A Tv institution (Match of the Day)

Member Name: paulie1975

Product:	Match of the Day
Date:	09/04/09 (7 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good Presenter, fair coverage

Disadvantages: Can show too much of the top 4

The daddy of football programmes, Match of the Day is on every saturday night during the football season. Its format never really changes, its presented by Englands second top goalscorer of all time, Gary Lineker who links each match, he is joined by two guests who chew the fat over each match and provide analysis from an ex footballers perspective of what has happened. Shown every Saturday night around 10:30pm it is a round up of the days football coverage.

With the onset of Sky TV and Sunday matches there is now a Match of the Day 2 also, it is presented by Adrian Chiles and allows newer pundits a chance to have their say.


Presenter

Gary Lineker can be very good at allowing conversation to develop, he needs to avoid the cheesy links but is a solid and not too pushy presenter. He is professional and very good at his job, Lineker links things really well and knows when to bring Hansen or Lawrenson in and when not to. My only criticism would be that I thought he was a bit unfair to Sven in his presenting prior to Sven's departure, it is not the role of the tv presenter to get so personal.

Analysts:
Alan Hansen - Honest, speaks his mind without resorting to insults, he is a strong minded analyst with a wealth of knowledge to back up his views, he is especially effective when discussing defensive issues and is a fair minded reviewer.

Mark Lawrenson - Highly amusing, he has a really good knack of coming up with cheesy one liners, but his coverage is fair and honest and he is actually pretty good at reading the game, my only criticism other than the jokes is he is rubbish at predicting matches and always seems to get it wrong.

Alan Shearer - Fairly average, quite bland in his approach he talks you through things but doesn't add to much to the coverage.

Whats good:

The analysts talk sense and aren't talking because they want to sound smart, they simply give their opinions. Coverage is good, commentary's are much less trashy and obtrusive than ITV coverage. The games are covered well, I feel a real sense of nostalgia when I hear the theme tune and love it.

Whats not so good:

As with any football coverage your always going to get more air time for the big four, also it isn't as long as I would like, some games only show the goals and i'd like to see more. Overall its well produced and well covered though and is an English institution.

Summary: Always my favourite TV highlights