Pundits during Euro 2024

Is really though? Not for me.
Yeah well... I don't think that most people have 8700+ posts on a football forum like you do. So I would think of you as one of the "hardcore football fans who really care about the intricacies of the game see this different" as I called it :lol:
 
Is really though? Not for me.
I used to find him at least a little entertaining. And then bizarrely one day he was screaming loudly (like he does)…and it impacted in what I imagine a dog whistle is like. Something clicked and since then I just find him to be a noise and nothing more.
 
Gary Lineker - one of the best strikers of his generation

Rio Ferdinand - one of the best central defenders of his generation

Cesc Fabregas - one of the best midfielders of his generation

Micah Richards
 
It’s not just punditry that’s bad. Something that really irritates me is the commentary team during the game not seeing basic things on the field until a replay of it. Sometimes multiple replays. Yesterday with the England game on BBC with Guy Mowbray and Alan Shearer, both critiquing Kane’s inability to keep his header down without noticing that the goalkeeper very obviously saved it and pushed it on to the bar. I lose count of the amount of times I’m waiting for the commentary team to notice something that was extremely obvious to everyone else in normal time. I know they watch games on a smaller monitor and not a massive TV, but come on.
 
Either Micah Richards is an absolute genius beyond my comprehension or the UK public is just incredibly stupid.

How long has he been a pundit for now? 5 or more years? Not once have I ever heard him offer any insight or knowledge about football. Honestly not one single time. And he's everywhere on everything all the time being paid to talk about football. Every time he's asked something which requires knowledge, he'll say something stupid, ask another pundit what they think and then laugh really loud to distract everyone. But it works every single bloody time. How does he keep getting away with it?

One of life’s great mysteries.
 
I would listen to Micah Richards for 1000 straight hours on full volume, before listening to Jenas for ten minutes.
 
Rio is usually pretty decent when he does CL stuff but he's intolerable when it comes to England, he really can't contain his fandom and not in a good way as it clouds his judgement completely. Shearer was similar on commentary last night.

And Richards saying Guehi was outstanding in the first half, man had barely anything to do.
 
Either Micah Richards is an absolute genius beyond my comprehension or the UK public is just incredibly stupid.

How long has he been a pundit for now? 5 or more years? Not once have I ever heard him offer any insight or knowledge about football. Honestly not one single time. And he's everywhere on everything all the time being paid to talk about football. Every time he's asked something which requires knowledge, he'll say something stupid, ask another pundit what they think and then laugh really loud to distract everyone. But it works every single bloody time. How does he keep getting away with it?

Yeah I'm fecking sick of him. He seems to work for every tv channel , he's a pundit on every game it feels like.
 
Yeah BBC was embarrassing tonight, Cesc was good though.
Also was it me or was Shearer pissed? He would basically say nothing for about 5 minutes and then when he piped up he’d say like 1 or 2 sentences but slur or stumble over his words… abit concerning tbh

Edited to add, I thought Joe Hart did well during the halftime and buildup stuff especially considering this is his first tournament (I think?)
I expected Hart to drop his microphone. Needs to face the camera a bit more
 
Gary Lineker - one of the best strikers of his generation

Rio Ferdinand - one of the best central defenders of his generation

Cesc Fabregas - one of the best midfielders of his generation

Micah Richards
He burst onto the scene don't you know?
 
You don't have to have been a great player to be a good pundit, indeed many great players go on to be shite pundits.

But the fact that Micah Richards offers zero insight or knowledge added to the fact that he was a mediocre player who was basically in semi retirement by his mid 20s means he just provides nothing. He's there to laugh loudly it feels like and nothing else.
 
You don't have to have been a great player to be a good pundit, indeed many great players go on to be shite pundits.

But the fact that Micah Richards offers zero insight or knowledge added to the fact that he was a mediocre player who was basically in semi retirement by his mid 20s means he just provides nothing. He's there to laugh loudly it feels like and nothing else.
Always find it bizarre how much Richards rubs a lot of people the wrong way.

