They look easy enough to fake with so much redaction
-
Football without Origi is nothing -
Drogba doesn't deserve to be there, Hyypia, Fowler, Le Tissier, BeardsleyOriginally posted by Irishnev View PostWas muß, das muß.Comment
-
-
Hoddle and Merson were heroes on the pitch - but precious legends now offer precious little on TV
In other sports you have to earn your legendary status as a broadcaster just as you did as a player - not in football
Mesut Ozil has crossed a line few players dare to and drawn down wrath from on high.
The Arsenal midfielder hit back at club “legends” who were *slaughtering his attitude, telling them that they know nothing about him, so should button it.
Ian Wright called his outburst “laughable”, pointing out that, when you are not performing for a club that you are refusing to sign a contract with, you leave yourself wide open for a good slagging off.
And Wright’s right.
Ozil has been poor for Arsenal this season and we would rather hear players-turned-pundits speak the truth than hold back out of fear of *upsetting old chums.
But does the German World Cup winner Ozil inadvertently make a valid point about our precious legends that can’t be dismissed as “laughable”?
That quite often, some sound like they are lazily living off their playing *reputations.
Take Graeme Souness, who claimed, towards the end of the *transfer window, that Liverpool should sell Philippe Coutinho because he’s “a six or seven-goals-a-season” player, before asking, “Does he turn up in the real big games?”.
Well, the Brazilian was Liverpool’s top scorer last season, with 14 goals, and made the second-most assists.
He has scored 16 times against top-seven rivals, including five against Manchester City and was the only scorer in Liverpool’s last two big games at *Wembley (2015 FA Cup semi-final and 2016 Carling Cup final).
But Souness, who was *completely wrong about Coutinho, is rarely *challenged because he speaks with such authority.
Which was how Glenn Hoddle spoke, on Monday, when describing England’s equaliser against Slovakia.
It was a rehearsed, near-post corner that worked, albeit with a slice of luck as the ball went in off Eric Dier’s shin.
That’s not how Hoddle saw it, though.
“Not the best corner we’ve taken tonight,” he chundered, before praising Dier for making the corner work by mastering “a difficult skill”. Eh?
Hoddle’s commentary is basically a stream of cliches delivered with all the passion of an HR management video voiceover.
There is little insight or analysis to shed fresh light on either set of players or tactics.
Just repeated buzz-phrases about “picking the right pass” or “being big mentally” and a refusal to be honest about England’s blatant flaws, *possibly because he still fancies a *recall by the FA.
Many recently retired players, such as Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher, are fully clued-up about the modern game.
Others, from further back, have an air about them that says “the only facts you need to know in this commentary are the trophies on my CV”.
Take one of the legends Ozil was hitting back at, Paul Merson.
This is how he assessed Brighton’s summer transfer business: “I look through the list of signings and I don’t really know any of them.”
So, he had never heard of Australia’s national goalkeeper Mathew Ryan; Tim Krul, who played 160 times for Newcastle; or Chelsea’s former *England Under-20 forward Izzy Brown, whose four goals, while on loan, in the second half of last season helped *Huddersfield get promoted.
He did not have a clue about *Colombian striker Jose Izquierdo, whose 14 league goals helped Club Brugge finish runners-up in Belgium last season; PSV Eindhoven’s *midfielder and Dutch international Davy Propper; 20-capped Austrian international Markus Suttner or Sporting’s Ezequiel Schelotto, who once played against England for Italy.
Yet Merson is employed as a *football expert – indeed, such an *expert Sky paid him to be their star man on their busiest news day of the year, the closing of the summer *transfer window.
Would such levels of ignorance be allowed from ex-pros analysing cricket, golf, tennis, athletics or any other sport? It’s doubtful.
Maybe because, in other sports, you have to earn your legendary status as a broadcaster just as you did as a player.
But, in football, the rule is clearly “once a ledge, always a ledge”.
If we are all only happy when we are really winning in the end, when your race finishes, what life would that be?Comment
-
Hear, hearOh I don't know.Comment
-
Modifying post.Comment
-
Yeah, that article is spot on.Originally posted by dom9 View Post
It irks me to say it, but Souness spouts endless guff on post match analysis.
