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- 26 Mar 2009
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- State of Volatile Apathy
Whose opinions do you hold in some regard for analysis, and who do you tune out for? Could do with some decent recommendations, hate running out of material when trawling the interwebs before a big match-day.
For me, it'd have to be:
Good:
Bad:
Final mention has to go to the king of bad pundits: Eamon Dunphy. Probably gets away with his ignorance more given he's really just on Irish TV, but give a look at the below:
(Forward to about 1:30 onwards to get the worst of him.)
[After telling Graeme Souness he had no idea what he was talking about, and Souness asking what experience he had of football]:
"I didn't manage anywhere. I managed to stay alive for about 63-and-a-half years baby..."
So apparently managing not to die up until the point of conversation is sufficient qualification to mouth off about technicalities you have no idea of. Of course.
For me, it'd have to be:
Good:
- Lee Dixon: Don't know what they fed the players at Highbury, but Arsenal seem to produce one absolute stinker of a pundit for every excellent one they churn out. Dixon is definitely the latter - good knowledge of tactics and 'off the field' stuff, and doesn't often fall for the 'prevailing opinion' garbage that tabloids often churn out.
- Martin Keown: As above, knows his stuff and tends to actually research what he's saying.
- Tim Vickery: Best source you can get on South American football trends, and occasionally leans in on the European/English game. Is a 'romantic' of the game, which is cute too.
- Guillem Balague: Unbelievably well connected in the Spanish game and reads players and managers extremely well. Worth a read of his blog on Sky Sports if you want an idea of how Guardiola and Mourinho really operate.
- Sid Lowe: 'Deep' thinker about La Liga and footie in general, can be a bit up his own **** at times but still a good read on the Guardian.
- Gary Neville: I think even Merseysiders can agree at this point he has shown as little bias as possible throughout his time at Sky, and has shown he can grasp things beyond what the Sun back-page says too.
- Graeme Souness: Another one that Liverpewl fans I run into seem to hate, don't get why. Seems to know his stuff.
Bad:
- Jamie Redknapp: Don't really think Jamie is as 'slow' as some of the rest below, it's just the role he puts himself in presumably because Sky or whatever tells him that's how it should go. Usually annoys me on any panel he's put on, especially when he disagrees with someone with >20 years experience in management.
- Phil McNulty: Toes the line (or what he thinks it is) on every footballing subject imaginable, and any time he does stick his neck out he seems to get it horribly wrong. I would rather gouge my eyes out than endure the fat irrelevancies that are his tweets ever again.
- Ian Wright: No justification needed.
- John Barnes: Heavily suspect if LFC declared Anfield the geographical centre-point of the Earth, Barnes would subsequently appear on MotD with a hastily redrawn atlas. Ultimate Liverpool apologist.
- Paul Merson: Really has no idea. Could easily be substituted with a monkey and a book of footballing clichés.
Final mention has to go to the king of bad pundits: Eamon Dunphy. Probably gets away with his ignorance more given he's really just on Irish TV, but give a look at the below:
[After telling Graeme Souness he had no idea what he was talking about, and Souness asking what experience he had of football]:
"I didn't manage anywhere. I managed to stay alive for about 63-and-a-half years baby..."
So apparently managing not to die up until the point of conversation is sufficient qualification to mouth off about technicalities you have no idea of. Of course.
while he seems to tlak some sense as a pundit that is dire