World Cup Punditry Gold 2014

delaad

ankaragucu wrote: »

Last night after Greece won, Danny Murphy came out with the most arrogant quote of the WC so far, "Greece now play Costa Rica in the last 16.Thats means that either Greece or Costa Rica will be in the Quarter Finals!That only adds to the frustration for England."
What a muppet.Costa Rica WON their group on merit.As if England even came close to qualifying.What the hell do England have to be arrogant about?
1966?!

...is a miserable drone.

Fuhrer

Dcully wrote: »

Jaysus Phil Neville is annoying as fcuk ,loves to hear himself jabber.

"You played here before, right Phil?"

"Thats right, one of the best memories I ever had, the stadium was falling apart and we had an awful time. One of my best memories"

batistuta9

ankaragucu wrote: »

Did anyone else get the vibe that the three of them were on the verge of laughing for most of the latter part of todays coverage?
The Sadlier comments about Kenny needing to be less serious seemed almost scripted.Maloney couldnt wait to do the links to each half of the Bosnia/Iran game.(so that they could get back to laughing among themselves)

kind of, sadlier nearly always looks like laughing at least once when he's on with darragh maloney, always smiling, smirking over at him. looks like they get along, not just 2 lads who show up and work with each other, they work on screen anyway i think.

kenny seems far more relaxed with the two of them (+ didi) as well, he might come over a bit serious/aggressive but you can see him laughing with them & at himself, he's not as bad/boring as people are making out

& i wouldn't be overly surprised if D.M or someone is aware of the reaction towards him and had a word with him to lighten up a bit/try change perception

Omackeral

Giles is clueless. Hadn't a scooby doo about the hat trick scorer in the Swiss match. ''Shakeeri? Is that his name there?''.

Here's a bloke that's been an ever present in the Champions League the last 5 years with Basel (whom he played with against Man Utd more than once) and now with one of the powerhouses of Europe, Bayern Munich. The sheer ignorance.

ankaragucu

ankaragucu wrote: »

Last night after Greece won, Danny Murphy came out with the most arrogant quote of the WC so far, "Greece now play Costa Rica in the last 16.Thats means that either Greece or Costa Rica will be in the Quarter Finals!That only adds to the frustration for England."
What a muppet.Costa Rica WON their group on merit.As if England even came close to qualifying.What the hell do England have to be arrogant about?
1966?!

Exactly. I think most Irish people want to see England fail because of the attitude you outlined which is prevalent amongst many of the media and not because they invaded and colonised us for 800 years

Omackeral

Omackeral wrote: »

Giles is clueless. Hadn't a scooby doo about the hat trick scorer in the Swiss match. ''Shakeeri? Is that his name there?''.

Here's a bloke that's been an ever present in the Champions League the last 5 years with Basel (whom he played with against Man Utd more than once) and now with one of the powerhouses of Europe, Bayern Munich. The sheer ignorance.

Never played for Don Revie's Leeds with Billy Bremner and Bobby Collins though

Jesus Wept

Omackeral wrote: »

Giles is clueless. Hadn't a scooby doo about the hat trick scorer in the Swiss match. ''Shakeeri? Is that his name there?''.

Here's a bloke that's been an ever present in the Champions League the last 5 years with Basel (whom he played with against Man Utd more than once) and now with one of the powerhouses of Europe, Bayern Munich. The sheer ignorance.

Giles and Brady need to get the heave-ho, there is no point having them there unless Dumphy is there to wind them up - and he doesn't do that often enough, especially Giles.

Whelan - clueless.

