The best and worst football pundits

madalig12

I cannot believe 3 things.
1) the OP said Jenas was good
2) Jenas hasnt been mentioned as one of the worst
3) that Jenas still has a job on MOTD

He is actually the worst Ive ever tried listening too. His grasp of English is terrible, he cannot even speak correctly.
He clearly skipped his education to kick a ball.
I emplore anyone on here to actually sit and listen to the drivel he spits out and tell me I made a mistake. He hasnt a new thought in that head of his.

To summarise Jenas = Pish.

wonga77

madalig12 wrote: »

I cannot believe 3 things.
1) the OP said Jenas was good
2) Jenas hasnt been mentioned as one of the worst
3) that Jenas still has a job on MOTD

He is actually the worst Ive ever tried listening too. His grasp of English is terrible, he cannot even speak correctly.
He clearly skipped his education to kick a ball.
I emplore anyone on here to actually sit and listen to the drivel he spits out and tell me I made a mistake. He hasnt a new thought in that head of his.

To summarise Jenas = Pish.

Tell us what you really feel...

Turtyturd

No mention of Scholes?

Everything uttered in his dull monotonous tone, constantly pausing to glance at his notes on the desk, and on the verge of tears if United lose the game he’s been called in for.

tastyt

Good

Carragher
Neville
Kerr
Souness
Duff can be decent at times

I know hes not technically a pundit but neil lennon is very good on tv3 for champions league.

Michael O Neill was also brilliant any time he was on RTE, really went into detail on team shape and huge knowledge of teams and players from everywhere.

The rest are ****e, phil neville being bottom of the barrell

Esse85

Absolutely can't stand Niall Quinn and Ronny Whelan. Merson, Tony Cottee, Le Tissier, Phil Thomson offer little insight too.

I like Hammann, Neville, Carragher, Sutton, Shearer, Wright, Ferdinand.

thebaz

lawrenson used to be ok to good - the past year he has become so jaded and unfunny.

Like Gullit, Murphy , Sadlier, Brady, Dunphy , Cunningham (he is becoming more intense than Roy.) ,

Chris Kamara and Jeff Steling and Merse are the best

DeanAustin

thebaz wrote: »

lawrenson used to be ok to good - the past year he has become so jaded and unfunny.

Like Gullit, Murphy , Sadlier, Brady, Dunphy , Cunningham (he is becoming more intense than Roy.) ,

Chris Kamara and Jeff Steling and Merse are the best

Stelling and Kamara are top class alright. I enjoy Merson for a lot of the same reasons I enjoy Kamara.

Quite like Le Tiss and Phil Thompson too (Thompson for his unashamed bias towards Liverpool who, incidentally, I hate).

Billy86

DeanAustin wrote: »

Quite like Le Tiss and Phil Thompson too (Thompson for his unashamed bias towards Liverpool who, incidentally, I hate).

Have to agree here too, kind of makes him a bit of a panto villain of that show which works well for the format. And every now and then, he gives the rest of us who can't stand Liverpool a moment of sheer joy! :pac:

Fromvert

I like Duff just for him saying he liked a dive himself when talking about a penalty. He was the king at winning frees and pens.

siblers

RTE: I would say Hamann is probably the best, Kerr, Duff and Saddlier are quite good, as is Cunningham. Brady and Dunphy are only really there for entertainment value, Giles was quite good but I wouldn't really miss him either.

MOTD: Jenas was good when he first came on the scene but think his opinions are pretty "safe" and obvious. Most of the MOTD pundits are pretty average at best. Sutton is a moron

Sky Sports: Of the Soccer Saturday/Soccer Special gang, I'd only really rate Le Tissier, the others are grand for roaring and shouting and theatrics but their opinions mean little. As for the live matches, Carragher and G.Neville are very good, I don't really watch as many live games as much as I used to so can't comment too much on the others.

TV3: Only ever really rated Sounness and Kilbane

Radio: Again, Kerr is quite good, I wish Dan McDonnell did some punditry, he is superb on Off The Ball

Fromvert

I like Duff just for him saying he liked a dive himself when talking about a penalty decision. He was the king at winning frees and pens.

retalivity

From watching a lot of streams over the past few years, you see a lot of random ex footballers you forgot about - the american lads who stare straight into the camera and have their 20 seconds to say something, regardless of whether it is insightful or not: danny dichio, warren barton arebthe worst offenders.

