Sport

29th May 2017

JOE’s Premier League end of season pundits table

Who's getting relegated and who's top of the table?

Robert Redmond

JOE’s Premier League end of season pundits table

We’re sure you’ll agree with our choices.

The football season is over, and we’ve compiled an end of season pundits’ table.

Who’s getting relegated and who’s top of the table?

Here’s our Premier League pundits table for the 2016/17 season:

20. Robbie Savage

Savage sounds either confused or angry or both.

He’s across numerous platforms, so he must be doing something right. Or something extremely wrong and producers know he’s good value to spark a reaction.

19. Michael Owen

Bashing Michael Owen is a bit 2015, but the point remains that he’s not a very good football pundit. The underlying feeling with Owen is that he doesn’t seem to actually like football, and he appears to have made no effort to improve as a pundit.

18. Phil Neville

Poor Phil. The former Manchester United defender seems like a really decent person, but this table is based on pundit’s performances over the last season, and Neville didn’t cover himself in glory.

His embarrassing defence of England defender John Stones was rightly shot down by Alan Shearer on Match of the Day. Stones put in an awful performance against Everton in Manchester City’s 4-0 defeat in January.

He was the worst player on the pitch, yet Neville blamed everyone but Stones.

To make it worse, Neville’s defence played out over clips of the City defender making horrendous errors.

The piece of analysis that confirmed Phil’s relegation was about Luke Shaw. He said: “there must be something fundamentally wrong if the manager is questioning your attitude, training performances, desire.”

The manager questioning Shaw was Jose Mourinho, who has questioned the “attitude, training performances, desire” of almost every f****** single player he has encountered in his last three jobs, at Manchester United, Chelsea and Real Madrid.

But, in Neville’s view, it is the player who is at fault. Neville was clearly brought up to not question authority and it doesn’t help his punditry career.

Like, for example, when Neville said England’s Wayne Rooney “has to” start for United. Neville offered no reason why, Rooney just had to play because he’s Rooney, England and United captain.

17. Steven Gerrard

He doesn’t say much, refers to Liverpool as “we” and gives the impression that he doesn’t really want to be there. Gerrard’s work for BT symbolises how some broadcasters view football pundits.

They’re present to be guests, not analysts. Most are not in the studio because they can tell you how a game was won or lost, or pass on their expertise on the match. No, they’re covering a game because they’re famous and played for one of the teams involved. This only makes pundits even less likely to say something interesting.

16. Thierry Henry

He is speaking in his second language, so we probably shouldn’t be too harsh. But Henry is a something of a non-entity. If he was to leave Sky tomorrow, would anyone miss him?

15. Jamie Redknapp

Inoffensive, unless he’s interrupting Jamie Carragher.

Here it is. Carragher ready to kill Redknapp. pic.twitter.com/d9xp5KYfCi

— Tony Hodson (@tonyhodson1) March 12, 2017

14. Owen Hargreaves

One of BT’s better pundits. Which really isn’t saying much.

13. Soccer Saturday panel

Jeff Stelling is consistently excellent. Paul Merson and Phil Thompson’s rant about Marco Silva last season was disturbing but entertaining, and they’re not the worst pundits around.

You know where they stand on almost every football issue but there’s some merit in keeping them around.

https://twitter.com/JOE_co_uk/status/866271641571139584

12. Paul Scholes

Scholes gives the impression that he’s just doing punditry to get out of the house for a few hours at the weekend. He can be worth listening to, but seems to be only interested in Manchester United.

He would possibly thrive from having a more challenging host. Jake Humphrey seems more interested in being Scholes’ mate than helping bring out his views on a game.

So, is that a yes or a no?? #FACup #Scholes pic.twitter.com/eJ7S98wlhI

— Jake Humphrey (@mrjakehumphrey) December 4, 2015

11. Ian Wright

He used to be the comic relief on football broadcasts, and while he’s still fond of a laugh, Wright is a good judge of a game and has stepped up his analysis in recent seasons.

10. Frank Lampard

Lampard only started punditry mid-way through last season, but the former Chelsea midfielder has made a promising start.

Articulate, intelligent and he has the experience of playing at the top level, Lampard could become a very good pundit over the next few seasons.