Richie Sadlier contributes well and is interesting to listen to.
Kenny Cunngingham, I'm not sure.

briany

Deleted User wrote: »

Exactly. I think most Irish people want to see England fail because of the attitude you outlined which is prevalent amongst many of the media and not because they invaded and colonised us for 800 years

Also, because of that English 'fan', who, allegedly, sang at a group of Algerians during the last WC just before the game kicked off,

(I imagine this being sung to the tune of She'll be Coming Round the Mountain)

"We're gonna f**k you up your a*se! We're gonna f**k you up your a*se!".

smileyj1987

NIMAN wrote: »

They should look at the fact that guys like Danny Welbeck and Ricky Lambert are being picked to play in WCs, thats why they are struggling, not cos they aren't diving enough.

I'm sorry but lambert was there on merit . The chap scored 16 premier league goals last season . Plus he is a damn good penalty taker . Name a different striker that's English that you would have brought ?
Danny welbeck shouldn't even been allowed on the plane . I don't think he deserved to play at a World Cup .

v3ttel

Giles: "And we see the boy here, Martisio"
Brady: "Marchisio"
Giles: "Yeah, Martisio....."

v3ttel

Davei141 wrote: »

Damn i hate Ray "Captain Bloody Hindsight" Houghton, should have done this, should have done that, whinge whinge whinge. Just piss off.

Nib wrote: »

Houghton's really getting on my tits with his constant whinging.

On Benzema: "he's not working hard enough for me, looks disinterested"

On Pogba: "he's trying to hard"

NIMAN wrote: »

Great line from Ray Houghton tonight when the Ecuador keeper came for a cross and put Benzema off a header,

"he was nowhere near that, absolutely nowhere near it ....... wait I think he might have got a touch on it".

I absolutely hate listening to Houghton. He is by far the least knowledgeable co-commentator. He is so miserable & insufferable to listen to, with his constant moaning and the unintelligible gibberish he constantly spouts. Captain bloody Hindsight, is right.

It would be great if there was an option to just listen to the crowd noise rather than the commentary.

Pdoghue

v3ttel wrote: »

It would be great if there was an option to just listen to the crowd noise rather than the commentary.

I generally play music through my sound system and watch the pictures instead of having to listen to the commentators. Gives me a chance to listen to some new music on Spotify and watch the games at the same time.

Billy86

Noel King says Messi has been "the best player in the tournament, by a mile. "

Good to know he has been watching essentially none of Brazil, Netherlands or Colombia's matches then.

Billy86

Billy86 wrote: »

Noel King says Messi has been "the best player in the tournament, by a mile. "

Good to know he has been watching essentially none of Brazil, Netherlands or Colombia's matches then.

And must have been watching Belgium either, fifth favourites leading into the competition and one of th biggest disappointments so far:" they're certainly delivering on their promise, that's for sure. Wilmots has done a great job, and has changed the team around considerably and brought on subs who just change the game. I see them getting out of the group, maybe last 16, but maximum I think quarter finals. "

They have already qualified from the group, so great job going out on a limb there Noel. That he thinks they have delivered on their promise but are a big doubt to get past USA (most likely) , Ghana or a very poor Portugal team literally makes no sense and is the definition of talking a lot without saying much of anything, especially since he figures that is the absolute furthest they can get to. He made three pretty much like for like changes from the first game to the second, since when is that "considerably changing around the team"?

He then proceeds to say" you never know they're on fire" which they very, very clearly are not. Most would have them as one of the 3 or 4 biggest letdown teams so far.

But yeah, who the **** cares about research? Sure you can be an expert without it!

Wichita Lineman

"There's no way anyone else can be the main pundit when Dunphy (69), Giles (73) and Bill (76) do what they all should have a decade ago and retire, before nature does it for them. "


Maybe so lads but I guarantee you we'll miss em when they're gone. We've been spoiled for years with decent punditry. Imagine having Lee Dixon, Rio Ferdinand, Alan Shearer and Phil Neville on a panel for years. Jesus wept that would be really painful.

YFlyer

Did Whelan say that Holyfield bit Tyson's ear?

Wichita Lineman

Dcully wrote: »

Jaysus Phil Neville is annoying as fcuk ,loves to hear himself jabber.

