Great transcribing by Mary Hannigan in today's Irish Times, contrasting the BBC & RTE's pundits reaction to England's greatness/shitness.
Perspective is everything:
"Half-time. Fantasy World Cup Punditry, all of them in the one studio. Ready?
Hansen: “Once England got the goal the confidence levels surged, they were excellent.”
Eamon Dunphy: “They just didn’t grow in confidence at all after the goal.”
Lineker: “The goal really settled them, didn’t it? They pushed on from there.”
Ronnie Whelan: “You’d think they’d have kicked on from when they scored, but they actually got worse.”
Roy: “England’s crossing has been absolutely outstanding.”
Giles: “Some of the crossing was just awful.”
Shearer: “Rooney looks more confident, he’s getting around the pitch a lot better.”
Dunphy: “It’s shocking to see Rooney so subdued, he’s been reduced to a shivering wreck.”
Shearer: “They look much more comfortable on the ball, they’re passing it with a purpose, with pace, they’re closing down – a much better performance, it’s encouraging.”
Giles: “They’re much better than they have been, but they couldn’t have been worse.”
No arguments, then. Second half. England held on. Full-time. Ready?
Lee Dixon: “A great performance.”
Dunphy: “Shocking . . . absolutely incredibly bad . . . pretty awful stuff.”
Hansen: “The commitment was there, the spirit was there, the enterprise was there, the creativity was there, they passed it better – they could have scored five or six quite easily. Capello will obviously be delighted with the performance.”
Giles: “If that’s the shackles off what’ll they be like when the shackles are back on?”
’Arry Redknapp: “We played with pace, we got after them, we pressed them, there wasn’t a weakness in the team.”
Dunphy: “They were astonishingly poor.”
Lineker: “He looked more like the Rooney we know.”
Ronnie: “Rooney is a major worry, his form, his body language, his demeanour, everything.”
Dixon: “Gerrard was outstanding.”
Dunphy: “I can’t believe how bad Gerrard was today.”
’Arry: “Across midfield we were top drawer.”
Giles: “Barry got worse as the game went on, Milner, Gerrard and Lampard the same.”
’Arry: “Bring it on! Whoever we play we’ll be difficult to beat.”
Ronnie: “If they don’t improve they’ll go straight out, it was a very, very inept performance.”
