Dunphy the tv pundit

thebaz

I've always been a fan of Dunphy , whether his radio show , or his analysis with Giles on RTE. He has over the years had many instances where he looked like he was losing it, but has always returned stronger and more controversial than ever . Am i alone in thinking he is losing it again, as a football pundit, and are his extreme and sweeping statements just becoming boring .. I thought his attack on Ferdinand last night was proof of this.

ferdi

he's always making sweeing statements and huge generalisations, smacks of someone who dosnt have a clue tbh

smemon

yes, he called ferdinand 'a clown'. He also has a love affair with cannavaro.

but he's the guy that makes us tune into RTE. He's what makes them money. He is the engine room of RTE football. Much like Keano, if you take him out, the panel is left leaderless, bland and average.

gustavo

Sometimes he talks sense but hasnt a clue about any football apart from English , but likes to pretend he knows all about Italian and Spanish football , at least Giles doesnt even feign knowledge

el rabitos

in fairness though, ferdinand is a clown and compared to cannavaro he's a bad clown

i know i'm going to be accused of commiting "hate crimes" against utd there and "hate-orizing" and all that jazz but anyone who thinks ferdinand is worth the tranfer cost or the weekly wages he's on has to be smoking some funny ciggarettes

as for dunphy, he does make huge generalisations and the players he does pin point for critisism, that critisism is usually over-done, but 99% of the time theres an element of truth to his rants. he's just not very good at getting his point across. he's funny to watch though

DaBreno

Dunphy is a cranky old man,the type you see in on his own in the corner of an Old pub. The locals make a point of avoiding him but know he's usually good entertainment when he's had a few and he starts ranting for no reason in particular. People laugh awkwardly, shaking their heads going "Good old Eamon, there he goes" but deep down they feel sad, wondering what happened to make him such a shell of a man.

Maybe its coz he was a footballer himself and never acheived much beyond solid employment at Milwall. He loves Keane because he got close to him, got to touch greatness. Maybe it only fans the flames of his bitterness. It would explain why he tears into anyone that would dare offend his deity.

As a pundit, he is loud, brash and utterly sensationalist. He offers nothing even approaching insight and often contradicts himself.

Meh.

Big Nelly

Dunphy is great for soccer and Hook is great for the Rugby. Great entertainment which keeps you enjoyed and waiting for the half time analysis in a boring game. Better than BBC or UTV anyday, I dont even mention the TV3 team, come on Packie Bonner

eirebhoy

smemon wrote:

He also has a love affair with cannavaro.

So do I. Dunphy is the reason I can't stand watching Ireland and Celtic games on RTE.

zAbbo

Give me Hooky over Dunphy anyway, at least Hook has some intelligence.

RefulgentGnomon

I couldn't stop laughing last night when the pundits were talking about Saha being maybe a better striker than RVN and Giles adds to it with "And more honest too"!!!

ullu

I'd prefer Dunphy's over the top generalisations as opposed to the bland, sitting on the fence punditry provided by both of the UK terrestrial channels any day.

At least he's expressing some sort of opinion which is what pundits are supposed to do, no matter how black and white they tend to be (the "Roy Keane is right about everything" springs to mind).

An example of RTE analysis might sound something like this :

"Looking at the second goal there Bill, you've got to attribute a lot of the blame to the constant playing of the offside trap. The pace in the opposition attack was always going to exploit that. What dire defending by the centreback though this is hardly the first time his lack of positional awareness has been exposed for all to see. What an overrated donkey!"

BBC/ITV analysis is more like this :

"That second goal was scored by the pacy winger. Winger's are generally fast."

Andrew 83

RefulgentGnomon wrote:

I couldn't stop laughing last night when the pundits were talking about Saha being maybe a better striker than RVN and Giles adds to it with "And more honest too"!!!

Think it was Brady who chipped in with that.

ullu

RefulgentGnomon wrote:

I couldn't stop laughing last night when the pundits were talking about Saha being maybe a better striker than RVN and Giles adds to it with "And more honest too"!!!

It's quite the claim but I think the point they were trying to make was that while RVN would score loads of goals, they were primarily poachers goals. Saha's display last night showed that he can do a lot more with the ball at his feet and threaten the goal from far more positions than RVN. Saha hasn't had a proper season at Man Utd since he joined them so it will be good to see what he can do in a hopefully injury free season as first choice striker.

