Boggs continues his 2,358,157 part series “Reasons Why I Dislike Andy Gray“, with a look at the man’s latest case of foot-in-mouth disease.
Oh Andy, Andy, Andy.
Oh TV, I find him to be quite enjoyable to listen to despite the horrific biases he has towards or against certain Premiership clubs. But when it comes to his Sky Sports or Football 365 columns, under the title “Britain’s Best Football Pundit“, the only appropriate reaction I can muster is to project fecal matter from my anus. If his title was “Britain’s Kinda OK Pundit Who Usually Gets Things As Right As Any Other Bloke In The Pub” then I would have less of a problem with it.
The latest bout of highly-paid, expert analysis that Gray has delivered came between the AC Milan – Manchester United Champions League semi final clashes. Here’s a sample,
Forget the two away goals. With one swing of Wayne Rooney’s boot on Tuesday night the whole mindset of the tie changed in an instant. The pressure has been heaped on Milan, and I believe that Milan side is ordinary.
Not only will United get a result in Italy next week, they will beat Milan in their own backyard. I think they’ve got the Italians running scared – they’re not a great team and they know it.
Sure, Kaka is brilliant but go through the team – the keeper is dodgy and the back four is creaking and should hold no fear for United’s forwards. Anything else to be scared of? Pirlo? No. Seedorf? No. Ambrosini? No. Gilardino? Definitely not.
If this was a game of jeopardy, the question would be “How wrong can one human possibly be?”. Even in hindsight, there are plenty of things would never have added up prior to the match, or any time in probably two thousand years or so:
Andy Gray Said: The pressure is on Milan, and they are ordinary.
But: The pressure was on Milan despite the Italian side scoring two away goals and taking a mere one goal deficit back to the San Siro? Ok…
The Result: 3-0 Milan, obviously.
Andy Gray Said: The keeper is dodgy, the back four is creaking and should hold no fear for United’s forwards.
But: Milan have maintained a back four of 30+ for years, not just this season. And they’ve done fairly well. One might say a lot better than Manchester United, especially in Europe. In fact, everyone else would say that.
The Result: Clean sheet to Milan, obviously.
Andy Gray Said: Pirlo, Seedorf, Ambrosini and Gilardino are nothing to be afraid of.
But: This is the one where Andy probably had popular opinion on his side. Milan got to the semi final on a typical cup run rather than brilliant individual performances from the whole team.
The Result: Two of Milan’s three goals were scored by players who were nothing to be afraid of.
Sleep well, Britain’s Best Football Pundit, consider that paycheck earned for another week.