I think you can probably count on one hand the amount of decent football pundits there are currently out there working in football and for the big companies, and there is probably a reason for that.
Hysteria and drama sells and draws attention, so I guess these big outlets need the pundits who say the craziest things. But it’s all getting rather silly. Their flip flopping is just becoming embarrassing, and we all see it.
In the space of just five league games, many pundits are now changing their tunes on Chelsea and also changing their end league predictions.
We all know football is fickle. We can all be guilty of that myself included – we also know emotions can play a big part in the heat of the moment. There is absolutely nothing wrong with changing an opinion and admitting you were wrong by the way, I can happily do that myself, but I’m not going to change an opinion based on just five games, and neither should pundits. They should double down and back what they have been saying, which has all been very extreme. But they said it for a reason. You can’t just go from saying Chelsea will finish mid-table to Chelsea will finish top four in just five games, that’s hideous and really does show true colours.
It’s all just coming out now and and tells you all you need to know about certain parts of this industry. Some former players who weren’t even good on the pitch, are now much worse off it.
I think if you are going to criticise a player or a team then you have to have good reasons for that, and then back and stick with your opinion but allow it to be changed over time. I think that’s a good way to operate and view this game. Open-minded criticism is fine.
There are some good pundits out there for sure. I like Joe Cole, Pat Nevin is usually pretty good too. My favourite is Ally McCoist. I also think Paul Merson is good because he is strongly opinionated but he backs it with reasoning.
Some have just been out there ranting and raving about Chelsea for the last two years now without any real context to it and also using ‘facts’ that are completely wrong (I’m talking to you Gary Neville). And now we are seeing such flip flopping, it’s just all got very silly.
There has been a lot about Chelsea to be critical about in the last few seasons, I don’t think anyone can debate that. But my favourite pundits will always be the ones who talk with balance on both sides of an argument. The rest can do one with their now ‘Chelsea are winning the league’ transformations in just five games. We all remember what you were saying three weeks ago when Chelsea lost to Servette!