On the other hand I thought Gary Neville's commentary during the Liverpool Arsenal game was fantastic (maybe because we were playing so well). And I do like his and Carras analysis whenever I see it.
Merson has always been a semi-literate embarrassment on TV. And Hoddle is as the article says dull and uninspiring.Modifying post.Comment
-
It doesn't help that bothof thosethem guys can't even speak the English language at primary school level. Listening to them is like pulling teeth.Oh I don't know.Comment
-
[ame]https://twitter.com/AndreGray7/status/905776509499166720[/ame]Comment
-
Paid for by Hugo BossTrey Nyoni: countdown to stardom-2 years1year0.5 yearsComment
-
I'm not really into tats but that is an impressive piece of work.Comment
-
The Spanish League is properly kicking up a fuss this week. Another day, another story.
La Liga: Officials 'support idea' of matches being played abroad
By Simon Stone
The Premier League has shelved the idea of a '39th game' to be played outside England, first raised in 2008, after criticism from fans and media.
Despite one major promoter saying the move "will happen", the Premier League has no plans to resurrect the idea.
But a La Liga spokesman said it wants "to grow the international appeal".
The discussions, which are still in the early stages, follow a summer when Barcelona played Real Madrid as part of the International Champions Cup pre-season tournament.
It was only the second time the clubs had met outside Spain and attracted a capacity crowd in excess of 66,000 at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami.
La Liga is trying to find ways of closing the commercial gap between their organisation and the Premier League and feel taking matches outside Spain may bring in additional income from overseas markets.
The spokesman added: "Last season more than 2.5 billion people around the world tuned in to watch La Liga.
"Clearly, La Liga is global entertainment and we want to grow its international appeal.
"As part of that effort we are discussing the option of playing some of the league matches outside of Spain."
Charlie Stillitano is chairman of Relevent Sports, the US company that has put together and promoted, the International Champions Cup.
This summer, more than 900,000 fans attended a total of 18 games in three countries featuring 16 major European teams, including Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea, Arsenal and Tottenham from the Premier League.
German side Bayern Munich, big-spending French club Paris St-Germain and Italian team Juventus and Inter Milan were also involved.
Plans are already being put in place for next summer's competition and, speaking to BBC Sport in July, Stillitano said there was a market for English football overseas despite the intense hostility towards the idea.
He said: "I personally believe it will happen because the Premier League is the one league that can rival the NFL and has really capitalised on its international success.
"Let's face it, England is only going to be 50-60 million people. It is never going to be 400 million.
"It has to go outside to grow their fan base."
Oh I don't know.Comment
-
More football manager drivel, this time from Mark Hughes
"We will give Man Utd the respect that they deserve clearly, but sometimes the best way to do that is to get about them and ask questions.
"When you go up against the likes of Man Utd you need to show all your qualities to secure a result which is our intention.
"We have shown we can beat a top six team already this season and hopefully we will get the same sort of result tomorrow.
"Man Utd have gone about their business in impressive fashion so far. You look at their squad and they are strong and technically good."Oh I don't know.Comment
-
Palace lost again. No points no goals in four games and 3 of next 4 are city united and chelsea.Football without Origi is nothingComment
-
Manchester City have the most expensive squad in football, according to research group CIES Football Observatory.
1) Manchester City (£775m)
2) PSG (£772m)
3) Manchester United (£712m)
4) Chelsea (£585m)
5) Barcelona (£571m)
6) Real Madrid (£452m)
7) Juventus (£427m)
8) Liverpool (£397m)
9) Arsenal (£378m)
10) Tottenham (£328m)
Selected others:
11) Bayern Munich (£318m)
12) Everton (£316m)
13) AC Milan (£287m)
20=) Crystal Palace (£203m)
20=) Southampton (£203m)
22) Leicester City (£194m)
23) West Ham (£182m)
25) Newcastle United (£147m)
28) Watford (£142m)
32=) West Brom (£115m)
32=) Stoke (£115m)
34) Swansea (£113m)
40) Bournemouth (£112m)
42) Burnley (£92m)
49) Brighton (£70m)
53) Huddersfield Town (£56m)Comment
Comment