Fanny Cradock

Love the guy. I'm just waiting for the next time he feels "tired and emotional".

He does make some sweeping statements and sometimes gets it horribly wrong, but he's not afraid to speak his mind no matter how unpopular the opinion is. I remember when the nation was going wild at Michele (I piss whiskey - honest!) Smith's miraculous gold medals - almost everyone else in the Irish press said it was down to "new training methods"; Dumphy called her a cheat.

In two words: "World Class".

Reganio 2

I like him even though all he does is complain about Liverpool. I remember when we won the Champions League and he still wouldn't give us the slightest bit of credit. It was Milan's fault rather than Liverpool being good.
He was forever calling Traore a donkey, very funny. At least he tells you what he feels.

_blank_

I like him.

He's not afraid to call it as he sees it, sweeping generalisations or no.

Nunu

Slightly off topic:
I watched the full game Lyon v Real Madrid and Cannavaro was shockingly poor. Worse than Ferdinand ever has been. Dunphy bases his adoration of Cannavaro on his outstanding world cup displays, a world cup where Ferdinand also performed to a high level.
Cannavaro is world class, but I just dont think its fair that Dunphy lauds him up to try and expose Ferdinand when he's probably only seen Cannavaro play a dozen times.

ullu

Nunu wrote:

Slightly off topic:
I watched the full game Lyon v Real Madrid and Cannavaro was shockingly poor. Worse than Ferdinand ever has been. Dunphy bases his adoration of Cannavaro on his outstanding world cup displays, a world cup where Ferdinand also performed to a high level.
Cannavaro is world class, but I just dont think its fair that Dunphy lauds him up to try and expose Ferdinand when he's probably only seen Cannavaro play a dozen times.

I'm not so sure about Dunphy only picking up on Cannavaro during the World Cup. He's been an established and well regarded player for over a decade now and Dunphy can't have helped but see him in European and international games during that period so a dozen games is probably far too low as an estimate. Regarding Cannavaro's performance, I'm only speculating but perhaps the move from Italy to Spain means he'll take a bit of time to settle into the Spanish way of playing and just to fit into a new team generally.

I don't really know how you can say Ferdinand performed to a high level during the WC. My main memories of his play are constant, aimless long balls against Trinidad and Tobago and the dire marking (by the entire defence to be fair) against Swedish corners. I don't remember any crucial or otherwise memorable contributions on his part akin to the goal line clearance by Ashley Cole against Ecuador. That's not to say he was a weak link or anything but he hardly performed noticeably well in a team that played dour, uncreative football for five games.

Bateman

Whether WE think Cannavaro is world class or not is one thing, but for Dunphy to laud Cannavaro at every opportunity, and then claim that Real Madrid "have made no progress", is complete rubbish and makes him seem completelt dumb. Out of the 3 pundits Brady, Dunphy, and Giles, all have admitted at one time or another that they never watch Spanish football at the weekend because they are always footballed-out after the monotony of the Premiership on a Saturday and Sunday. So how they can pronounce judgement on Real Madrid's progress or lack of, I don't know. :mad:

redspider

DaBreno wrote:

Dunphy is a cranky old man,the type you see in on his own in the corner of an Old pub. The locals make a point of avoiding him but know he's usually good entertainment when he's had a few and he starts ranting for no reason in particular.

As a pundit, he is loud, brash and utterly sensationalist. He offers nothing even approaching insight and often contradicts himself.

I agree. Dunphy, if an unknown in a pub, you would just think of him as a git in the corner, and someoe that hasnt got a clue. To be fair to him, at times he even recognises that as well and he admits it on camera.

Yet, still, people tune in. Yes, it is entertainment, and its more like Pre-match and then there is Apres-match. Both are comedy sketches! But why should the licence payer pay big dosh to him and his host, O'Herlihy, who is more clueless than the clueless. Even Dunphy on a rant will first state on an answer to a question from Bill - "you haven't got a clue Bill". I dont mind having them on the box, and they beat the UK "analysts" any day, but they should not be paid big money to be idiots.

