Football pundits worth listening to

[VP89]

Are there many?

ESPN brought Needham Onuha into the frame and I like him. He doesnt each for philosophical nonsense like Neville and he's humble with caveats like " might be wrong but I think xyz". The points he makes are generally sound too.

Its contraversial but I don't mind Charagger. He is biased but so is everyone else. He's reasonable more often than not.

Neville has good broad points but is shrouded in hypocrisy and exaggeration.

Jenas had a good couple months then turned into a terrible commentator.

Micah Richards is only there for comedy, he doesn't actually contribute anything useful. He's essentially the equivalent of a casual fan sitting next to the rest of a panel. I am fine with his purpose in being relatable and extroverted to bring light heartedness to broadcasting but he's nothing more than that.

Souness and Keane are just there for old school mentality chat, though the former is also a lunatic there to make clickbait videos for the channel.

Most ex United players are terribly terribly biased. Embarrassingly so.

Obviously the worst of the list is Danny Murphy. Guy is an absolute bafoon.

If you were to list pundits across the channels how would it look? Are there any reasonable pundits worth hearing from that we may not know about (such as my Needham Onuha shout)?

 

[SilentWitness]

Onouha and Carra are the best on british tv out of the regulars. McCoist is a good gem that pops up now and then.

 

[11101]

When they bother to bring him in Thierry Henry is good. Mourinho was also brilliant in his few attempts.

Carragher and Neville were both good but i think have let the hype get to them a bit, especially Neville.

 

[Lay]

I really like the Carragher, Henry and Micah Richards combo on whatever show they’re on with Kate Abdo

 

[VP89]

Onouha and Carra are the best on british tv out of the regulars. McCoist is a good gem that pops up now and then.

McCoist very good. Very likeable commentator which is so so rare.

 

[FrankDrebin]

Honestly not one springs to mind.
I have a few journalists I like reading though like Sid Lowe, Hunter, Horncastle, Honigstein .

 

[Member 125398]

Onouha and Carra are the best on british tv out of the regulars. McCoist is a good gem that pops up now and then.

McCoist very good. Very likeable commentator which is so so rare.

Good shout. Insightful, funny with a few good anecdotes thrown in.

 

[pierrethesnack]

Keane and Carragher of the ex players.

 

[FrankDrebin]

McCoist is slightly overrated. He's not agenda driven like most pundits nowadays, which is a plus, but he doesn't add anything informative.
Though I think he's one of a very few pundits out there who's, not only grateful of being in the position he's in, but will always try to see a positive in matches that may seen to be somewhat underwhelming to the audience.

 

[zaafi]

Only Henry imo

 

[Havak]

Despite agreeing with some of points raised here already, I still really enjoy Gary Neville when I listen to him. One who I haven't seen on as much (probably due to management roles seemingly lasting long) is Martin O'Neil. I think he's great every time I hear him as well.

 

[GlasgowCeltic]

I like Carragher honestly, he’s biased but we all are, I think his football knowledge is far better than Nevilles

 

[Member 125398]

Despite agreeing with some of points raised here already, I still really enjoy Gary Neville when I listen to him. One who I haven't seen on as much (probably due to management roles seemingly lasting long) is Martin O'Neil. I think he's great every time I hear him as well.

Neville is the personification of the matchday threads on here.

 

[FrankDrebin]

I just can't stand Neville now.

 

[NotoriousISSY]

I don't mind Carragher. More so now seeing as he's addressed the Martinez thing. You won't find many ex-liverpool players say they were wrong! I don't mind a controversial pundit as long as they're willing to stand down and accept they were wrong.

Not a huge fan of watching Neville. I don't know if it's his tryhard impartiality at times, but there's something annoying about him. This will probably change if Arsenal have a meltdown and he posts the token champagne photo - I'm there for that.

On Roy Keane, I like how honest he is. But he's also quite blinkered about the past and his mates.

 

[Baneofthegame]

Commentary wise I enjoy Mccoist and Mcmanaman recently.

Carragher isn'tbad, bias aside, Henry as well.

 

[OnlyTwoDaSilvas]

Commentary wise I enjoy Mccoist and Mcmanaman recently.

Carragher isn'tbad, bias aside, Henry as well.

McManaman has gotten so much better over the years. I used to loathe him, his bias was like listening to Fan Zone, he'd froth at the mouth for the full 90 minutes of a United game. He's very balanced these days, and he generally seems to do his research, particularly for European games, where a lot of British pundits don't seem to know much about what's going on Europe outside of the big teams and players.

 

[OnlyTwoDaSilvas]

I can't stand Lee Dixon when he's paired with Matterface, they have an awful chemistry, and Dixon sounds miserable. But on the American coverage, Dixon is often part of a co-commentary duo with Graeme Le Saux next to the main commentator. They make a good team, and generally have a good rapport. Dixon on his own tends to lean into his bias of City and Arsenal and just moans, but being with Le Saux keeps him more balanced. They're insightful and entertaining together.

I haven't seen him for a long time, but Clarence Seedorf used to pop up in the studio as a pundit during the international tournaments, but he doesn't seem to be in the rotation anymore. He was always very good.