9. Jermaine Jenas

Jenas was responsible for this tense standoff with Alan Shearer on the BBC, the closest you’ll ever see to a heated debate on a BBC football broadcast.

8. Didi Hamann

He doesn’t appear on British TV that much, but Hamann is always worth listening to.

7. Rio Ferdinand

Rio’s words seem to carry weight, he can articulate his experience of being a key player in big teams, and relate it to modern football.

Like, for example, his take on Paul Pogba and Jesse Lingard dancing around the Manchester United dressing room.

"You haven't won anything yet" – @rioferdy5 isn't happy with Jesse Lingard & Paul Pogba's video. #PLTonight #MUFC https://t.co/yXQTajOkcL

— eir Sport (@eirSport) January 31, 2017

6. Alan Shearer

He’ll never be as good a pundit as was a player, but Shearer has improved from the “say what you see” brand of punditry he originally deployed alongside Alan Hansen on the BBC when he began.

Can't imagine Shearer would have ever agreed to this https://t.co/c35y588cq9

— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) May 24, 2017

He isn’t afforded as much time to speak as some of the other pundits in this table, and caters for a more general audience, but Shearer has definitely improved.

His refusal to accept Phil Neville’s nonsense about John Stones was particularly good to watch.

5. Chris Sutton

Sutton divides opinion probably more than any other pundit on this list, and we accept that some reading this can’t understand why he’s ranked so highly. We think he’s humorous to listen to and can speak a lot of sense. He gives the impression that he has no time for niceties and is capable of winding up his fellow pundits.

He was one of the few pundits to say Leicester City were right to sack Claudio Ranieri, and had called for it weeks before it happened, which really pissed off Robbie Savage.

Reminder of Sutton & Savage's argument on #Ranieri last week. Looks like Chris got his wish. #BTSportScore https://t.co/CvlZR7xz5L

— eir Sport (@eirSport) February 25, 2017

Sutton is a contrarian, and his no-nonsense, blunt, wind-up shtick will probably grow old. But he also comes across as a critical thinker, capable of arguing his point and is logical in his approach.

You might not always agree with him, but that’s not a bad thing.

4. Roy Keane

Keane only appears on ITV’s highlights of the Champions League and the Europa League. But a few minutes every other week is all he needs to remind everyone that he still hates modern football, is repulsed by Arsenal and can’t stand Jose Mourinho.

This tells you all you need to know about Keane https://t.co/U6JM8eA6sE

— FootballJOE (@FootballJOE) May 27, 2017

Keane wouldn’t suit the expanded format of Monday Night Football, he’s not one for breaking down how a game was won or lost, but he cuts through bullshit like no one else and is still box office.

3. Graeme Souness

The only man who hates modern football more than Keane. Souness’ words carry weight, he has an authority from his successful playing days, and his 20 less successful years as a manager.

The great thing about him is that he has no intention of returning to management, and didn’t play alongside any of the current crop of players. Therefore, he doesn’t particularly care if he offends someone.

Souness was at his best when rubbishing Mourinho’s claims near the end of the season. He’s always worth listening to.

Souness made some great points https://t.co/SVX4FqhQNW

— FootballJOE (@FootballJOE) May 19, 2017

2. Gary Neville

He was the best, and he’s still excellent, but hasn’t been exactly the same since returning from Valencia.

Neville is still capable of dissecting a game better than any other pundit, and you do seem to learn something almost any time he’s on Monday Night Football.

The former Manchester United defender effectively revolutionised football punditry on British television.

Lots of Spurs and Chelsea players in Neville's team https://t.co/NtluYpM7MX

— FootballJOE (@FootballJOE) May 16, 2017

He respected the intelligence of his audience, and broke down how games were won or lost, while offering insight into what it’s like to be a top level player. It’s hard to remember football punditry without Neville.

However, he wasn’t at his absolute best last season, particularly when he defended Mourinho, effectively saying the United manager is a great manager if he can sign half a squad of players.

1. Jamie Carragher

Carragher combines Neville’s analytical mind with the no-nonsense approach of Souness, as well as Keane’s quick wit. The former Liverpool defender was on form throughout the season, and his analysis following Arsenal’s loss to Crystal Palace in April was just great television.

He was the best football pundit around last season.