An odd headline to follow on from a hugely entertaining match with great performances from both side. Starboy’s injury took some shine off the evening, but we are better placed than ever to cover for him and hopeful he comes back stronger and fitter. It is impossible not to associate his ongoing injury issues with his workload over the past five years, I do blame Mikel for this, but I’m probably in a minority of one there – again!
The worst broadcast coverage ever
Anyway I digress, my beef (as young people might say) is with TNT or HBO Max or whatever whoever was showing the match is calling themselves this month and it has two parts:
Part 1: The match
To set context here, I believe that domestic commentary should be neutral and while pundits can obviously favour clubs that they have previous associations with, an equal balance should always be sought. However, I don’t believe that this applies to European club matches against teams from another country, regardless of who happens to be wearing the opposition’s number 9 shirt. From the start when Owen Hargreaves starts with ‘Arsenal are slight favourites tonight’ through to the continuous references to the missing seven Munich ‘first teamers’ of which they could only name two (Olise and Kimmich) with Luis Diaz on the bench. Barely a mention of Saliba or Tzolis nor the loss of B after eight minutes. And that’s before you take into account that the Bavarians literally have first choice to sign any and all German talent as well as being a major attraction for superstars worldwide, so there squad isn’t exact reliant on second tier replacements.
Part 2: The post match interview
I genuinely don’t know where to start here, so I begin at the begining:
i) First up for interviewing, the opposition number 9
ii) first question to Declan Rice “How great was that performance from the opposition number 9”
iii) first comment back in the studio “What an amazing player that opposition number 9 is”
At this point my **** was boiling and to avoid having to clear up the smashed mess of a 65″ LED screen, I reached for the off button and went to bed.
Support your ‘local’ team
I quite frankly found the whole hagiography of the England captain completely distasteful in the extreme and yes I am English and a massive follower of the English national team. A couple of (very) good passes and a penalty did not deserve the attention he got and the fact that he spent more time in his own half than ours should be an area of concern for a number 9, not praise, I can only image that the whole thing was set up the English media’s obsessive push to get him awarded the Ballon D’or on Monday (don’t they know that the votes are in, counted and the winner ‘decided’ already), but its was a complete snub to us and not one that they would have dared to do to Manchester United or Liverpool.