[Albion] Jonathan Pearce BBC commentary

[One Love]

Thought Jenas was over-critical and judgemental of pretty much everything our players did.

Seems like he's improved from an average Premier League player to Lionel Messi since he's retired from football and become a pundit.

 

[Iggle Piggle]

Spot on. I thought Pearce was excellent, fair and reasonably balanced. Jenas (normally excellent) really was far worse. And I didn't feel he bought into the whole "Millwall deserved to win in 90 minutes" thing that permeated from all the other pundits despite the bare facts that three of the five or six major decisions WRONGLY went against us. They were very much glossed over with a matter of factly absence of analysis on the impact they had on the game. That's what annoyed me, not Pearce.

Jenas was reminiscent yesterday of Pepper Brooks in Dodgeball with his statements of the obvious and knowledge of both sides that was fag packet at best. The crowning glory was his total surprise at the red card and completely missing the stamp on Dunk's leg.

At least Pearce had background knowledge of our players. He still reminds me of Robot wars but I can tolerate him much more than Shouty lady who commentated against Derby.

 

[Weststander]

I'm no fan of Pearce generally, but football commentary is about narrative these days, not balance. It's a more exciting narrative for plucky Millwall to take the scalp of a Premier League club than it is the other way around. They were pretty biased overall in Millwall's favour but I have to say they were very open about calling out the shocking referring. Jenas made a point of saying that the ref was essentially a "homer".

They has no qualms about the red, called the foul on Duffy as a blatant pen, called the foul by Dunk as ridiculous shortly thereafter, called the foul on Murray as a blatant foul, called the offside goal as clearly on and made it clear the officials were more biased that the Beeb were.

As to whether they wanted Millwall to win? As I said, it's a better narrative, so I expect that to a degree but I think it was pretty fair overall.

Very true about narrative.

Watch a ManC, LFC or Spurs match, even just a few months into a season, and if they’re not winning on 20 minutes, the commentator will talk relentlessly about a big blow to their title chances. At the bottom end of the table, a run of the mill game in the Autumn, that Brighton not winning could be a huge blow to their survival chances. The same again in CL ties, 0-0 after 20 minutes in the first leg.

With all their experience, you’d think they’d relax, simply commentating on the game as it unfolds.

Some are better than others in doing that.

 

[KZNSeagull]

That and the constant camera shots of a group of Millwall fans ..you wouldn't have thought we had any there....I did find Pearce annoying....but we weren't the underdogs so I'm not surprised ..we are the' big' club now

We won

Maybe that is because none of our female fans have caught that hideous disease, which appears to be spreading, that turns your face orange and turns your eyebrows into black triangles?

 

[boik]

Pearce:
"Millwall have said to the Premier League big boys, step into our den, come into the lion's den, we have the pride, we have the roar..."

**** off Pearce you tw@.

Blimey, you're a bit sensitive. A commentator playing with words gets you all aggressive. Lucky we won I guess or you'd blow a fuse.

 

[Bry Nylon]

My main issue with JP is that he still commentates like he is doing a radio broadcast, which is where he first started, and radio and TV commentaries require different skills and are completely different disciplines.

In radio I fully appreciate that it is all about painting pictures for the listener, but on TV there is no need for that as we can see for ourselves what is happening. The best TV commentators probably remain silent as much as they talk, and let the action on pitch speak for itself. Pearce seems terrified of 'dead air' and waxes lyrical about anything and everything. As was said earlier in the thread, his constant references to the rain, when everybody watching at home could see it was raining was as pointless as it was irritating. And that is just one example.

If he spoke less he would probably say more, if that makes sense.

 

[tigertim68]

The only thing I did not like about the BBC coverage of the game yesterday, was they kept showing the crowd , when the ball was in play , so annoying,

 

[chaileyjem]

Very true about narrative.

Not sure it really did overwhelm the commentary but to be fair its a prem v struggling champ tie. its the cup. its a one off. And millwall have a decent track record at the Den with prem teams including Everton a few weeks ago.
So if its 0-0 after half time and millwall have had a decent half with some chances , then go 1-0 up and are 2-0 up with a few minutes to go then its not a surprise if you're talking about giant killing and wembley and the rest. Who wouldn't ?