His analysis is no worse than any other pundits I've seen and he's seems like a genuinely likeable and nice bloke.
 
Micah Richards comes across as a nice guy. He's reasonably intelligent and articulate but he doesn't take himself too seriously.

Doesn't offer any insight about football though but as a comic relief act he's alright. I do sometimes think modern shows overdo the matey banter a bit.
 
I’ve just been doing the same as what I do for every United match and don’t watch a single second of the pre-match bollocks.
 
I think a pundit team should be about balance. I think top level experience helps and should give extra credibility and insight. There's room on a panel for some humour and light heartedness too - though this goes way too far on that CL show with Henry and carragher etc. It feels as if that's made for teenagers and social media.

A panel for a tournament like this should have somebody with real knowledge too - its very clear that some of the pundits haven't seen half of these teams play and perhaps a very knowledgeable journalist might add another dimension as part of a team for a tournament . Failing that you should have an ex player or manager with real tactical insights that are interesting.

Too much punditry is predictable and cliche ridden. I do think despite all the controversy about saying so, that Aluko is dreadful. Ferdinand too would be better suited to the Abdo show. I disagree with Murphy alot but at least he seems to be trying to dig a bit deeper.
 
In a way it's nice to see that everybody has this problem, not just us Germans :lol:
 
Could both these propositions hold true?
Well I suppose

Richards will know within himself that he’s out his depth and will know that he’s getting away with it. But the public, for the most part, don’t seem to be noticing that his football knowledge is about on par with a vegans knowledge about BBQ
 
Well said.
Despite him being an ex Gooner, he was the only one talking any sense.

He seems to know what he's talking about. I wonder if he'll become a great manager too - seems to communicate his point across very clearly.
 
Rio is usually pretty decent when he does CL stuff but he's intolerable when it comes to England, he really can't contain his fandom and not in a good way as it clouds his judgement completely. Shearer was similar on commentary last night.

And Richards saying Guehi was outstanding in the first half, man had barely anything to do.

Guehi was solid in possession and when Serbia game into the game during the latter parts of the first half. He was great considering most people thought it would be a weakness.
 
is it an age thing?

Years ago I used to watch the build up, the half time and the post match nonsense.

but came to realise that it is just that…nonsense.

The same questions. The same answers. The same hyperbole. The same criticism.

I’ve learnt to switch off and just tune in for the game.

anyone with suggestions how to have a background noise without commentary…I can’t stand guy mowbry and Jenas…and I’m sure there are more

I'm kinda here when it comes to punditry. Unless it's from a more interesting approach like James Richardson et al it's very easy to just zone out and ignore the cliches.
 
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It's sad to see the same old faces appearing talking the same old shite. We could have had someone knowledgeable on like James Horncastle but we need some laughs and giggles so we go for Micah Richards who wants to talk about Joe Hart's tight t shirt.
 
is it an age thing?

Years ago I used to watch the build up, the half time and the post match nonsense.

but came to realise that it is just that…nonsense.

The same questions. The same answers. The same hyperbole. The same criticism.

I’ve learnt to switch off and just tune in for the game.

anyone with suggestions how to have a background noise without commentary…I can’t stand guy mowbry and Jenas…and I’m sure there are more
For me, I think it's a mix of not liking the almost fan TV style of punditry these days. There is very little insight and a lot of bias.

However, I didn't mind it so much back in the day, because the narrative was generally positive for United because we were so successful. Now it's the opposite, asking the same questions, same things over and over, so I've tuned out for the most part bar 5 mins before and sometimes after just to hear players / managers.

I think it's a mix of the level of punditry has gone down in favour of 'characters', and also just a general apathy from watching negative analysis of United for the last decade have turned me off punditry for pretty much all games.
 
He seems to know what he's talking about. I wonder if he'll become a great manager too - seems to communicate his point across very clearly.
I’d give him a job as some sort of England assistant based off what he said last night.
Very insightful, unlike the rest of the happy clappers.
 