IncognitoMan

I find Sutton and Savage fairly amusing when together tbh, but that's probably helped by the fact I only see them a couple of times a month. If I had to watch them go at each other every week it would probably get annoying fairly quickly.

Arghus

Sutton is unbearable. So smug. Thinks he's the man when he gets a rise out of Robbie Savage. That's not a hard thing to do Chris.

thegreengoblin

Billy86 wrote: »

Have to agree here too, kind of makes him a bit of a panto villain of that show which works well for the format. And every now and then, he gives the rest of us who can't stand Liverpool a moment of sheer joy! :pac:

Thompson is entertaining but he let himself down very badly when him and that utter fool Merson went on that rant about Marco Silva after he was appointed Hull boss. All that sh1te about how he hadn't got a clue, what had he done, why could Hull not give a young English coach the job, Merson saying 'I could win the league with Olympiacos', etc. It was shameful, real little Englander stuff.

I know Hull got relegated but they were doomed anyway, and I'm delighted that Silva has gone on to do so well with Watford.

Billy86

Interesting one that, didn't see it but the rotation of "good old British lad" managers (a trend that seems to have thankfully died off a bit in more recent years) is a bit nauseating alright.

thegreengoblin

Billy86 wrote: »

Interesting one that, didn't see it but the rotation of "good old British lad" managers (a trend that seems to have thankfully died off a bit in more recent years) is a bit nauseating alright.

Here it is in all its glory...and savaged by Football 365 as well!

http://www.football365.com/news/mediawatch-special-merson-thompson-and-marco-silva

Mr.Nice Guy

Two things I want from a pundit: educate me or entertain me.

The worst ones are those that provide neither, relying on cliches and banal comments.

VW 1

Delighted Ray 'my word' Wilkins has disappeared from view.

Also very happy niall quinn and his hard on for all things city went away mostly.

Neville pre management was excellent.

Can't say I really listen to any punditry this season, so much filler and obvious stuff spouted.

Also would like to air my frustration at the Friday night football on the pitch interviews with a player from each team being interviewed at the same time!

Minderbinder

I’m probably opposed to the popular opinion but I can’t stand all these knobs with degrees in journalism that are somehow becoming pundits and being asked for their ‘expert’ opinions on the game. If you haven’t experienced the game at the professional level then your opinion is no better than mine, and you should be asking the questions, not answering them.

Nothing worse than all those football podcasts with ‘hilarious’ journalists pulling each other off.

Some of the ex-pros struggle to get their point across but I’d still rather listen to them than some polished journo opinion based on nothing.

My favourites over the years have been Jimmy Hill, Terry Venables, Ron Atkinson, Andy Gray, Graeme Souness. Ex-managers tend to make the best pundits.

barneygumble99

Cannot stand Dunphy, I used to like him for entertainment purposes only, before he became so bitter. Uses his media position to push his personal crusades against Keane, Man Utd, O Neill, Trappatoni etc whilst at the same time pining for Holohan and Giles. Souness too is another bitter anti-United pundit. The least you’d expect from any pundit is impartiality.

Rumple Stillson

Best co-commentator for me is a toss up between Jim Beglin and Gerry Armstrong.

Best ex footballer pundits are Gary Neville, Jamie Carragher and Graeme Souness.

Best journalists to listen to are Michael Cox, Jonathan Wilson, Raphael Honigstein and Ken Early.

Worst are Redknapp, Henry, Phil Neville, Shearer and Ian Wright.

Iused2likebusts

Rumple Stillson wrote: »

Best co-commentator for me is a toss up between Jim Beglin and Gerry Armstrong.

Best ex footballer pundits are Gary Neville, Jamie Carragher and Graeme Souness.

Best journalists to listen to are Michael Cox, Jonathan Wilson, Raphael Honigstein and Ken Early.

Worst are Redknapp, Henry, Phil Neville, Shearer and Ian Wright.

Gerry Armstrong do you not recall his co commentary on the recent n ire playoff game.

Rumple Stillson

Iused2likebusts wrote: »

Gerry Armstrong do you not recall his co commentary on the recent n ire playoff game.

Yeah that was hilarious but very much a one off. He's usually great on La Liga.

house45

Have to say I really enjoy listening to Chris Sutton whenever he’s on tv/radio , only because of the fact that he is always looking to start an argument .

