THE AUSTRALIAN CRICKET captain turned legendary commentator Richie Benaud reflected at the end of his career that among his proudest achievements was never at any point using the word, ‘We’.
TV Wrap wonders what Benaud would have made of the latest edition of Sky Sports’ Super Sunday, sound-tracked as it was to Jamie Carragher’s throaty roar after Tottenham’s latest clown-car collapse.
“MO SALAH YOU LITTLE DANCE-AHHH” shouted Carragher in his role as Sky’s (co?) co-commentator as the Egyptian wheeled away in celebration at Spurs’ rickety demise.
The reaction to Carragher’s gargling joy was neatly cleft: Liverpool fans enjoyed it; nobody else really did.
Separate to the usual partisan dribblings, the BBC’s tennis commentator David Law tweeted, “Call me old-fashioned, but having a pundit who played for and loves a club unconditionally, on commentary, celebrating that club’s goal, as Jamie Carragher just did for Liverpool (‘Mo Salah, you little dancer!’), doesn’t work for me.”
Call me old-fashioned, but having a pundit who played for and loves a club unconditionally, on commentary, celebrating that club’s goal, as Jamie Carragher just did for Liverpool (‘Mo Salah, you little dancer!’), doesn’t work for me.
Gary Neville offered a jokey apology afterward, saying that a local fan had grabbed the microphone amid the Anfield madness. Carragher was in no mood to follow suit however, saying that “I don’t apologise. I’m a massive Liverpool fan and I’m desperate for them to win the league.”
Neville, of course, is no stranger to giddy bias, having literally kissed the Manchester United manager during a post-match interview for Bein Sports in Paris last month.
Amid the myriad ways in which Carragher and Neville have changed the media coverage of football is that these stiff-upper-lipped verities have been slowly eroded, and they have been allowed to act on television as…fans.
Is this such a bad thing?
Not for TV Wrap, Clive.
While Carragher’s glee on Sunday afternoon might be difficult to stomach for some fans, it comes with a kind of throbbing, nuclear anger when things go awry for Liverpool: this column still remembers his twitching, quivering fury at Mamadou Sakho during Liverpool’s legendary 3-3 draw with Crystal Palace in the title run-in five years ago.
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There’s also no doubt that his visceral reactions to Liverpool’s pair of comedy wins this season – on Sunday and his “LOOK AT JURGEN KLOPP!” during the Merseyside Derby in December – added to the madness of the moments, and the benefits of commentators having a bit of empathy for fans was accentuated last week by RTÉ’s tone-deaf dismissal of the Aviva’s tennis ball protest.
Plus, even if you don’t like it, Carragher and Neville deserve a pass as they are truly excellent when they are not hollering about their own sides, delivering as they did an in-game tactical masterclass on Spurs’ early limitations against Liverpool, and how they then went about remedying them.
Earlier on Sky, we were informed that Neil Warnock was too angry to speak to them in the aftermath of Chelsea’s larceny at the Cardiff City Stadium.
Given Sky had to cut to their 385th ad for the Bahrain Grand Prix at full-time, we missed live coverage of Warnock’s on-pitch stand-off with the officials, during which he stood hands-on-hips with the flabbergasted, disproving look of someone who had just heard that Article 50 had been unilaterally revoked.
Neil Warnock vs the World. NBC
NBC
Like many of his fellow Brexiteers, Warnock has always luxuriated in his own torment, and he did so once he did speak to Sky, pondering “Is it me? Is it payback?” adding that the Premier League had arguably the worst officials in the world.
On the following night’s Monday Night Football, however, Carragher expertly picked apart why the linesman had failed to spot César Azpilicueta’s own goal, using some funky Virtual Reality technology to show that the linesman had been blindsided by the corner-taker, Willian.
An understandable decision?@Carra23 takes a look at Cesar Azpilicueta's controversial winner for Chelsea against Cardiff from the linesman's point of view 👀 #MNFpic.twitter.com/Se2EDAFsd9
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) April 1, 2019
While Carragher was understandably eager to say that he didn’t want to criticise Warnock for “the emotion” he vented afterward, this was a terrific defence of a linesman subjected to a deluge of post-game abuse.
“I don’t know how he could possibly have got it right”, said Carragher of the linesman, albeit choosing to ignore the obvious recourse to VAR.
Watching Carragher moving awkwardly about the studio with a massive headset covering his eyes while nontheless adding to the public’s insight on the game was a clunky but valid metaphor for his on-air relationship with his favourite team.
Liverpool may occasionally mantle his senses, but that doesn’t make him any worse at his job.
In fact, it probably makes him better.
Fair Sher’ of the misery
Carragher wasn’t the only supporter asked for his reaction to Sunday’s game, as Tim Sherwood popped up on punditry duty on the Premier League’s international broadcast of the game.
Sherwood often strikes this column as a perfect image of the slow eroding of youthful exuberance and the thwarting of hope; having harshly learned the startling cruelty of the real world, he sits there with the ashen face of a millennial who has just realised he will never be able to afford his own home.
“What alarms me, is if Arsenal..” began the Tim prophesy.
For Arsenal to finish above Tottenham, when we thought the pendulum had swung, and for a new manager to go in and hardly strengthen his squad; for them to finish above Tottenham would be unthinkable.
“To go into this new stadium and play Thursday night Europa League is unthinkable. I don’t even want to think about it.
“Arsenal will win every game. They can win every single game. It’s in their hands now, that’s the alarming thing.”
