Not a bad effort from Maloney in the chair tonight, though Giles tends to talk to him as if he's still talking to a slow witted O'Herlihy.
Maloney corrected Dunphy on some stats to do with Ronaldo, he also cracked a joke of sorts which Giles didn't get and thought it was stupid.
This is exactly what I think too - give him a piece of play to analyse and he is superb. He identifies weaknesses and errors better than any other pundit I know.
The problem is that he does basically no research whatsoever into the teams and players he's going to see, so he's sometimes making dated stertypes about teams, like for example the Germans being defensive because they used to be like that 10 years ago. It's also why he always says 'we can only go on what we see' - because he doesn't know much about the teams other than what he's seeing at that point.
Giles and Dunphy made eejits of themselves last night over Ronaldo. Went down a rat hole with a futile discussion on whether he is a great player. Every argument they made in favour of Messi being great, Ronaldo not so great could be inverted with a different example. And they were just plain wrong about Maradona in relation to tracking back and berating teammates. CR7 did the business last night and they should have left it at that.
I predicted that discussion earlier. Whenever Real Madrid or Portugal play, it just turns into a Ronaldo isn't a great player diatribe. Who cares whether he's "a great player" or not. One of reasons put forward was that he lacked the integrity of the truly great players like Zidane. No mention that the latter got sent off in a WC final for head-butting. That said, it is amazing the way that Ronaldo isn't required (or doesn't bother) to track back when possession is lost. If he didn't do that for Ireland for Trap he'd find himself not in the squad That must leave a gaping hole in the Portuguese defence but presumably they have some tactic to cover this (extra midfielder?). I wish this was discussed. If McGeady or Duffer didn't protect the full back, we'd be crucified even more that we are in that area.
Darragh Maloney has done well so far.
Forget about the performance or entertainment. It's only the result that matters.
I note the cautious 'so far' bit
The Ronaldo stuff is tedious and I disagree in the strongest possible terms with Giles and Dunphy. Ronaldo has a face for smacking but he is a great player. He’s done it at every level for many years. Ronaldo has scored important goals at important times in all sorts of matches. Yes he has his faults but so did Maradona and every other player on the planet.
I have to laugh at Dunphy – not so long ago he was saying that Kevin Doyle, John O’Shea, Richard Dunne, Damian Duff and Robbie Keane were world class (in one of his rants about Trap) and yet he will also say that Ronaldo isn’t a top player. It’s that sort of nonsense that destroys his credibility and makes him just pure entertainment rather than a proper pundit.
Quoting years at random since 1975
I dont get to see too much of the lads other than clips on Youtube or when I get to watch a rerun of a match on RTE that my ma has recorded. However good to read some interesting posts on the subject here.
What the above quote warrants is a nice premeditated package of clips containing some of the contradictions Dunphy /Giles have made over the recent months/years whilst trying to hammer the manager. It would make for good viewing IMO.
Not sure who is best placed to pull together such a piece......Owlsfan perchance? Come on you know you want to.....
I thought you were off the drink Ronnie?
"No, I drink to help me mind my own business....can I get you one? (c) Ronnie Drew
Saw one a while back on YouTube when Dunphy was lambasting Liverpool a few years back for a performance against Barcelona (I think) where he said, whilst berating others, that "Gerrard is a nothing player".
Then there was another clip straight after that with him having a go at an English manager (probably Eriksson) where he was lambasting him for not being able to get the best out of "world class players like Steven Gerrard".
This is it...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jiCdEUSlmcw
Does Dunphy still assert that Busquets is a "nothing player"?
Just saw this. Very very funny.
DID YOU NOTICE A SIGN OUTSIDE MY HOUSE...?
Last edited by BonnieShels; 22/06/2012 at 4:58 PM.
DID YOU NOTICE A SIGN OUTSIDE MY HOUSE...?
Dunphy called the German team ordinary before the start tonight.
They're not ordinary but they're far from extraordinary either. They are a bit one paced and can be got at.
Not saying they're extraordinary but they deserve better than to be labelled as ordinary.
If it's a Spain Germany final they'll give them a better game than they did in the WC semi and the Euro final in '08.
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