Sergio Ramos, reportedly, once pointed out to José Mourinho that he couldn’t possibly empathise with players at Real Madrid as he had never played football at that level.
The “expert” pundits on Soccer Saturday are all ex-professional footballers who played the game at the top.
We are forever being told, usually by these ex-pros, that people who haven’t played the game at professional level can’t possibly have a reasonable discussion about football simply because they don’t know anything about it.
What a load of nonsense!
Let’s see how Sergio Ramos’ record, if he chooses to become a manager, stacks up against José Mourinho’s after, say, ten years in the job.
The experts on Soccer Saturday are, usually, Matt Le Tissier, Paul Merson, Phil Thompson and Charlie Nicholas. They spend their Saturday afternoons passing judgement on players, managers, teams and anything else football related.
Le Tissier and Nicholas have NEVER managed a football club. Thompson was caretaker at Liverpool when Gerard Houllier fell ill and Paul Merson couldn’t make the grade at Walsall! So what qualifies them to comment on Premier League managers? More to the point, what qualifies them more so than anybody who hasn’t played the game at their level?
The answer is; nothing. They may have the experience of having played the game but that does not necessarily mean they are highly qualified to make comments on it or judge players and managers who are much better than they were. They certainly struggle with the vocabulary required to make meaningful and interesting conversation.
There has been a recent concession made by the TV companies in this regard in as much as they now have women pundits commenting on games alongside the men. This is proof, if any were needed, that you don’t need to have played the game at the highest level just to know what you are talking about.
Quite obviously, none of the female pundits have ever played the men’s game at the highest level but can still hold their own when in the company of ex-pros from that game.
In fact, the only non-footballers who freely express opinions and, by so doing, prove their ignorance of the game on a regular basis are the press.
And finally…..
Fred and Pogba celebrate the Brazilian’s first goal for United
Manchester United toiled to a 1-1 home draw with Wolves. A reasonable performance was spoiled continually by Romelu Lukaku failing to anticipate a pass, waiting for the ball to reach him and repeatedly straying offside. On another day he would have scored a couple, today he was awful.
Manchester City travelled to one of the Welsh teams who wants to be English and beat them 0-5. An easy victory which should help ensure a swift return to the Championship for Cardiff, if not to the Welsh League where they should belaying their football.
Liverpool also strolled to a comfortable victory and led Southampton 3-0 at half-time but they didn’t have it quite so easy in the second. So they maintain their 100% record but have yet to be severely tested and were still very fortunate to win three of their games. Bigger tests lie ahead.
Tottenham were the northern visitors to Brighton in the late game and, despite torrential rain and a decent second-half oerformance from the home team, still managed ro come away with all three points with following a 1-2 win.
WHY SAY ANYTHING? 