Mes Que Un Cringe
And finally, at least Carragher did the whole ‘jubilant reaction’ shtick better than this official feed of Barca fans watching the weekend’s derby with Espanyol. Nothing says ‘pandemonium’ better than a man briefly interrupting his shaking of a tamborine.
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TV Wrap: Ignore those who say Carragher's wild reaction to Liverpool's latest drama was unprofessional
THE AUSTRALIAN CRICKET captain turned legendary commentator Richie Benaud reflected at the end of his career that among his proudest achievements was never at any point using the word, ‘We’.
TV Wrap wonders what Benaud would have made of the latest edition of Sky Sports’ Super Sunday, sound-tracked as it was to Jamie Carragher’s throaty roar after Tottenham’s latest clown-car collapse.
“MO SALAH YOU LITTLE DANCE-AHHH” shouted Carragher in his role as Sky’s (co?) co-commentator as the Egyptian wheeled away in celebration at Spurs’ rickety demise.
The reaction to Carragher’s gargling joy was neatly cleft: Liverpool fans enjoyed it; nobody else really did.
Separate to the usual partisan dribblings, the BBC’s tennis commentator David Law tweeted, “Call me old-fashioned, but having a pundit who played for and loves a club unconditionally, on commentary, celebrating that club’s goal, as Jamie Carragher just did for Liverpool (‘Mo Salah, you little dancer!’), doesn’t work for me.”
Gary Neville offered a jokey apology afterward, saying that a local fan had grabbed the microphone amid the Anfield madness. Carragher was in no mood to follow suit however, saying that “I don’t apologise. I’m a massive Liverpool fan and I’m desperate for them to win the league.”
Neville, of course, is no stranger to giddy bias, having literally kissed the Manchester United manager during a post-match interview for Bein Sports in Paris last month.
Amid the myriad ways in which Carragher and Neville have changed the media coverage of football is that these stiff-upper-lipped verities have been slowly eroded, and they have been allowed to act on television as…fans.
Is this such a bad thing?
Not for TV Wrap, Clive.
While Carragher’s glee on Sunday afternoon might be difficult to stomach for some fans, it comes with a kind of throbbing, nuclear anger when things go awry for Liverpool: this column still remembers his twitching, quivering fury at Mamadou Sakho during Liverpool’s legendary 3-3 draw with Crystal Palace in the title run-in five years ago.
There’s also no doubt that his visceral reactions to Liverpool’s pair of comedy wins this season – on Sunday and his “LOOK AT JURGEN KLOPP!” during the Merseyside Derby in December – added to the madness of the moments, and the benefits of commentators having a bit of empathy for fans was accentuated last week by RTÉ’s tone-deaf dismissal of the Aviva’s tennis ball protest.
Plus, even if you don’t like it, Carragher and Neville deserve a pass as they are truly excellent when they are not hollering about their own sides, delivering as they did an in-game tactical masterclass on Spurs’ early limitations against Liverpool, and how they then went about remedying them.
Earlier on Sky, we were informed that Neil Warnock was too angry to speak to them in the aftermath of Chelsea’s larceny at the Cardiff City Stadium.
Given Sky had to cut to their 385th ad for the Bahrain Grand Prix at full-time, we missed live coverage of Warnock’s on-pitch stand-off with the officials, during which he stood hands-on-hips with the flabbergasted, disproving look of someone who had just heard that Article 50 had been unilaterally revoked.
Like many of his fellow Brexiteers, Warnock has always luxuriated in his own torment, and he did so once he did speak to Sky, pondering “Is it me? Is it payback?” adding that the Premier League had arguably the worst officials in the world.
On the following night’s Monday Night Football, however, Carragher expertly picked apart why the linesman had failed to spot César Azpilicueta’s own goal, using some funky Virtual Reality technology to show that the linesman had been blindsided by the corner-taker, Willian.
While Carragher was understandably eager to say that he didn’t want to criticise Warnock for “the emotion” he vented afterward, this was a terrific defence of a linesman subjected to a deluge of post-game abuse.
“I don’t know how he could possibly have got it right”, said Carragher of the linesman, albeit choosing to ignore the obvious recourse to VAR.
Watching Carragher moving awkwardly about the studio with a massive headset covering his eyes while nontheless adding to the public’s insight on the game was a clunky but valid metaphor for his on-air relationship with his favourite team.
Liverpool may occasionally mantle his senses, but that doesn’t make him any worse at his job.
In fact, it probably makes him better.
Fair Sher’ of the misery
Carragher wasn’t the only supporter asked for his reaction to Sunday’s game, as Tim Sherwood popped up on punditry duty on the Premier League’s international broadcast of the game.
Sherwood often strikes this column as a perfect image of the slow eroding of youthful exuberance and the thwarting of hope; having harshly learned the startling cruelty of the real world, he sits there with the ashen face of a millennial who has just realised he will never be able to afford his own home.
“What alarms me, is if Arsenal..” began the Tim prophesy.
“To go into this new stadium and play Thursday night Europa League is unthinkable. I don’t even want to think about it.
“Arsenal will win every game. They can win every single game. It’s in their hands now, that’s the alarming thing.”
Mes Que Un Cringe
And finally, at least Carragher did the whole ‘jubilant reaction’ shtick better than this official feed of Barca fans watching the weekend’s derby with Espanyol. Nothing says ‘pandemonium’ better than a man briefly interrupting his shaking of a tamborine.
- Originally published at 13.01
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