Brady is ok, and as people are saying on another thread, just watch out for his Arsenal involvement, but I think to be fair to him he keeps this under control to a great extent. Giles is the most neutral of the lot and the most honest and calls most things nearly right from an analytical point of view. Of course he can get things 'wrong', although in football, many things are opinions and we all do. However, at times he gives in too easily to Dunphy's "bullying/loudmouth" tactics and can be swayed and give in on his points. He avoids heated arguments, whereas Dunphy relishes them, whether he's in the right or the wrong, and its usually the latter.

redspider

Töpher

seansouth wrote:

I like him.

He's not afraid to call it as he sees it, sweeping generalisations or no.

Exactly. Thats why he's there! To give his opinion - not the PC one that won't upset some donkey getting multiples of my yearly salary in one week! That said, he's raking in the licence money - which I ain't so happy about! But as a pudit, I think he's entertaining.

Andrew 83

Bateman wrote:

Out of the 3 pundits Brady, Dunphy, and Giles, all have admitted at one time or another that they never watch Spanish football at the weekend because they are always footballed-out after the monotony of the Premiership on a Saturday and Sunday. So how they can pronounce judgement on Real Madrid's progress or lack of, I don't know. :mad:

While Giles has said that in that exact phrase I don't remember Brady saying it, though he may have. Dunphy however has frequently made reference to how often he watches spanish football, sometimes making comparison to how Giles doesn't watch football he isn't paid to watch etc.

thebaz

Dunphy was at it again last night , having a right go, and in my opinion, unfairly at Rio .
Yes Rio is overpaid , yes he is not the greatest Defender in the world , but hes not the worst ... they didnt concede last night , nor really look like conceding.
But Eamon seams to be enjoying having a right go at United, particularly Rio and Ronaldo , unfairly i believe.

Chardee MacDennis

i dont the fact that rio is overpaid is what gets at dunphy, rio is a player that really annoys me and i couldnt give a toss about how much he is paid -thats between him and utd - but its the fact that and english pundits throw undeserved praise at him and belive him to be the best defender in the pl but he is shaky and hugely overrated. i would take terry, carragher, carvalho, gallas and king above him anyday.

its like lampard - he is the most overrated player in the world and wouldnt make my england team but everyone (including irish pundits) go on about him being the best midfielder in the world when in reality he is a good player with a great team built around him to shoot all day(the WC shows what happens when tactics arent built to suit him)

so although i'm not mad about dunphy he is not afraid to say what he thinks compared to other pundits who tend to be sheep and full of praise.

also does anyone remember in one of the WC games on RTE the panel was dunphy, brady, souness and giles and Dunphy was making a point about great midfield players and he said "he's not a player like brady, giles, souness or Xabi alonso" i thought that was hilarious. he can be a huge suck up especially when there are more important people around him.

Nalz

the best way i can describe or rate rio is (and Id say people wil agree with me)

rio ferdinand on his day is a great defender, not an excellent or world class defender...but an great one non the less. However, his day only comes around 60-70%, making him a 7.5 or 8 out of ten CB in terms of class.

I agree with nearly everything E Dunphy has said in the past. Who can deny that Cannavaro is exceptional. Or that John O Shea, Fletcher and co are simply ordinary footballers that make mistakes in almost every game. Sure he went a little ott on rio, but his comments in general are spot on.

Ronaldo comment was perfect. He didnt say he had no quality, no fitness, no ability etc...he said he was braindead. That to me means in a blunt sense that Ronaldo has some talent but cannot channel it and use it for the good of the team when on the football pitch.

Lampard is a good player, but wouldnt make my England team. Neither would Carrick or Rio

mada999

Trilla wrote:

I agree with nearly everything E Dunphy has said in the past. Who can deny that Cannavaro is exceptional. Or that John O Shea, Fletcher and co are simply ordinary footballers that make mistakes in almost every game. Sure he went a little ott on rio, but his comments in general are spot on.

Ronaldo comment was perfect. He didnt say he had no quality, no fitness, no ability etc...he said he was braindead. That to me means in a blunt sense that Ronaldo has some talent but cannot channel it and use it for the good of the team when on the football pitch.

Lampard is a good player, but wouldnt make my England team. Neither would Carrick or Rio

Agreed.....

Zapp Brannigan

From watching The Premiership and the CL coverage last night I've noticed Dunphy seems to be 'bigging up' Liverpool alot these days! Kinda odd.

As for a pundit, to be fair he ain't great but he is entertaining. And, for the mostpart, he can pronounce players names unlike Giles who struggles with any name with more that 3 syllables.