Lukker-

With Henry I find that he's easy to listen to, but that somewhat pulls the wool over your eyes a bit. What he's saying, is of little insight, and is usually a relatively basic comment dressed up. He's improved a bit since he got the job, but I feel the only area he actually excels at is describing how a striker finishes a chance. I guess that makes sense!

ctrl-alt-delete

Not sure if anyone has mentioned Keith Andrews.

I quite like him as a pundit or co-commentator.

I can't trust his hair though.

Johann.

Michael Owen, jesus. When you get past the annoying voice, the stuff he says is absolute rubbish. Comical at times

'When they don't score, they hardly ever win'

pjohnson

Brian Kerr is doing Chelsea vs. Leicester on TodayFM now (Ian Beech is the co-presenter)

omega man

More of a presenter but I think Kelly Cates (Dalglish) on sky is actually quite good.

razorblunt

Bad
Alan Smith, McManaman, Savage, Owen, Wright, Neville of the Phil variety, Redknapp, Henry and Shearer

Good
Dave Provan is the best IMO, no waffle no agenda just calls the game as he sees it.
Keith Andrews comes across well too, in fact most of Skys Championship offering is miles ahead of their premiership stuff
G Neville, has had his cough softened since he failed spectacularly at Valencia

Special Mention:
They’re not pundits but Martin Tyler, Jake Humphreys and all of Soccer AM can take a long walk off a short pier

Icaras

Andy Grey used to drive me mad, his over enthusiasm for everything - "you can tell how much he wanted to score by how hard he kicked the ball", he is fine for the occasional big game but I used to have to listen to him every Sunday with the same comments and same jokes, working in a pub, trying to sync the radio with the TV never worked either.

MisterAnarchy

A co commentator ,Ray Hudson but a law unto himself.
The man is a fruit cake.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AwJ8kvM9TKA

j8wk2feszrnpao

Phil Neville is brutal and is switch off material when he appears; offers nothing of value. Garth Crooks only inches behind him (that time in 2006 when he interviewed Sven and said the new formation worked but the performance was poor - not possible for both to be true, and the RTE lads ripped him).
Owen, Shearer, Murphy, Savage, Wright and Merson (the last two seem just employed for comedy value).

Omackeral

Mr.Nice Guy wrote: »

Two things I want from a pundit: educate me or entertain me.

John Giles used to boil my p*ss with this. You'd be playing Austria and he'd say something like "Apart from Alaba, we don't really know much about these guys". That's literally your job mate. Tell us who to watch out for and such.

Ps Brian Kerr is a Demi-God.

NIMAN

Kenny Cunningham talks a lot of sense, but Jesus he is so hard to listen to.

Emmmmmmmmm every sentence.

come on Kenny, snap out of it.

eagle eye

Brian Kerr is my absolute favourite. I like Kilbane a lot and Keith Andrews too.

I haven't heard him on that often but anytime I do Clarence Seedorf really impresses me.

I like Rio Ferdinand a lot too.

Gary Neville was alright when he started but he bores me to tears now. Carragher is an awful co-commentator.

eyerer

Michael Owens

Souness

DeanAustin

Omackeral wrote: »

John Giles used to boil my p*ss with this. You'd be playing Austria and he'd say something like "Apart from Alaba, we don't really know much about these guys". That's literally your job mate. Tell us who to watch out for and such.

Ps Brian Kerr is a Demi-God.

Giles doesn’t really need to know the players’ names because he understands and can analyze a game so well.

However, he’s becoming a bit repetitive. Listening to him talk about Liverpool, he’s always going back to the first goal they conceded against Spurs or Klopps comments after the 1-1 at Newcastle, talking about Pogba he always says Mourinho was wrong to call him the complete midfield player, talking about our WC campaign, he keeps referring back to the 2-2 in Serbia and how bad their keeper was.

The Thursday night slot on Newstalk has become a bit of an embarrassment at this stage. None of them will dare challenge Giles or ask him an awkward question. McIntyre tried it one evening but soon backed off.

I love John Giles and think he’s been excellent for decades but he’s going downhill.