Englands equivalent of Ray Houghton. Should have done this, should have done that. You would think he was Pele when he was talking about strikers missing chances.

He makes Rio Ferdinand sound interesting and that's saying something.

Billy86

Andy Dunne11 wrote: »

"There's no way anyone else can be the main pundit when Dunphy (69), Giles (73) and Bill (76) do what they all should have a decade ago and retire, before nature does it for them. "


Maybe so lads but I guarantee you we'll miss em when they're gone. We've been spoiled for years with decent punditry. Imagine having Lee Dixon, Rio Ferdinand, Alan Shearer and Phil Neville on a panel for years. Jesus wept that would be really painful.

It shouldn't be good enough to say "yeah but let's feel good about not being the worst" though. Sky for example have gone well ahead of both since revamping the last few years, and getting g rid of their own pair of out of date dinosaurs (albeit without much choice at the time).

We haven't been soiled with good punditry, we have had poor pundits who don't bother doing any research into anything to do with the games they are covering, and it has gotten worse and worse in the last decade or so (Giles in this WC has been a self parody, not even knowing prominent French and Italian players).

The problem is that as a a national audience we are pretty ignorant and dismissive about foreign leagues, players and techniques (despite constantly being shown up by them) so these guys co to use to get away with it. And the irony is that in huge part our ignorance as an audience is because we have grow up with these guys as our main source of ingornation/punditry. Which is exactly why I consider them actually bad for the development of the sport in Ireland, and their embarrassingly dated, simplified attitudes a contributing factor to us falling further and further behind over the last decade, if not more.

The sooner they go, and people who actually know and research who and what they are taking about (like Sadlier) , and who do not outwardly promote wilful ignorance, the better.

Invertpyramid

"Will Ferrell supporting his team"

"Every team needs a good Anchorman..."

Nicely played sir.

Shanotheslayer

Anyone else hear Lawro calling some bloke a tramp? Haha

Say Your Number

Kerr is brilliant ' The ref could give himself a yellow card for that tackle...could he'
On Beckermans hair 'It makes easy for the commentators'

fred funk }{

Jasus...Ronnie Whelan's dye job is terrible. He seems to have only dyed the front section of his head too.

Billy86

That could be a disaster for Portugal, even if they win the match. Terrible marking.

Johnnythefox4

v3ttel wrote: »

I absolutely hate listening to Houghton. He is by far the least knowledgeable co-commentator. He is so miserable & insufferable to listen to, with his constant moaning and the unintelligible gibberish he constantly spouts. Captain bloody Hindsight, is right.

It would be great if there was an option to just listen to the crowd noise rather than the commentary.

I would thank this 10 times if I could. I cannot stand Ray Houghton. He's the greatest moaner on TV. I remember when he was commentating at the 2006 WC, and he said : "I havn't seen 1 good game at this World Cup." Now that WC was no classic, but jesus talk about being negative.

EyeSight

Johnnythefox4 wrote: »

I would thank this 10 times if I could. I cannot stand Ray Houghton. He's the greatest moaner on TV. I remember when he was commentating at the 2006 WC, and he said : "I havn't seen 1 good game at this World Cup." Now that WC was no classic, but jesus talk about being negative.

I remember the CL before last when Real Madrid were using Diego Lopez in goal. At the start of the game Houghton said "I don't like that keeper, I don't know why but i don't". He then spent the entire game criticizing Lopez and saying how much he hated him.
But Lopez had an amazing game and even the lads in the studio(could have been John o Shea, i can't remember) were saying they found it bizare

Johnnythefox4

EyeSight wrote: »

I remember the CL before last when Real Madrid were using Diego Lopez in goal. At the start of the game Houghton said "I don't like that keeper, I don't know why but i don't". He then spent the entire game criticizing Lopez and saying how much he hated him.
But Lopez had an amazing game and even the lads in the studio(could have been John o Shea, i can't remember) were saying they found it bizare

According to Ray the guaranteed way to score is to "get some width into your play and hit a few crosses in." He says it every time a team is struggling to create an opening. Or else he says the team lacks pace. I remember Barcelona were playing in the CL a few years ago and were struggling to score. Ray put Barcelona's struggles down to a lack of pace even though Barcelona had a front three of Messi, Ronaldinho, and Eto'o.

