Awful Football Opinions

[Vardinio'sCat]

1 hour ago, UpTheLeagueFox said:

To give you an example of one pundit, Danny Higginbotham, he speaks to local journalists and club staff as part of his pre match prep to get a better understanding of the teams he's covering.

He's outstanding too, one of the very best.

 

I remember watching one of new female pundit's absolutely outclassing her male counterparts recently, and as far as I could see, it was purely on the basis that she had really done her homework. She made the others look lazy, and I greatly enjoyed their discomfort.

 

You have to respect the simple effectiveness of due diligence and dedication, it really should be a given, but I guess at the celebrity end the punditry will always be a compromise.

 

Interesting to here that about Danny Higginbottom, I'll make an effort to listen closely next time he comes on.

[Vardinio'sCat]

1 hour ago, Freeman's Wharfer said:

One that used to annoy the hell out of me back in the day: “Andy King is anonymous”.

 

As I always used to say back then, you don’t notice someone if they aren’t making mistakes. He was always technically good and going about his business with minimal fuss but for a large portion of our fan base that wasn’t good enough at the time and every time we lost it was because King was ‘anonymous’.

 

I always thought he was hard to pick out cos he was average height, average build, average hair etc, even if he was playing well.

 

There is something about players that are easy to spot, and is messes with our perception. I mean, you will always know where Hamza is, and so do the ref's. If Hamza has a lovely touch in the middle of a fast passage of play, we know about it, with AK not so much.

 

I bet there is relevant research out there somewhere.

 

 

[Dan LCFC]

Any 'know their place' types of opinions - I don't know how you can sit there and champion a competitive league and then go and claim it's some kind of crime for a club to want to better themselves. Thinking only 6 teams (7 now I guess) are allowed to show any kind of ambition.

 

Anyone who has ever compared Rashford to the top youngsters in the world.

 

Nearly anything Danny Mills says.

 

Nearly anything Chris Sutton says.

 

Nearly anything Steve McManaman says.

 

People who over-rate things like Premier League experience. It's by no means a bad thing but people would genuinely rather pay £30mil for a player who plays in this country than £10mil for a better player abroad simply on the basis they 'know the league' or anything when it's largely about how well they fit a system and their own team, rather than the league. People forget the majority of the top players in this league are foreign. They didn't have experience once.

 

Thinking VAR is some massive success abroad. I wouldn't class being 'slightly' less shambolic than the toss served up over here as "success".

 

Genuinely believing Messi would struggle in England. He's got something like 25 in 25 against English sides and they are always English sides that are in the Champions League, so god knows what the hell he'd do to the rubbish.

 

Thinking Ronaldo is better than Messi because he's played in more countries.

 

Thinking Messi is over-rated because Argentina are shit.

 

I'll stop for now

[Dan LCFC]

12 hours ago, Lcfc82 said:

I think In general the standard of the tv coverage of games is getting worse and worse. Sky and BT being particularly bad.

 

Poor commentators and pundits who offer little insight into what’s happening and often don’t have much knowledge on the teams that they are covering. Some of the pundits struggle to string a sentence together.

 

I don’t remember it being as bad as it is now, say 15 years ago ?

 

 

It is genuinely awful. Someone mentioned it earlier in the thread about that Arsenal game and the Iheanacho disallowed goal - not saying it was the wrong decision but Sky effectively ignored it even happening. There's just no way they would be like that if it was the other way round.

 

I get these clubs have the biggest appeal but they just don't present an accurate picture of what's going on. Their coverage is based on marketing and nothing else. BT are just as bad, arguably even worse to be honest with the Liverpool love in. It's actually unwatchable at times, it's like Fanzone but presented as if it's meant to be serious.

[Dan LCFC]

11 hours ago, MattFox said:

“Leicester won the title because Spurs bottled it against Chelsea”

Our own bloody fans are guilty of this as much as anything. I honestly think this obsession with Spurs being bottlers is subconsciously playing down what we achieved. I don't like Spurs and their arrogant idiot fans but I cannot believe how many of our fans seem to have bought into this narrative when they spent I think 19 minutes all season top of the league.

 

We undersell what we actually achieved. It was about us, not Spurs and it's time we stopped going on about them.

Edited 14 August 2020 by Dan LCFC

[420Hashish]

11 hours ago, Spudulike said:

 

Pearson had it right when he gave the Sky 'experts' some advice after a match. 

Out of curiosity. What did he say? 

[Leicester_Loyal]

The myth that is Bournemouth and their spending. It annoys me when people say they've not spent a lot and that Howe has done well on a shoestring to keep them in the top flight for so long.

 

The myth that Man City fans don't support the club in huge numbers, they've spent 50 years behind United and still maintain an excellent number of supporters at most games, even when they were in the lower divisions.

[Dan LCFC]

Lineker's a proper sell out about us, I agree about the whole Ranieri debacle. I'd say fair enough if he thought "I personally think he can turn this around, needs more time" etc... (though I wouldn't have agreed) but he was right in the midst of the mainstream "who do they think they are" and he's apparently a Leicester fan!

