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| Photograph by Zweli Ndhlovu |
They wear suits that make you think what is about to come is some really insightful stuff.
You know the suit, dark colour with a light shirt and bright tie. They carry a tablet or a piece of paper with all the stats that they need for their argument. Some of the more experienced ones have their stats memorised already. They use all the trending football talk terms like transition, false nine, high line.
They usually have credibility to their name like “Former coach of XXX”, “journalist for the biggest sports publication in the country”, “legendary defender”, “Won the what-what cup in 1998”, “former club captain”, “XXX clean sheets” and “XXX goals for club and country”. Their bio is something you cannot deny. They have been in the game long enough that their opinion of the game gets the fans attention.
But why do I find myself disagreeing with some of the points they talk about, especially when they talk about defensive or offensive mistakes? You would hear how a striker should have hit the ball or hear what a defender did wrong in the conceding of the goal.
It seems to me they always try to find a fault in every move. A spectacular save will get the honourable mention “Credit to the keeper, but the striker should have….” Giving an impression of the keepers’ efforts is only good because the shot was worse.
Sometimes I am not sure if they analyse or just criticising mistakes made by players. The same mistakes they used to make during their playing days. Let’s Analyse that.