As I said before, ya just know Brian Kerr would watch an U-15 game down the road if there was no other football for him to check. :pac: There was a thing repeated on the radio when he was talking about his time with the Faroes and he was saying how he'd see a few games in one place, leave before the end so he could get to other games. I'd say he bloody loved it. :P

On the other side is Ronnie "He should've" Whelan. Every single replay has him pointing out the obvious error and saying that the player should have done something else. Yes Ronnie, if a shot is missed wide then he should have got it on target. If a defender goes with the wrong runner then obviously in hindsight he "should've" gone with the right one. :pac:

Whatsisname

I think Frank Lampard is really interesting, very articulate and isn’t awash with cliches.

Souness is a straight up lemon.

thegreengoblin

The thing about Jamie Redknapp is that he talks as much rubbish in the Daily Mail as he does on the box. He has a hard on for any English player who can raise their game slightly above the norm and in this case today it's Jack Wilshere and Oxlade Chamberlain.

I won't link the story as it's pure clickbait (a mate just sent it to me, honest!) but just read this nonsense, which is based on a handful of half decent performances since Wilshere got back into the Arsenal team.


'Wilshere is showing he is in a different class to his team-mates. If he keeps up this form, I would not be surprised if Arsenal’s top-six rivals were on the phone to his agent.'


I genuinely laughed out loud at that last line!
And this on the Ox who scored a fine goal against city but is clearly out of his depth at that level.

'Now he looks fitter, stronger and is thriving in a clearly-defined midfield role. Once again, he looks like a fantastic talent. With the Ox and Jack Wilshere in fine form, England’s midfield options seem much rosier for the World Cup in Russia.'

That man really is an overexcited child.

bot43

I like Jermaine Jenas a lot. Absolutely no BS about him and isnt afraid to bitch off the English players when the needs be. But doesnt do it in a nasty fashion.

I also like Carragher and Neville as a couple, but feel they sometimes try too hard to be controversial in an "Im only being honest" type way when they say something dickheadish.

No need to cover old ground on Redkanpp and his ilk and how bad they are.

Giles deserves a special mention here though. He is a relic. He offers nothing of any substance anymore and is fixated on guys tattoos and hairstyles. We get it John, you are old school, but you are also no longer in any way relevant.

Oh, and Mark Lawrenson. Oh dear me. Listening to the Pool Burnley game on NYD in the car. Just tried to be funny throughout and he really really isnt at all amusing.

madalig12

bot43 wrote: »

I like Jermaine Jenas a lot. Absolutely no BS about him and isnt afraid to bitch off the English players when the needs be. But doesnt do it in a nasty fashion.

😣 He is the WORST!

Zico !

DeanAustin wrote: »

Giles doesn’t really need to know the players’ names because he understands and can analyze a game so well.

However, he’s becoming a bit repetitive. Listening to him talk about Liverpool, he’s always going back to the first goal they conceded against Spurs or Klopps comments after the 1-1 at Newcastle, talking about Pogba he always says Mourinho was wrong to call him the complete midfield player, talking about our WC campaign, he keeps referring back to the 2-2 in Serbia and how bad their keeper was.

The Thursday night slot on Newstalk has become a bit of an embarrassment at this stage. None of them will dare challenge Giles or ask him an awkward question. McIntyre tried it one evening but soon backed off.

I love John Giles and think he’s been excellent for decades but he’s going downhill.

Spot on there from Johnny that keeper was sh1te and dropping those points when we were well on top has cost us our place in Russia

Roy Keane is an excellent pundit when hes on ITV.

Someone mentioned Michael O Neill on RTE -Im convinced he was pished one night on the box murder for booze Id say

Esse85

What do people think of David Prutton?

Seems to be on Sky Sports a lot lately.

Personally I think he talks too much and leads excessively with his questioning almost trying to influence the person he's speaking to.

adox

Keown stooped to new depths tonight with his co commentary and his dislike for Sanchez. The first half was some of the worst nonsense I’ve ever heard.

I wonder if someone had a word with him at half time as he eased back a little in the second.

Hotblack Desiato

After the guff Keown had been spouting earlier, it was hilarious to hear him have to announce Sanchez as the MOTM :pac:

osarusan

Ronnie Whelan is agony.

I actually think Beglin is not too bad, he explains stuff that I can't see properly on screen, will talk about formations and what tactics are changing. He's one of the few that tries to shed light on why things are happening.

Nothing more annoying than an 'expert analyst' who just narrates replays. "Nice inswinging cross to the far post but the striker can't get there." No sh!t, I can see all that myself, tell my something I didn't know.