Increasing the punditry standard?

[Guest]

I think most on here are probably in agreement that the standard of punditry last night in the man utd Barcelona game was terrible.

What do you think could be done to increase the standard? I don't think this is a new thing I watch a lot of old football games and I think the standard has never been that good. Jimmy greaves is one I always think was terrible. 

I think ex professional footballers are needed but I think possibly putting them along side a professional sport journalist would possibly increase the standard

[Harry]

1 minute ago, Gunnersauraus said:

I think most on here are probably in agreement that the standard of punditry last night in the man utd Barcelona game was terrible.

What do you think could be done to increase the standard? I don't think this is a new thing I watch a lot of old football games and I think the standard has never been that good. Jimmy greaves is one I always think was terrible. 

I think ex professional footballers are needed but I think possibly putting them along side a professional sport journalist would possibly increase the standard

It's the same as the Aussie rules league here.

Picking the right pundits is all that's required to resolve it. But I think in many cases the networks actually look for people that connect with the average Joe rather than because they are well read and watch as much Continental football as British stuff.

[Stan]

Don't always choose an ex-player who used to play for one of the clubs as a pundit/co-commentator as it leads to ridiculous bias.

The European Football Show (or whatever it's called) with James Richardson, Raphael Honigstein, James Horncastle and Julien Laurens is usually a good watch as you get neutral viewpoints and expert analysis. They had their expertise of French, Spanish & Italian football but would still know enough about the game in general and have good foundations of what other leagues i.e. Premier League are like.

Much better than the likes of what Owen, Hargreaves, McManaman provide. Sadly the show was axed by BT Sport but the podcast (Totally Football Show with James Richardson) is very good. 

I don't know what kind of directive they are given by producers before/during a game but yesterday's Man Utd/Barca match was probably the most blatant show of pro-British club bias I've heard in a while. 

[Smiley Culture]

Punditry is tough, I reckon. There’s potential to jeopardise relationships and history pundits have with clubs, former teammates and managers alike by saying the “wrong” thing and slating someone or a club. Take Jamie Carragher as an example, I’m sure he has a role at Liverpool somewhere, even in an ambassadorial position, if he started constantly slating Mo Salah this season because he hasn’t scored as many goals as last season, after a while he’s bound to break down the relationship between him and the club, whether he’s right or not and pundits don’t want to stray into that possibility and I don’t blame them. 

[...Dan]

6 minutes ago, Stan said:

Don't always choose an ex-player who used to play for one of the clubs as a pundit/co-commentator as it leads to ridiculous bias.

The European Football Show (or whatever it's called) with James Richardson, Raphael Honigstein, James Horncastle and Julien Laurens is usually a good watch as you get neutral viewpoints and expert analysis. They had their expertise of French, Spanish & Italian football but would still know enough about the game in general and have good foundations of what other leagues i.e. Premier League are like.

Much better than the likes of what Owen, Hargreaves, McManaman provide. Sadly the show was axed by BT Sport but the podcast (Totally Football Show with James Richardson) is very good. 

I don't know what kind of directive they are given by producers before/during a game but yesterday's Man Utd/Barca match was probably the most blatant show of pro-British club bias I've heard in a while. 

Yep I was gonna mention the European football show...that's how it should be done.

[Guest]

48 minutes ago, Stan said:

Don't always choose an ex-player who used to play for one of the clubs as a pundit/co-commentator as it leads to ridiculous bias.

The European Football Show (or whatever it's called) with James Richardson, Raphael Honigstein, James Horncastle and Julien Laurens is usually a good watch as you get neutral viewpoints and expert analysis. They had their expertise of French, Spanish & Italian football but would still know enough about the game in general and have good foundations of what other leagues i.e. Premier League are like.

Much better than the likes of what Owen, Hargreaves, McManaman provide. Sadly the show was axed by BT Sport but the podcast (Totally Football Show with James Richardson) is very good. 

I don't know what kind of directive they are given by producers before/during a game but yesterday's Man Utd/Barca match was probably the most blatant show of pro-British club bias I've heard in a while. 