GreNoLi

Ray literally has a football brain.

Billy86

Took count on the extended highlights in RTE. Counted two compliments from him (Ghana's goal and shot from distance near the end)....... and 14 negative comments/complaints.

EDIT: Cut back to Ronnie Whelan in studio talking about how much easier it is for footballers these days compared to when he was playing. And how modern keepers are all unreliable. :pac:

tastyt

GreNoLi wrote: »

Ray literally has a football brain.

But Ray was the best player of all time because no matter what a player does Ray will say he should have done something else, obviously like he would have done. An absolute pain in the hole. What is it about that great Irish team?? They should just stay off the telly and they would remain pure legends to the people who remembers Italia 90 and the likes. However the more I listen to Ray the more I wish England and Italy had scored two own goals instead of that dope scoring his two poxy finishes.

Turtwig

EyeSight wrote: »

I remember the CL before last when Real Madrid were using Diego Lopez in goal. At the start of the game Houghton said "I don't like that keeper, I don't know why but i don't". He then spent the entire game criticizing Lopez and saying how much he hated him.
But Lopez had an amazing game and even the lads in the studio(could have been John o Shea, i can't remember) were saying they found it bizare

That was Mark lawrenson not Ray.
Lawro behavior was disgusting that day

wonga77

Whelan is as bad as Houghton.
Team scores a goal - Keeper was poor should have saved it
Team miss a chance - Striker was poor, should have scored it


Theres no middle ground, no such thing as - great shot, keeper did his best or great strike, just not enough placement

But sure these lads scored every time sure :pac:

dreamers75

Beglin Whelan and Lawrenson hate football, they hate everything about it.

Suppose you could throw Hansen into that as well.

Ulysses Gaze

"I want to go all the way with you Daragh." - Eamon Dunphy

Thankfully it is after the watershed....

PizzamanIRL

Ulysses Gaze wrote: »

"I want to go all the way with you Daragh." - Eamon Dunphy

Thankfully it is after the watershed....

Followed by predicting Chile to win the World Cup.

Too Tough To Die

A lot of that generation of ex footballer is bitter as f*ck about the amount of money the current players earn.

blocparty

anyone catch their predictions?

guy on twitter:

Eamonn @Eamonn75 · 15m
Chile going to win the World Cup according to Eamon Dunphy. Last 4: Mexico, Argentina, France & Chile. Interesting choices there #RTESoccer

Eamonn @Eamonn75 · 12m
Saddlier going for Argentina v Holland & Germany & Columbia & Argentina to win

The montage of the group stages was very good, hope it makes its way to the internets sooner rather than later!

Dick phelan

But sure didn't Dunphy tell us at the start " Spain and Argentina will definitely be in the final" didn't get the one right now Spain gone at the Group Stage, Aregentina who knows how they will do but fact is Dunphy's opinion is meaningless remember he was saying for years Ronaldo was all hype and " a cod" the guy played for Millwall how would he know what top level football is about, Also told us at the start Neymar " has no character" then goes and scores 2 goals in the game, 4 so far and has virtually carried Brazil old Eamo can be entertaining but when it comes to football he hasn't a clue.

trashcan

PizzamanIRL wrote: »

Followed by predicting Chile to win the World Cup.

Did he say he'd wear a dress if they don't ? :pac:

grenache

Any paid "expert" who honestly thinks that Chilean team can win the World Cup, is definitely not worth the money. He's an embarrassment to himself and to RTE.

This is even funnier than his "Bundesliga is an average league" comment before the 2013 CL Final.