Another I haven't seen for a while is Danny Higginbotham on Sky. He'd rarely be involved in the big fixtures as a pundit or a co-commentator, but he generally knew his stuff, clearly does his research and very knowledgeable. Maybe a little bit of a lack of charisma is the only downside. Just looked him up just now to find out why I haven't seen him on TV for a while, looks like he's doing co-commentary for the MLS. Good on him.

 

[Old Ma Crow]

Most of the scousers are incredibly difficult to listen to regardless of the content; it's that accent. Either it grates or is impossible to decipher. Keane, Hargreaves, Henry, Wright and Shearer are good and tend to offer more balanced, qualified opinions. Hasselbaink is good too and even McManaman is better these days. Scholes is ok when he's not trying to be funny, but I have no time for Murphy, Owen, Jenas, Souness, Robbie Keane or Neville.

 

[VP89]

McCoist is slightly overrated. He's not agenda driven like most pundits nowadays, which is a plus, but he doesn't add anything informative.
Though I think he's one of a very few pundits out there who's, not only grateful of being in the position he's in, but will always try to see a positive in matches that may seen to be somewhat underwhelming to the audience.

Thats why I think he's such a big plus. He feels like he isn't obligated to give a scholar opinion and recites the game really well as a result.

 

[Sammy McIlroys fan club]

I used to really like Martin O Neill and Gordon Strachan when they used to do it as they used to talk about setting up to defend and attack corners and appeared to have a much deeper tactical understanding than a lot of the ex-players, not surprising as they both managed for years. McCoist is excellent as a co-commentator. Souness is a balloon and a parody of himself and I am delighted someone retired Mark Lawrenson as he just depressed people.

 

[poleglass red]

I can't stand Lee Dixon when he's paired with Matterface, they have an awful chemistry, and Dixon sounds miserable. But on the American coverage, Dixon is often part of a co-commentary duo with Graeme Le Saux next to the main commentator. They make a good team, and generally have a good rapport. Dixon on his own tends to lean into his bias of City and Arsenal and just moans, but being with Le Saux keeps him more balanced. They're insightful and entertaining together.

I haven't seen him for a long time, but Clarence Seedorf used to pop up in the studio as a pundit during the international tournaments, but he doesn't seem to be in the rotation anymore. He was always very good.

Another I haven't seen for a while is Danny Higginbotham on Sky. He'd rarely be involved in the big fixtures as a pundit or a co-commentator, but he generally knew his stuff, clearly does his research and very knowledgeable. Maybe a little bit of a lack of charisma is the only downside. Just looked him up just now to find out why I haven't seen him on TV for a while, looks like he's doing co-commentary for the MLS. Good on him.

Totally agree, really like his analysis, knows what he's talking about. I also agree re the charisma part of it, but then you see the likes of Owen, Jenas, Agbonlahor, Shearer, Wright Phillips, Murphy- none of them have exciting personas yet get plenty of work. Pleased to see Higginbotham has landed a gig, I see Kevin Kilbane also worked on tv in north america as well, another one who breaks the game down well

 

[OnlyTwoDaSilvas]

Totally agree, really like his analysis, knows what he's talking about. I also agree re the charisma part of it, but then you see the likes of Owen, Jenas, Agbonlahor, Shearer, Wright Phillips, Murphy- none of them have exciting personas yet get plenty of work. Pleased to see Higginbotham has landed a gig, I see Kevin Kilbane also worked on tv in north america as well, another one who breaks the game down well

Yes, good point, football punditry isn't littered with charismatic characters. Hard to believe Shearer has been in the TV game for so long, he is just so unbelievably bland.

On a similar basis to Danny Higginbotham, I always quite liked Owen Hargreaves, he's another who certainly had a wide breadth of knowledge, especially when he'd be analysing Champions League and Europa League games. It's a low bar to set, but I'm usually impressed with a pundit if they have an understanding of football that isn't just within the Premier League or the few big European clubs, and Hargreaves definitely had that. A downside for him was he seemed to really struggle to articulate himself sometimes. Not the most eloquent speaker, but has more knowledge of the game than the vast majority of pundits. Sounds like he's now working on TV in the USA too.

 

[Acole9]

I quite like Ian Wright. Very knowledgeable.

 

[Baichung Bhutia]

I watch NBC in US. The 2 Robbies podcast is pretty good to listen to. There is no groundbreaking analysis, but they always have sensible discussion on the weekend games highlighting good points.

 

[FrankDrebin]

I just avoid listening to a game live by any British commentary team at this point. I don't want my ears to be bombarded by some insufferable, miserable, ungrateful , moany c*nt of a co-commentator and they're all miserable moany c*nts lets be honest.

 

[2cents]

Joe Cole is actually alright.

 

[GhastlyHun]

Gary Lineker

 

[rajds89]

Jamie Carragher and Graeme Souness after watching that pathetic Liverpool performance.

 

[Gavinb33]

Joe Cole is actually alright.

Joe Cole is decent maybe the best one on BT Sport

 

[Crashoutcassius]

carra is okay. at least he is intelligent. sometimes his tactical views are a bit dated.

i like the TIFO podcast because they are least try to think about the game. but do so in a fairly arrogant way