I think the pundits on the European football show are good. However there are times where because they haven't played football they say things which may not be right. However putting them alongside a good former player pundit would be a good thing I think. Saying that Fletcher isn't an ex player

[Guest]

38 minutes ago, Smiley Culture said:

Punditry is tough, I reckon. There’s potential to jeopardise relationships and history pundits have with clubs, former teammates and managers alike by saying the “wrong” thing and slating someone or a club. Take Jamie Carragher as an example, I’m sure he has a role at Liverpool somewhere, even in an ambassadorial position, if he started constantly slating Mo Salah this season because he hasn’t scored as many goals as last season, after a while he’s bound to break down the relationship between him and the club, whether he’s right or not and pundits don’t want to stray into that possibility and I don’t blame them. 

I think punditry is harder than what some of us think. There aren't many who can do a good job of it so maybe we are a bit harsh on them. However at the same time none of us want to listen to punditry as bad as last night

[The Artful Dodger]

Start with English Language studies, basic stuff like not confusing your tenses etc. If you can't express yourself correctly in your first language then you shouldn't be allowed on.

[Azeem]

These words should be banned 

Fantastic 

World Class

Oh what a shot

Incredible 

[Stan]

Just now, Azeem said:

These words should be banned 

Fantastic 

World Class

Oh what a shot

Incredible 

or in Hargreaves' case, 'terrific' 

[...Dan]

Commentary on penalties always annoys me. For example Santi Cazorla put one down the middle the other day and the keeper didn't move and saved it. The commentators said it was one of the worst penalties they've ever seen. If the keeper would've dived they'd be saying what a cool penalty it was. Penalties are a mind game more than anything...90% of penalties aren't great, they don't go right in the corner, they would be saved if the keeper guesses right, but if they go in commentators say they're good penalties. I don't think much needs to be said about penalties really unless they're in that 10% that are unsaveable.

[Dan+]

Shooting every current BT pundit would see a steep upturn in quality.

[Guest]

48 minutes ago, Dan said:

Shooting every current BT pundit would see a steep upturn in quality.

To be fair to bt Gerrard,lampard and Ferdinand were brilliant pundits together. 

[Inverted]

Focus on getting more professionals whose job is excplicitly to research and analyse football. Have maybe one player with a relevant connection to the game for insight if there's one available. 

BT is good when they have the likes of Hönigstein taking the lead. Players ultimately are only there to bring player-specific insights so they should be supplemental to experts 

[RandoEFC+]

Tv are unlikely to ever get too technical as the majority of the population watching want to hear quick, easy to digest soundbites about whether a player just needs to get his head up more, run faster, kick the ball harder, try and switch it if you want to get super technical. Neville and Carragher are okay on Monday Night Football but they aren't amazing, they're just amazing compared to the other shite you get.

Best thing to do is not to watch the punditry on television and instead find yourself a couple of decent football podcasts to follow. Much better analysis.

[Stan]

6 hours ago, RandoEFC said:

Best thing to do is not to watch the punditry on television and instead find yourself a couple of decent football podcasts to follow. Much better analysis.

Agree with this but when you're watching on Sky and have the commentary on, it's fairly difficult to avoid the likes of Carragher and the bias when he's on Liverpool games. 

Of course it can be on mute and you could listen to something else but the onus should be on Sky (or BT) to employ people who are going to be impartial and not so biased towards their own team. 

[Stan]

Shit like this annoys me... 

[Relling]

On 16/04/2019 at 17:00, Stan said:

Agree with this but when you're watching on Sky and have the commentary on, it's fairly difficult to avoid the likes of Carragher and the bias when he's on Liverpool games. 

Of course it can be on mute and you could listen to something else but the onus should be on Sky (or BT) to employ people who are going to be impartial and not so biased towards their own team. 

I quite like when games are available without commentary, just with the stadium sound. The commentators are annoying with their endless repetitions about how it is a one sided game etc etc. It is like sitting next to a guy you don't know who insists on talking even when he has nothing to say. The kind of commenting I like is when they shut up a bit of the time, and are absorbed in the game, mostly just saying the names of the players (which can be helpful watching teams I don not know) or short comments like "should perhaps have gone for the shot there", "what a tackle" and get on with it. Sometimes you hear the waxing about how much possession team A has had, when it is team B with the ball, which just makes you less into the game.   

[Stan]

The latest Michael Owen edition. No one is this stupid, surely?