The man knows nothing about football. He is only interested in "shock jock" style entertainment.

Say Your Number

grenache wrote: »

Any paid "expert" who honestly thinks that Chilean team can win the World Cup, is definitely not worth the money. He's an embarrassment to himself and to RTE.

Thought they looked tidy enough, so I don't think it's that outlandish a prediction, they have Brazil then Columbia/Uruguay so they have it in them to make the Semi's and given the shocks at this tournament God knows what'll happen next, can't see Brazil winning even with the intervention of Neymar and the Refs.

Alonso77

grenache wrote: »

Any paid "expert" who honestly thinks that Chilean team can win the World Cup, is definitely not worth the money. He's an embarrassment to himself and to RTE.

This is even funnier than his "Bundesliga is an average league" comment before the 2013 CL Final.

The man knows nothing about football. He is only interested in "shock jock" style entertainment.

I literally had to lie down for an hour due to disbelief when I heard him say that. Still gives me the chills thinking about it. possibly the most inherently incorrect statement i've ever heard!

Looper007

grenache wrote: »

Any paid "expert" who honestly thinks that Chilean team can win the World Cup, is definitely not worth the money. He's an embarrassment to himself and to RTE.

You can't have an opinion now, Far too many Kenny's on this board out to have a moan and groan. I do think it's a bit of a witch hunt going on now.

Neeson

There seems to be a witch hunt against everyone on the panel at some point throughout the tournament except Richie Sadlier, Didi and Michael O'Neill.

When Kenny returns the hunt will turn to him and when Giles starts rambling about Bobby and Leeds back in his day, the knife will be stuck into the senior analyst but it will not hit a major organ. Before he has the chance to pass on, the knife will be unceremoniously forced upon Brady. Eamon will be stabbed by the public soon after. And the cycle will continue until the termination of the tournament.

Ardillaun

buyer95 wrote: »

This whole debate is an exercise in pedanticness on your part.

Surely 'pedantry' is preferred, old boy?

J. Marston

blocparty wrote: »

The montage of the group stages was very good, hope it makes its way to the internets sooner rather than later!

They did a montage and I missed it?! :mad:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKw3EO3xpQc

Still RTE's finest moment.

im blue daba dee

can't see the vid, but..

Looks like the big-toe area

Alonso77

When you actually think about it though, a lot of punditry is just daft. If football was played to the standard a lot of the pundit muppets seem to champion there should be no goals conceded ever. Houghton is the king of this kind of over simplifying. Everything is a mistake in these peoples eyes. "Great goal but what was the keeper/defender doing?" etc. Sucking the joy out of the game. Nearly every action in a soccer game happens because of the inaction of another player, just let us enjoy the sweet sweet footy please!!!!

Looper007

At the end of the day it's all about those 90 minutes on the pitch. As long as you enjoy that then you can turn it off after when the punditry is on and watch Big Bang theory or something.

How pundits can suck the joy out of a game and turn you off a football match is crazy.

Alonso77

Looper007 wrote: »

At the end of the day it's all about those 90 minutes on the pitch. As long as you enjoy that then you can turn it off after when the punditry is on and watch Big Bang theory or something.

How pundits can suck the joy out of a game and turn you off a football match is crazy.

Co-commentators I suppose i was getting at too and no I dont want to turn the sound off. Id just like the pundits and commentators to be realistic. But hey thats like just my opinion like. crazy indeed!

roanoke

tastyt wrote: »

But Ray was the best player of all time because no matter what a player does Ray will say he should have done something else, obviously like he would have done. An absolute pain in the hole. What is it about that great Irish team?? They should just stay off the telly and they would remain pure legends to the people who remembers Italia 90 and the likes. However the more I listen to Ray the more I wish England and Italy had scored two own goals instead of that dope scoring his two poxy finishes.

I always think of this moment ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLRTJUdP3b4&t=7m14s ) every time I hear Ray Houghton talking about what some player 'should have done'.