*Official* English Football Season 2012-13

[Scaly piscine]

Cleverley and Carrick been pretty meh I thought. Johnson has seen more of the ball in their position because he actually moves, he's seen plenty of the ball on the right wing too. Whoever is supposed to be up with Carroll needs to actually not just hold hands with the central defense and expect the rest to pass it about with fewer available options. Young non-existent as usual. The free kick he got on about 40 minutes was typical Young. Two terrible touches, then he stretches his leg out a yard so he can make contact with a defender and fall over. Also no mention about when him and a left back were doubled up on a guy, who passed it a guy marked 4 yards away and they both just stood there like **** whilst the man they were doubled up on ran in behind and shot-crossed across goal.

Johnson not been brilliant but still looks a cut above the rest. He's given the ball away more than normal but part of that is the lack of options and movement.

 

[grecian]

I don't get this Cleverly thing Uppercut keeps on going on about.

Would rather Allen, Ramsey or Collison was English and playing than him.

 

[sledger]

Well, that's Van Persie's status as a pariah confirmed then.

 

[Scaly piscine]

Oh thank god I thought they were going to bring on the plodder for Johnson. As if we didn't suffer enough with the dire duo of Young and Milner in Euro 2012.

 

[Scaly piscine]

Same old refereeing of Italian defending in the penalty area.

 

[GIMH]

Beautiful!!

 

[grecian]

Great goal, who'd of thought there'd have been more energy in the team with Lump off?

 

[Scaly piscine]

God no wonder we never produce any players who are quality on the ball. Every time Johnson loses it he gets hammered by the commentry. He's worked harder than anyone because he's actually an outlet most of the time. If he receives a duff pass and gets tackled, he's hammered. If he takes someone on and gets tackled, he's hammered. If he tries to do anything and it doesn't come off, he's hammered. If he's half an inch out of position he's hammered. Doesn't matter that Carrick was totally culpable for the first goal. Or one long ball keeps getting opposition in, or Young stands there like a dope or any one of them gets costs us possession because they're in a **** position.

 

[Scaly piscine]

Oh and in other news Australian sport plumbs new depths.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/19243564

 

[cpr]

Scaly in this thread makes me thank god that every other Smoggie is **** at football.

 

[Jarquis]

Does Adam Johnson support Durham or something?

 

[Burgey]

Can someone tell me whether Martin Tyler still regularly calls games in the uk? we get him here calling some games for SBS, but I thought he was semi-retired.

 

[Uppercut]

Yeah he still did all the big games for Sky last season. Best commentator imo, although you only really notice them when they're bad.

Pretty good performance from England I thought. Much better at keeping the ball than they were at the Euros. Apart from Johnson, he was dire.

 

[Burgey]

Cheers, I've always thought of him as the doyen of UK football commentators, but then again for many years he was the only voice we ever heard here, so I wasn't sure.

 

[BoyBrumby]

WAG. Arsenal man, you know. Co-authored Arsenal: The Official History that sits on my bookcase.

 

[GIMH]

I thought he supported Woking

 

[vic_orthdox]

Does Adam Johnson support Durham or something?

From Wiki:

Born in Easington, County Durham, England, Johnson was a Newcastle fan as a boy and joined them before being released.

 

[grecian]

Scaly in this thread makes me thank god that every other Smoggie is **** at football.

Well, it's an improvement on talking up Downing, only just mind.

 

[sledger]

Yeah he still did all the big games for Sky last season. Best commentator imo, although you only really notice them when they're bad.

Yeah, largely in agreement with this. I quite like Tyler, knows his stuff, is always pretty sensible in what he says and tends to avoid using cliches and other tired phrases. Can get a little annoying at times though, like I sometimes feel he's trying to make himself sound more excited than he actually is.

Sky on the whole are pretty decent actually, I think Alan Parry is an excellent commentator as well, and Rob Hawthorne is good, if a little unmemorable. The only Sky Commentator I really dislike is Ian Darke, who's pretty dreadful imo. Their coverage on the whole has improved tenfold since those ***** Richard Keys and Andy Gray were kicked out as well.

Worst football coverage has to be ITV though. Awful commentators, bar none. Adrian Chiles in the studio...Gareth Southgate as a pundit....just crap all round. Interesting how Lee Dixon's ended up over there though, wonder why he left the BBC (not that I care mind you, had no problem with him, but he always just always made really obvious observations).

 

[Uppercut]

Dixon was pretty good on occasion. Did a really interesting feature on Swansea after they beat Arsenal- how three of them will work little triangles in one corner of the pitch to draw the opposition towards them, then move the ball away to open up space for the rest of the team.

Definitely the best BBC pundit, so only natural that they got rid of him. I don't think ITV will suit him with all the ad-breaks, in short sharp bursts you want a Keano type to just quickly tear into someone for being ****.