Graeme Sourness | Retires from “punditry”

He was a one dimensional player, a one dimensional manager and he is a one dimensional pundit. He's the crappest pundit on the panel when he appears on Irish TV and that includes Eamon feckin Dumphy.

His greatest achievement is screwing up Liverpool, that had managed to ingrain success in it's DNA and overcome 3 manager transitions whilst maintaining success at the highest level. He managed to feck that up within 3 years whilst trampling over the fans fury at the Sun newspaper for his own profile and financial gain and nearly got them relegated.

Even Moyes didnt manage to do that!
 
His hatred of Pogba means he'll never give him a fair shake. I think he genuinely expected Pogba to come and start smashing 50 goals a season for his world record fee.
 
If he's talking just about last night, then Pogba did make a lot of errors, it was far from his best game, and a bit of a hark back to last season when he looked to be trying to do too much. He still got a wonderful assist in the process though.

But he's been one of our best players in nearly any other game he has played, and constantly makes contributions to the attack via goals, assists and clear cut created chances. His retention of the ball is ridiculous as well, though not quite so good last night.

When it comes to Pogba criticism, a lot of critics seem to contradict themselves. They bring up the price-tag and state that he should be an all-out match winner, but then they'll also say he needs to be doing the basics expected of a central midfielder. When he plays in an attacking manner, then it's claimed that he doesn't understand his position. If he controls the middle of the pitch, then he's not doing enough to stand out and win games. The guy just can't win.
 
I can see where he is coming from, but Pogba is a 'atypical' centre mid, he is a 'youtuber' but basically a matchwinner whose effect isn't truly measured in goals/assists ala Lampard, but his effect on his team mates and the game is undeniable. He doesn't control a game, though he is definitely improving in this respect but he does influence the vast majority of games he plays in and we are a different side with him in it.

I think Pogba will eventually win him over, he's still very much a work in progress and honestly he has been a tad undisciplined in the past few games for various reasons and still had a major impact, so I think Souness does need to lay off him.
 
11101 said:
Let's be honest if Pogba played for Liverpool Souness would think he was the best player on the planet. He's always been clouded by his hatred for us.

All he really needs to look at to see Pogba 'run games' is look at our results at the start of the season, our results when he got injured, and our results again when he came back. You don't need to be breaking people's legs to control the midfield anymore.
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I don’t think that’s true. If anything he likes united more than Liverpool is the impression I got from his analysis
 
He is sad and obsessed. I remember him even gunning for Pogba when doing punditry for the fixture at Southampton last season, a game Pogba missed due to the death of his father.

Like Jose says he is a failed manager.
 
prath92 said:
I don’t think that’s true. If anything he likes united more than Liverpool is the impression I got from his analysis
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Yeah I'm the same and if things had turned out differently he would have been offered the United job in 89 if Knighton had got the club so clearly dosen't have as much love for Liverpool as people seem to think!
 
I'm not mad on Graeme but if you're a TV pundit and you're not pointing out the problems with Pogba's game last night, you're not doing your job. A couple of lovely through balls aside, he was sloppy last night and if he put in a performance like that against a decent side in a match that mattered, we wouldn't be happy with him either.
 
Amazing that someone that rated Gerrard extremely highly can 'hate' on Pogba's game.
 
I guess Pogba is still a bit inconsistent at times, but saying he'll never become a top player is silly. I'd say he's not the best in his position yet, but he has all the potential and time to get there.

He also seems like a really fun bloke, but that's not all that relevant I guess.
 
But the thing is, everyone has flaws.
Lampard could score but he never ran a game, Kross can run a game but his goal output is far below what it should be. Same goes for Modric.
Gerrard suffered from bouts of inconsistency due to trying things he knows he's very good at.
Its not as if Paul can sit back and think "Ill play it simple until I get that opening, Ill then 360 turn that defender and smack it top corner"
Paul has to probe, to find space and link the play to the front 3. Souness giving out because he didn't hold back with Herrera was ridiculous.
 
I think Souness has got some sort of agenda with Pogba, he was having a pop at him every given opportunity last season. Even when he missed a couple of matches due to the death of his father. Joke of a pundit and an even bigger joke when he was a manager.
 
buchansleftleg said:
He was a one dimensional player, a one dimensional manager and he is a one dimensional pundit. He's the crappest pundit on the panel when he appears on Irish TV and that includes Eamon feckin Dumphy.

His greatest achievement is screwing up Liverpool, that had managed to ingrain success in it's DNA and overcome 3 manager transitions whilst maintaining success at the highest level. He managed to feck that up within 3 years whilst trampling over the fans fury at the Sun newspaper for his own profile and financial gain and nearly got them relegated.

Even Moyes didnt manage to do that!
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He was a great player and as for nearly got us relegated he we finished 6th , 6th and 8th. I agree with your Sun comment though.
 
golden_blunder said:
Me too, I don’t always agree with his opinion but that’s all it is, his opinion. There are far worse pundits out there. Sure for years dunphy didn’t have a kind word for Ronaldo
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Me three. He tells it fairly straight as far as I’m concerned. Not prone to hyperbole and waffling like some other pundits.

He’s not always right mind you but I like his style of punditry.
 
buchansleftleg said:
He was a one dimensional player, a one dimensional manager and he is a one dimensional pundit. He's the crappest pundit on the panel when he appears on Irish TV and that includes Eamon feckin Dumphy.

