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Post by Boomer on Jul 15, 2010 12:57:35 GMT
What a great article. 90% of the ex-players acting as either commentators or pundits have **** for brains, know almost nothing and can hardly string two words together.
When I think about these sort of situations, I always go back to comparing various football managers in the higher echelons of the game and why most of them are ex-players. An ex-player does not automatically make you a good manager, in fact it rarely does, although I concede there are a few exceptions. It is a nonsense. Neither Arsene Wenger and Roy Hodgson played at a high level but both have to rank in the top 2 or 3 in the country. Sam Allardyce or Arsene Wenger? Not too a difficult choice, is it?
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Post by Daedalus on Jul 15, 2010 15:24:47 GMT
You can add Jose Mourinho and Rafael Benitez to your list Boomer. Neither had a playing career covered in glory. Then there is the example of Arrigo Sacchi, who was one of the most successful managers that Italy has produced. He never played professionally and, I believe, was a shoe salesman before becoming a coach! When he was questioned about this, he replied with the now famous quotation, 'I never realised that in order to become a jockey you have to have been a horse first'. Going back to the commentators and pundits, I would have to agree that the standard has been appalling during the past month. I thought ITV was particularly bad but the BBC wasn't much better. In terms of commentators, the two that really irritate me are ITV's Tydlesley and Drury. Both as irritating as each other and add Jim Beglin into the mix and it just becomes absolutely unbearable. You are better off watching with the sound off. The BBC commentators are slightly better (although Lawrenson as a co-commentator has me pressing the mute button as soon as I hear his voice) but the pundits have gone from bad to worse. Alan Shearer's 'expert analysis' amounts to saying one of the following two things: 1) 'For me, he should have done better' and 2) 'He'll be disappointed with that'. You could invent quite a successful drinking game using those two phrases! The breath of fresh air on the BBC was when Roy Hodgson was briefly involved. At last, someone articulate, intelligent and also a proper football man. Clarence Seedorf also looked like he might have potential but was usually drowned out by Hansen and Shearer. He sat in the middle just looking vaguely amused as he listened to his colleagues spouting off dreary cliché after dreary cliché.
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Post by Daedalus on Nov 16, 2010 19:14:58 GMT
FULL ENGLAND SQUAD TO FACE FRANCE:Goalkeepers: Foster (Birmingham), Hart (Manchester City), Green (West Ham) Defenders: Cahill (Bolton), Gibbs (Arsenal), Jagielka (Everton), Lescott (Manchester City), Richards (Manchester City), Ferdinand (Manchester United), Smalling (Manchester United), Warnock (Aston Villa) Midfielders: Walcott (Arsenal), A Young (Aston Villa), Gerrard (Liverpool), Barry (Manchester City), A Johnson (Manchester City), Milner (Manchester City), Henderson (Sunderland) Forwards: Bothroyd (Cardiff), Carroll (Newcastle), Crouch (Tottenham), C Cole (West Ham) Newcastle striker Andy Carroll will make his England debut against France at Wembley on Wednesday according to the BBC website. Apparently, Fabio Capello also revealed that Sunderland midfielder Jordan Henderson, 20, will also make his debut while Arsenal left-back Kieron Gibbs is expected to start. Midfielder Jack Wilshere has been ruled out through injury, while keeper Joe Hart is being assessed by a doctor. John Terry, Ashley Cole, Glen Johnson and Wayne Rooney are all missing because of injury. It's good to see some youngsters being given a chance at last. Meanwhile, there was this interesting article in the paper the other day - Michel Salgado: 'England can only succeed with a style of their own'. Salgado said: 'I was hearing a lot of things after the World Cup, people saying that England have to play more like Spain. I don't think so. I think the English style is too different from the Spanish. What England should do is to explore the strengths in their own style. They have to play as English players, with the English mentality, you know with the high tempo. England never found their own style during the World Cup'. I think that's absolutely true. We don't seem to have any style of our own and playing like Spain certainly isn't an option for our team! It's also not the only way of playing the game. The England team needs to play to its strengths and develop its own style again, in my opinion.
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Post by Saint on Nov 16, 2010 19:18:01 GMT
Rio Ferdinand has come out over the past couple of days saying that the England squad need a bit of resiliance like his own club, Manchester United. I would to agree with this as everytime England go 2-0 down, they lose and cant come back.
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