 

Tell you one I've thought lately about Bournemouth is that people go too far the other way. Yes they were very mediocre in the Premier League but I can't believe how many people pretend Howe did a bad job there. Going from League Two to the Premier League in six seasons IS a very good story, far as I'm concerned.

[Vacamion]

 

 

Leaving aside current transfer speculation, it is an annoyance when pundits can't refer to Kasper Schmeichel doing stuff in games without referring to his father.

 

Kasper Schmeichel has had (and continues to have) a great career at the elite level. He is an international player of some renown. He has won stuff  He's obviously one of the leaders at this club.  

 

We all know whose son he is. 

 

If he makes a save, he does it himself.  No need to mention who his Dad is.

 

It happens less now than before 2016, but it still happens.

 

[Spudulike]

6 hours ago, 420Hashish said:

Out of curiosity. What did he say? 

Can't remember which match it was but the Sky 'experts' had an opinion about a penalty (or possibly a red card) and Nige launched into them during his post match interview. 

[Stuntman_Mike]

15 hours ago, Wizerud said:

Celtic would survive in the Premier League.

Why wouldn't they? 

 

They'd attract players and have the big TV money coming in like the rest and they have world wide fanbase. 

 

They'd certainly compete. 

 

 

[Corky]

7 hours ago, Leicester_Loyal said:

The myth that Man City fans don't support the club in huge numbers, they've spent 50 years behind United and still maintain an excellent number of supporters at most games, even when they were in the lower divisions.

The perception has changed since their success came about- before they were admired for their loyalty, humour and sticking with an underachieving club when there was a giant next door. Now they apparently sell around 10k tickets despite winning four titles.

 

Most clubs would want their levels of support.

[CosbehFox]

Here's mine - brace yourself. 

 

Ranieri wasn't a great manager in 15/16. He did an okay job - the formation change and dealing with the press were his main strengths. 

 

 

[Lcfc82]

2 hours ago, Vacamion said:

 

 

Leaving aside current transfer speculation, it is an annoyance when pundits can't refer to Kasper Schmeichel doing stuff in games without referring to his father.

 

Kasper Schmeichel has had (and continues to have) a great career at the elite level. He is an international player of some renown. He has won stuff  He's obviously one of the leaders at this club.  

 

We all know whose son he is. 

 

If he makes a save, he does it himself.  No need to mention who his Dad is.

 

It happens less now than before 2016, but it still happens.

 

I agree, the line that annoys me is whenever he makes a good save the commentator will say “ I wonder where he learnt that from “

heard it so many times now it’s boring 

[Corky]

2 hours ago, Vacamion said:

 

 

Leaving aside current transfer speculation, it is an annoyance when pundits can't refer to Kasper Schmeichel doing stuff in games without referring to his father.

 

Kasper Schmeichel has had (and continues to have) a great career at the elite level. He is an international player of some renown. He has won stuff  He's obviously one of the leaders at this club.  

 

We all know whose son he is. 

 

If he makes a save, he does it himself.  No need to mention who his Dad is.

 

It happens less now than before 2016, but it still happens.

 

There's still a perception he's only had a career because of his Dad. It's bollocks. Kasper spent most of his early career on loan spells to the lower leagues, Scotland and decrepit hell holes like Coventry before joining Notts County and eventually settling with us. He didn't become a Premier League regular until he was 28. He's hardly had a footballing silver spoon.

 

As you say, he's not had the career of his father but he's still done a hell of a lot and fully merits his status as a Premier League and international goalkeeper.

[filbertway]

3 I hear a lot which annoy me...

 

"He has a right to go down".

"The defender shouldn't give him the opportunity to go down".

"Goalkeepers shouldn't be beat at their near post"

[Muzzy_Larsson]

11 hours ago, Trav Le Bleu said:

Personally I respect any fan who supports their local team or the team from where they grew up. Yes, even Cov and Florist fans. Even Man Utd fans, if they happen to be that rare thing, a Mancunian. The amount of support Liverpool and Man Utd get in Ireland and Scotland is annoying because of supposed links that haven't existed for decades.

 

Having said that, one of the weirdest supporting dynamics I find is in Scotland, where often people support a football team on the basis of their religion. Utterly bizarre!

Tbh the latter isn't so much a thing anymore and when you look at the background in terms of history, rightly or wrongly it's quite apparent why there was that religous divide in terms of catholics supporting Celtic and protestants supporting Rangers. For example Celtic were founded by an Irish priest as a mechanism to feed poor Irish immigrants in the east end of Glasgow whereas Rangers had the outright heinous and sectarian signing policy of only signing protestants until as late as 1989 so this was always going to make protestants gravitate towards supporting them.  Obviously there's sectarian elements to it on both sides but when you look at the history it's quite apparent why religon used to anyway dictate who you supported. Before the mid 90's for example I doubt as a catholic you would have felt at all safe going to Ibrox to support Rangers, when Mo Johnston signed in 1989 there were people burning season tickets etc outside ibrox because of it for example. 