The YouTubeificiation plays a part where there can be an over emphasis on crap "banter" and just bad opinions over anything worthwhile.
There are only few pundits who manage to be both entertaining and insightful. Christoph Kramer does a good job in German TV in that regard. His analysis of England was tactically on point, but what made it great was that he basically appeared to be offended by how bad Southgate is managing that squad :lol:
Before that he had a similar reaction towards the Scottish disaster as well.
 
I think a pundit team should be about balance. I think top level experience helps and should give extra credibility and insight. There's room on a panel for some humour and light heartedness too - though this goes way too far on that CL show with Henry and carragher etc. It feels as if that's made for teenagers and social media.

A panel for a tournament like this should have somebody with real knowledge too - its very clear that some of the pundits haven't seen half of these teams play and perhaps a very knowledgeable journalist might add another dimension as part of a team for a tournament . Failing that you should have an ex player or manager with real tactical insights that are interesting.

Too much punditry is predictable and cliche ridden. I do think despite all the controversy about saying so, that Aluko is dreadful. Ferdinand too would be better suited to the Abdo show. I disagree with Murphy alot but at least he seems to be trying to dig a bit deeper.

The only controversy about saying this is that people are seemingly targeting her. I'm not sure if yesterday was her first appearance this tournament but she was all over my twitter timeline pretty much all day with people circulating the same two clips, one of which she said very little wrong. I'd probably have to go out of my way to find any criticism of other shit pundits like Murphy, Jenas etc.
 
The only controversy about saying this is that people are seemingly targeting her. I'm not sure if yesterday was her first appearance this tournament but she was all over my twitter timeline pretty much all day with people circulating the same two clips, one of which she said very little wrong. I'd probably have to go out of my way to find any criticism of other shit pundits like Murphy, Jenas etc.

Yes its like many things unfortunately. Social media exploded at the time of Barton criticising her, and there were moments where he was very personal and repulsive in his critcism. You then had a tribalism whereby Barton types went over the top, and people on Alukos side seemed to put any criticism down to her race or gender. The level of clips and cutting snippets is likely hard to match, but as long as Ive followed football there's been widespread criticism of pundits of all shapes, sizes, colour and gender. Some just aren't very good. In fact most arent all that good and punditry is a bit boring, but some are crap.
 
Well I suppose

Richards will know within himself that he’s out his depth and will know that he’s getting away with it. But the public, for the most part, don’t seem to be noticing that his football knowledge is about on par with a vegans knowledge about BBQ
:lol:
 
Thomas Frank has huge long ears.
 
Guehi was solid in possession and when Serbia game into the game during the latter parts of the first half. He was great considering most people thought it would be a weakness.
It was hardly an outstanding performance though, was it? It was a 'hey this guy is actually doing pretty well'.
 
Yes its like many things unfortunately. Social media exploded at the time of Barton criticising her, and there were moments where he was very personal and repulsive in his critcism. You then had a tribalism whereby Barton types went over the top, and people on Alukos side seemed to put any criticism down to her race or gender. The level of clips and cutting snippets is likely hard to match, but as long as Ive followed football there's been widespread criticism of pundits of all shapes, sizes, colour and gender. Some just aren't very good. In fact most arent all that good and punditry is a bit boring, but some are crap.

Yeah it feels like she has a cult hate following now, which none of the other pundits appear to have, which does feel like it's rooted in some kind of misogyny. Fair criticism is just that, fair but a lot of what I see targeted at her feels very unfair, and we need people calling that shit out.

With all that said, I don't think she's a good pundit either.
 
Think I'm one of the few that enjoy the build up to games. I don't watch it for analysis, more just a building of hype for the upcoming game. Usually chat to the people I'm with whilst it's on rather than truly listen to it though.
 
Micah Richards comes across as a nice guy. He's reasonably intelligent and articulate but he doesn't take himself too seriously.

Doesn't offer any insight about football though but as a comic relief act he's alright. I do sometimes think modern shows overdo the matey banter a bit.
He brings energy as well.

Liniker, Shearer, Rio, Fabregas... Love them all in their own way but they're calm and collected blokes.

Then there is Micah like a puppy on red ball