Perfect Football Broadcasting and Pathetic Punditry
This post was inspired - if that’s the right word - by a comment Peter D made on The Main Hub after the recent defeat to Real Madrid in the second leg of the Champions League tie.
Is there any chance of the BBC (or any other broadcaster) asking pundits to take a step back as they are not informed enough to do the job?
Michael Owen was being realistic and positive about Liverpool going forward...
"I think Liverpool have got enough. Looking through their starting XI, there's nobody out there better than their goalkeeper. Their right-back is unbelievable, the left-back too, Virgil van Dijk is probably the best in the world when he is on form. Ibrahima Konate is brilliant. The front five are brilliant.”
“Darwin Nunez was the hottest striker around last year. Cody Gakpo was one of the stars of the World Cup.”.
"When they bought Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino they weren't £100m players, they weren't the best in the world at the time. Nunez could be anything, he could be one of the best in the world in five years."
However the ever so switched on Ferdinand, ignores all of that and counters with..
But former Manchester United centre-back Rio Ferdinand countered: "In the last couple of windows, they have not bought players who change the starting XI.”
"People are asking is this cycle over? How do they stay at this level? Are they going to buy squad fillers like they have been doing?"
Squad fillers? Players like the ones Owen has mentioned.
Our most recent signings include Konate, Diaz, Nunez and/or Gakpo who I would say are definitely for the first XI (if they are fit).
Diaz was the reason that Sadio was first moved central and then allowed to leave, and Bobby has stopped being a first choice due to these squad fillers taking up places in the first XI.
Konate, without a doubt, is the first choice to pair alongside Virgil.
Even Diogo is more than just a squad filler and before his injury was becoming a first team fixture.
The only fillers have been Kostas and youngsters like Harvey (who before injury was looking like becoming a regular), Bacjcetic, Carvalho and Ramsay - but we also need to do that, as we are not a country that can have 2 teams of first XI players to rotate and choose from.
Ferdinand is stealing a living at the license fee payers expense.
Stealing a living is an understatement. He’s robbing the broadcasters of more than the Great Train Robbers did from the Queen’s train all those years ago. The theft is lower than the natural resources Roman Abramovich pilfered before distorting the whole of the English game back in the day. When we’re praising Micheal Owen for his insight and forethought we know that standards and expectations have fallen off a cliff - though in fairness to him he seems to have improved whenever I’ve caught him recently which in truth isn’t very often. If you’re a subscriber to The Main Hub and didn’t catch the debate it sparked it’s worth a look, and can be found here. If you aren’t a subscriber, then you know what to do…
It didn’t end there either, he followed it up with this whopper, highlighted by Beez .
I switched off the post-match on BT Sport when Rio said something like: "Look at Man City, they went out and got Haaland, why aren't Liverpool doing that?"
To be that clueless and paid to offer an opinion baffles me.
To continue with my current topical references, his BT Sport salary is a greater crime than Thomas Bruce laying claim to the rebranded Elgin Marbles, known in Greece as the Parthenon Marbles, which currently sit in the British Museum. Of course I’m joking for comic effect, which is Ferdinand’s only rational excuse for that tripe above.
Anyway, on to the main point of the piece, and that’s perfect football broadcasting…