MoTD - Match of The Day (Match of the Day)

Member Name: chris212

Product:	Match of the Day
Date:	04/08/09 (103 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good analysis

Disadvantages: Dependant on quality of the football - One or two annoying commentators

Match of the Day or MoTD is the traditional BBC football highlights programme that is usually, but not always shown on a Saturday night. There is no fixed time that the programme is shown by the BBC, but usually around 10.30 pm; there is also a repeat show on the next day, so usually a Sunday at around 7.30 am. What the programme does, as many will know is show highlights from the days Premier League action. The show is also accompanied by a sister show, Match of the Day 2 which is shown on a Sunday.

The programme has been presented by Gary Lineker since 1999 when Des Lynam's departure to ITV, but previous to this Lineker was a pundit for the show. I believe that Lineker is the ideal person to present the show, as he has the experience of playing at the highest level, so knows what he is talking about, and also injects a bit of humour into the show; and when he is missing from the programme you can sense that the programme is missing his presence. When Linekar is not available to present the show, such as when he is at other events, such as presenting live golf, also for the BBC; normally Ray Stubbs had been the standin presenter for the show since 1992, but will no longer be on the show, as he switched networks to ESPN. Normally in the show Lineker will introduce and link the matches after the analysis of each game and interact with the pundits.

Within the show there is usually two pundits, that normally come from a group of four, that are Alan Hanson, Mark Lawrenson, Lee Dixon and Alan Shearer. Although towards the end of the 2008 / 2009 season Shearer was absent from the programme as he took up the position of caretaker manager at Newcastle United. One thing that can be noticed from this line up is that all of them are former professional football players with experience of play football at the highest level for a number of years.

While the analysis is of high quality, I believe that Hansen is one of the best football pundits, sometimes I think there is a little bit of hypocrisy show by some of the pundits, although it is not just confined to Match of the Day pundits. As what I sometimes find with the analysis by the pundits is that they point out faults that they see within the game but do it in a way that has an air of superiority about them, that if they were in charge it would not happen. It makes me wonder why some of the pundits have not become coaches or managers of a club. But when you see the experience of Alan Shearer you can see why.

Also within the show there are also a number of commentators who commentate on a particular game, these commentators include John Motson the longest running commentator, Jonathan Pearce, Steve Wilson, Guy Mowbray and Jacqui Oatley.

While I enjoy most of the commentary by the majority of the commentary team on Match of the Day, there are one or two commentators that I do not like, in particular Jonathan Pearce and Jacqui Oatley. The reason that I do not like these two in particular is the style in which they commentate, as they somehow always seem to state the obvious too much.

Another problem with the programme is no matter who the show has on as a pundit or commentator, it is all dependant on the football, because if it is boring then there is no point in watching. Another point is the number of games that are on the show is dependent on the number that is played, it use to be that all premiership football was shown on a Saturday but because of a large number of games being moved due to midweek football, it can mean that there are only a small number of games on show and the games that you do not want to watch.

Although saying this the programme is one of the better football highlights programme on TV, as it offers high quality commentary and analysis of the days football.

Summary: One of the better football highlights programmes