Dempsey

RTE commentators speak their minds unlike the Jamie "I'm happy for him" Redknapp. Thats why I listen to them, if they think a player isnt doing good when he's suppose to be, they won sugar coat it

Nalz

Dempsey wrote:

Jamie "I'm happy for him" Redknapp.

Nalz

Slurms wrote:

As for a pundit, to be fair he ain't great .

why aint he great? what do you want? andy gray and his little chess board

zAbbo

Not many of these pundits have any clue on football outside the premiership/CL, Especially Andy Gray

Bar maybe Brady (Italy) and Gerry Armstrong (Spain)

Actually Gerry 'Have a look' Armstrong is probably the best pundit/commentator going

MisterAnarchy

Slurms wrote:

From watching The Premiership and the CL coverage last night I've noticed Dunphy seems to be 'bigging up' Liverpool alot these days! Kinda odd.

As for a pundit, to be fair he ain't great but he is entertaining. And, for the mostpart, he can pronounce players names unlike Giles who struggles with any name with more that 3 syllables.

Yes Eamonn said at the weekend that he thinks a mediocre Liverpool will challenge Chelsea for the Premiership this year,after slating them for the last 2 years .
He was oozing on about Italian football for years ,tonight he said Italian teams were poor and wouldnt win the Champions league.
He didnt think Barcelona deserved to win the Champions league last year.
He tipped AC Milan ,if I remember correctly ,he said you could put your house on them to win the Champions League the year Deportivo thrashed them .
After saying Utd were a spent force for years (correctly) he amazingly then fancied Man Utd to win the Champions League ,2 years ago ,a team that was in major decline .
His predictions are awful ,he lets his heart rule his head but he does analyse players and teams in general pretty well and is entertaining to watch unlike the muppets at ITV,Sky and a lesser extent BBC.

Big Chief

never have and never will like dunphy, he annoys me and like eirebhoy says -

Dunphy is the reason I can't stand watching Celtic games on RTE.

couldnt agree more

cournioni

Ferdinand is a clown though. He has been so far this season anyway. He deserves every bit of stick he gets from Dunphy and Giles.

iregk

In fairness RTE have footie down when it comes to the panel. Sky don't ever talk down the premiership, instead you have to endure "greatest league in teh world" ever second sentence. The shock on Redknapps face when Roy was on and Roy didn't agree because basically they are all yes boys over on sky.

The world cup on rte was funny to start with. Souness so used to the Sky way of things was afraid to say what he really felt then after 1 show where the lads let rip he suddenly realised you can actually be truthful on this show! My personally I like Dunphy, I think he is class to watch and really the only reason I watch RTE. Celtic games? Well I couldn't care less about Celtic so that doesn't affect me. But who do you prefer a good old fashioned argument on RTE or a bunch of nodding yes dogs over on Sky with Andy (utterly useless and over the top tv graphics) Gray!

SectionF

iregk wrote:

In fairness RTE have footie down when it comes to the panel. Sky don't ever talk down the premiership, instead you have to endure "greatest league in teh world" ever second sentence. ....My personally I like Dunphy, I think he is class to watch and really the only reason I watch RTE. Celtic games? Well I couldn't care less about Celtic so that doesn't affect me. But who do you prefer a good old fashioned argument on RTE or a bunch of nodding yes dogs over on Sky with Andy (utterly useless and over the top tv graphics) Gray!

That's a fair take. Dunphy's a class act, as an entertainer and controversialist. His first rule is that he is not afraid to say anything, so long as it gets him noticed as a spikey performer. But he does spout a lot of codswallop: contempt is his principal commodity, and he dresses it up well as insight and analysis.

Paul007

RTE's coverage is good but I can't help wondering how 'controversial' the panel would be if they were broadcasting in England.

Rikand

Okie doke + Giles + Dunphy =

Savman

ah Dunphy's grand, always good for a laugh. Can't disagree with any of his sentiments on Rio or Ronaldo for that matter.

Gas thing is, fans of every club think Eamo is "anti-my team" :rolleyes:

He's no worse than the Andy Gray fella, irritating isnt the word... :mad:

evad_lhorg

I avoid watching the games on RTE actually. I hate the commentary and I hate the guys in the studio. Yea Dunphy can come out with some funny stuff but i find myself laighing at him and giles and not with them. Liam Brady knows what he is talking about but I just cant stand his voice and tone.