His greatest achievement is screwing up Liverpool, that had managed to ingrain success in it's DNA and overcome 3 manager transitions whilst maintaining success at the highest level. He managed to feck that up within 3 years whilst trampling over the fans fury at the Sun newspaper for his own profile and financial gain and nearly got them relegated.

Even Moyes didnt manage to do that!
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Great player, poor manager and decent pundit. Interesting to hear what one dimension he was supposed to have as a player?
Not defending his managerial record, but that Liverpool side were on the wane when he took over. His signings through the 1990s were pretty poor, although he improved a fair bit in the latter half of his managerial career. Don't mind him as a pundit though. He doesn't fanny around protecting his mates like a lot of the ex-pro brigade. Much like Keane, he's clearly intolerant of the 'modern player' and the new environment/culture/habits which is why he struggles to man manage the fandans in the game. That's his biggest weakness as a pundit and as a manager because it does end up manifesting itself irrationally with the likes of Pogba.
 
His biggest weakness as a pundit is not hearing things out, he clutches at everything to serve his point.
Does anyone believe him when he says he watched a lot of Pogba at Juve?
 
golden_blunder said:
Me too, I don’t always agree with his opinion but that’s all it is, his opinion. There are far worse pundits out there. Sure for years dunphy didn’t have a kind word for Ronaldo
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Does he ever backup his opinion with video examples and stats from the game? I can criticize Pogba and pull out exact moments where I feel he screwed up so I am sure an "old midfielder" with bunch of technology staff working for him could do it and do it far better than me and actually educate football fans like me.

When I am listening to pundits, I can't give a feck about their opinion if it is just full of cliché comments and adds no insight.
 
Gio said:
Great player, poor manager and decent pundit. Interesting to hear what one dimension he was supposed to have as a player?
Not defending his managerial record, but that Liverpool side were on the wane when he took over. His signings through the 1990s were pretty poor, although he improved a fair bit in the latter half of his managerial career. Don't mind him as a pundit though. He doesn't fanny around protecting his mates like a lot of the ex-pro brigade. Much like Keane, he's clearly intolerant of the 'modern player' and the new environment/culture/habits which is why he struggles to man manage the fandans in the game. That's his biggest weakness as a pundit and as a manager because it does end up manifesting itself irrationally with the likes of Pogba.
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As a kid i just remember him getting by on reducers and intimidation. Maybe he showed more in other games or at Sampdoria.
 
Did he used to say the same things about Steven Gerrard, who was a similar style of player imo?
 
golden_blunder said:
Me too, I don’t always agree with his opinion but that’s all it is, his opinion. There are far worse pundits out there. Sure for years dunphy didn’t have a kind word for Ronaldo
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I actually don't mind him and Hoddle
Far better than most they have and at least both have been there and done it.
We moan when they have opinions and when they're bland tbf...You see the mental disagreements here- you're never going to please everyone.
Gio said:
Great player, poor manager and decent pundit. Interesting to hear what one dimension he was supposed to have as a player?
Not defending his managerial record, but that Liverpool side were on the wane when he took over. His signings through the 1990s were pretty poor, although he improved a fair bit in the latter half of his managerial career. Don't mind him as a pundit though. He doesn't fanny around protecting his mates like a lot of the ex-pro brigade. Much like Keane, he's clearly intolerant of the 'modern player' and the new environment/culture/habits which is why he struggles to man manage the fandans in the game. That's his biggest weakness as a pundit and as a manager because it does end up manifesting itself irrationally with the likes of Pogba.
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Would agree with that. Was the Keane of his day and a double European cup winner. He's forthright, can be somewhat agenda, but he has a degree of intelligence behind his views broadly and I'd always take him over a vapid Redknapp or whoever.
 
Tom Van Persie said:
Let's all laugh at how bitter Graeme Souness is. :lol:

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Souness blames United of tapping up Sanchez and hijacking the City deal. He completely ignores the fact that Sanchez is allowed to open negotiations with Clubs in January and no deal was even agreed with City, so nothing was hijacked.

It’s an absolute disgrace that he can incorrectly accuse the Club of illegal activity (tapping up). In comparison, he said nothing when Liverpool actually admitted tapping up VVD.

These guys are allowed to sit on TV every week and say whatever they want with no repercussions, but totally inaccurate accusations like this deserves a backlash. I’d love United to comment but I know that’ll never happen.
 
I’m just amazed that he didn’t manage to bring Pogba into the discussion.
 
Sky need to sack the miserable bastard. By far the most biased and bitter pundit out there.
 
Typical Liverpool fan, biased and unwilling to see the sh*t from the trees within their own club

I can't stand how there are so many ex Liverpool pundits across the BBC, Sky and BT Sport. Someone needs to sort it out so there is a better representation of all clubs
 
I actually quite like him when he's not talking about Utd :nervous:

He really does detest us though.
 
It is ridiculous how many ex pros actually know feck all about some aspects of football. He used to be a manager right ? Wtf is he talking about then ?
 
Oddboy said:
I actually quite like him when he's not talking about Utd :nervous:

He really does detest us though.
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I don't mind him the majority of the time, but accusing United of illegal activity is uncalled for.

These guys are paid to talk without bias to an audience of millions, yet inaccurate comments like that makes him look like a clown.
 
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