 

Not sure if your aware of the legendary quote of our greatest ever manager Jock Stein who himself was a protestant, he always said if Celtic had the chance of signing two equally good players and one was a catholic and one was a protestant he'd always sign the protestant as he knew Rangers would never sign the catholic and if he really wanted to he could go back and sign the catholic later.

[UniFox21]

9 hours ago, Vardinio'sCat said:

 

I remember watching one of new female pundit's absolutely outclassing her male counterparts recently, and as far as I could see, it was purely on the basis that she had really done her homework. She made the others look lazy, and I greatly enjoyed their discomfort.

 

You have to respect the simple effectiveness of due diligence and dedication, it really should be a given, but I guess at the celebrity end the punditry will always be a compromise.

 

Interesting to here that about Danny Higginbottom, I'll make an effort to listen closely next time he comes on.

I don't understand why this isn't just a given thing really. Why can't a company like BT or Sky have 1 or 2 researchers contacting local journalists for the games they're airing live to give accurate info on both teams rather than the usual tripe they come out with.

 

Same with panels heavy towards one side, it isn't difficult to find a neutral or have a pundit each.

[Koke]

1 hour ago, Stuntman_Mike said:

Why wouldn't they? 

 

They'd attract players and have the big TV money coming in like the rest and they have world wide fanbase. 

 

They'd certainly compete. 

 

 

 

Celtic may survive but its not guaranteed. Their argument is we have big crowds etc. But Newcastle, West Ham, Leeds, Villa etc also have big crowds and fanbases, and they've gone down many times. 

 

Newcastle get 52k a week but have done nothing of note since around 2003 when they were in CL. Why would Celtic think they would be too 6 regulars I dont know. 

[Sol thewall Bamba]

2 hours ago, Stuntman_Mike said:

Why wouldn't they? 

 

They'd attract players and have the big TV money coming in like the rest and they have world wide fanbase. 

 

They'd certainly compete. 

 

 

I don't think they'd attract big players for the same reason Newcastle and Sunderland don't/didn't, most players from abroad want to live further South. 

[Stuntman_Mike]

2 minutes ago, Koke said:

 

Celtic may survive but its not guaranteed. Their argument is we have big crowds etc. But Newcastle, West Ham, Leeds, Villa etc also have big crowds and fanbases, and they've gone down many times. 

 

Newcastle get 52k a week but have done nothing of note since around 2003 when they were in CL. Why would Celtic think they would be too 6 regulars I dont know. 

Yeah I agree with that, but you can't deny they wouldn't be a big pull if they were in the league. 

 

The original point was that they'd struggle to survive, not that they'd be top 6 regulars. 

[foxile5]

Pundits who agree breathlessly and weep, with rheumy eyes, about 'European nights at Anfield'. 

 

It's not different to any other stadium and singing You'll Never Walk Alone, Celtic's song too so it ain't unique, doesn't elevate it to something beyond special. 

[Stuntman_Mike]

1 minute ago, Sol thewall Bamba said:

I don't think they'd attract big players for the same reason Newcastle and Sunderland don't/didn't, most players from abroad want to live further South. 

Footballers live where the money is though or to play in the big leagues, it's not like it's always based on location. We're sending unwanted players to Monaco FS haha

 

For me if Celtic were in the prem, the marketing potential and scale of support they'd get would be enormous. It's not like they're a small club now, it's just they're too big for their league, which in turn holds them back from being that bit more competitive in Europe.

 

Imagine their branding in the US alone. If they started from scratch in the prem with their history and support they would attract big names. I don't even like them, I just think they're not given the credit of their size.

 

[Stuntman_Mike]

10 hours ago, Vardinio'sCat said:

 

I remember watching one of new female pundit's absolutely outclassing her male counterparts recently, and as far as I could see, it was purely on the basis that she had really done her homework. She made the others look lazy, and I greatly enjoyed their discomfort.

 

You have to respect the simple effectiveness of due diligence and dedication, it really should be a given, but I guess at the celebrity end the punditry will always be a compromise.

 

Interesting to here that about Danny Higginbottom, I'll make an effort to listen closely next time he comes on.

He does come across well like he does genuinely take interest in what he is talking about.

 

I feel a lot of the other pundits are more popular 'faces' who appear on numerous channels and just state the obvious.

[bmt]

10 hours ago, Vardinio'sCat said:

 

I always thought he was hard to pick out cos he was average height, average build, average hair etc, even if he was playing well.

 

There is something about players that are easy to spot, and is messes with our perception. I mean, you will always know where Hamza is, and so do the ref's. If Hamza has a lovely touch in the middle of a fast passage of play, we know about it, with AK not so much.

 

I bet there is relevant research out there somewhere.

 

 

Not sure if you've read it (and I haven't in years) but there's something in soccernomics about blonde players being overrated because they're easily noticed. Recent example would be will Hughes a few years ago