Waster

Savman wrote:

ah Dunphy's grand, always good for a laugh. Can't disagree with any of his sentiments on Rio or Ronaldo for that matter.

Gas thing is, fans of every club think Eamo is "anti-my team" :rolleyes:

He's no worse than the Andy Gray fella, irritating isnt the word... :mad:

On Tue Eamo said that Ronaldo is brain dead. Hilarious.

iregk

Paul007 wrote:

I can't help wondering how 'controversial' the panel would be if they were broadcasting in England.

Exactly thats the strong point of RTE. Its not our product so we can be liberal and have a fairly abstract opinion on the subject. In england they are very afraid to say anything bad in case it causes a slump in their market place. Remember sky have no interest in giving you unbiased analasys. They have a product to sell and they give you the sales pitch. The beed are just patriotic w***ers and I can no longer watch football focus or motd due to their over whelming smugness.

Nalz

iregk wrote:

Exactly thats the strong point of RTE. Its not our product so we can be liberal and have a fairly abstract opinion on the subject. In england they are very afraid to say anything bad in case it causes a slump in their market place. Remember sky have no interest in giving you unbiased analasys. They have a product to sell and they give you the sales pitch. The beed are just patriotic w***ers and I can no longer watch football focus or motd due to their over whelming smugness.

here here........or is that spelt hear hear?!?


ah you get my point, Well said

thebaz

Dunphy seams to despise English football now , he used to love it a few years back when he was sniping at the EL or the chicken league as he used to call it --
anyway he has called for Chelsea to be pulled out of Champions league for Mourinhos comments and their performance tonight --
a little radical Eamon !

Gillie

I like him and Giles and sometimes Brady.
But I can't stand Houghton! For some reason I seem to disagree with every thing he says.
Maybe its just me?

CivilServant

ferdi wrote:

he's always making sweeing statements and huge generalisations, smacks of someone who dosnt have a clue tbh

He's an old man. Leave him be. It makes great entertainment for those who don't take him seriously.

sc317

But I can't stand Houghton! For some reason I seem to disagree with every thing he says.
Maybe its just me?

No, I think Ray Houghton seems to disagree with everything he says because he contradicts most of what he says anyway.

NotWormBoy

Ah, Dunphy... I wouldn't replace him, but neither would I take his footballing opinions seriously. Brady and Giles know their stuff, and will say what they think pretty fairly. Dunphy doesn't, and will say it however he likes, that's why he's there - for the controversy, for the viewers, for RTÉ.

But he'll rarely, if ever, admit to being wrong, even when its plainer than the nose on his face. If he realises that Giles agrees with him, he'll rip unmercilessly into a player and keep on going - far beyond where was required. He was right about Ronaldo at the World Cup, but he didn't need to go quite so far. I loved it when he got a goal just to wipe the smirk off Dunphy's face. Just like I loved when LFC beat Milan in Istanbul, and he had to sit there and talk about it.

I love hating him.

At this stage, he's just looking for things to be controversial about though. He's doing it to keep up the "says it like it is" opinion that people have of him. He'd get a bit more respect as a pundit though, if he wasn't as ... harsh, and if he praised players more, where it was due. But thats not what he's after. Because if he didn't have the reputation he has now ... he wouldn't have anything.God forbid he'd have to rely on his looks in that case...

thebaz

he was in flying form again tonight -- Ferdinand, Carrick and Ronaldo -- got another dose of Eamons ranting - boring -- and then Houghton --
i'm not a big Ray fan , as a panelist (great midfielder for us ) -- but he did not respond to Eamons jibes , and behaved like a gentleman , when others might had a crack at Eamons own footbal career - Milwall

el rabitos

u dont need to have been a top footballer to know what your doing/talking about after your carreer

dunphy was right in what he was saying tonight, his way of communicating his point is what makes him come across as agressive and idiotic.

eirebhoy

Dunphy said last night that he played with George Best and he reckons Rooney is better than him. While I think he's going a bit ott with Rooney, I'm glad someone isn't biased towards players just because they may have seen them play 40 years ago. Ask someone to list the all time best 10 players and you'll be doing well if they listed one from the last decade even though footballers must surely be improving.