the linesman was correct to allow the goal. The call was so marginal and didn't justify at all the over-the-top comments from the studio.Quote:
Originally Posted by OwlsFan