 

[Stato]

I can generally forgive Pearce some of his over the top reactions because they are accompanied by a good knowledge of a lot of the clubs in the South East from all levels of football. I believe that he does have historic/family connections to both here and Palace so is in a good place to irritate both of us. I thought that he and Jenas did alright for most of yesterday, but did make the standard commentator's mistake of redefining the game because of goals. When Millwall looked like they were going through, they both suggested that they had dominated and deserved it, rather than the truth, that neither team had shone in a game of few chances in difficult conditions.

I must say that I was more irritated by the commentator in the Watford v Palace highlights at half time. He made some crack about Watford needing a new wave and then a 'Fade to Grey' pun on the winning goal. Visage weren't new wave mate. They were new romantics. To paraphrase Partridge 'Stop getting eighties pop music wrong.'

 

[PILTDOWN MAN]

Timing is the thing as Motty showed here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VCJVZ2I9zY

 

[Seagulls1984]

Lives on the same road as dunky.

 

[Mo Gosfield]

I too was annoyed by his reference to the dockers. There are plenty of clubs with working class fanbases associated with much more dangerous occupations such as mining, steel making and deep sea fishing. In fact, the Dock Labour Scheme was a cushy jobs-for-life arrangement, where recruitment and dismissals only happened with the agreement of the Unions. It was enshrined in law and needed legislation to dismantle it.

What about the poor old chair makers in Wycombe, sniffing in toxic fumes from the glue they used or the cobblers in Northampton, fighting painful arthritic fingers. Or the Potteries with their deadly ' wheelers wobble ' or Plymouth, Southampton and Portsmouth with their plagues of gonorrhoea and syphilis.

 

[CaptainDaveUK]

Totally agree, sometimes 30-40 seconds of complete non essential stuff. At one point we were about to take a throw in their half and then had close ups of trains, stands, hail, babies etc. before suddenly going back to the action and Millwall were through on goal.

 

[Justice]

Thought Jenas was fair without saying it he couldn’t understand why the ref was cheating.

 

[PILTDOWN MAN]

Totally agree, sometimes 30-40 seconds of complete non essential stuff. At one point we were about to take a throw in their half and then had close ups of trains, stands, hail, babies etc. before suddenly going back to the action and Millwall were through on goal.

Lets be honest a train, a Southern one at that, running on a Sunday was worth showing.

 

[brakespear]

It is a day and evening for celebration whatever happens next, but am I the only one who felt Pearce was rooting for Millwall the whole game? This whole "they've been working the docks all day while trying to rid this great community club of its small minority of problem fans" thing was sick-inducing. Everyone knows Millwall still have problems which was no better illustrated than their manager's aggressive reaction to the sending off for the stamp on Dunky. The opening BBC 3 minute credit was all about "the Lions den'. The only time we got any plaudits on the BBC today was after we'd won! Poor commentary from Pearce, no objectivity whatsoever. Love Hughton more and more for how calm and dignified he remains in the good and bad moments, many people in football could and should learn from the great man.

All that aside, what a day, what a team, what a manager, what individuals, what a penalty from LD! Bring on City!

I thought the commentary from Pearce was relentlessly biased towards Millwall myself, and it ruined the coverage. We don't get on the BBC much so it's a shame to have it spoiled by the presenters (and never mind the team on the pitch ). Some will probably say I am being over-sensitive and maybe they are right bit I just thought it was a bit of a let down, especially given the terrible refereeing on the day as well.

 

[Brovion]

He was far more nuanced than that. He mentioned the pre match homophobia worries, how millwall, rightly, as a club had worked to tackle and overcome their reputation. Of course he was communicating the romance of it for a fair while - millwall looked to be headed to a semi final having beaten a prem team after all - which is quite a story.

Quite. And if this had been a few seasons ago and we'd been a Championship side leading 2-0 against a PL side I'd bet we'd have been mighty pissed off if the commentary had all been about how unlucky the PL team had been with the refereeing decisions and neglecting to mention that we were arguably the better team for 88 minutes.

 

[Tony Towner's Fridge]

Thought Jenas was fair without saying it he couldn’t understand why the ref was cheating.

I usually quite like JJ but thought yesterday he was not as interesting or accurate. He stated that Dunk's pen was poor and not well hit but if you look at all the pens, I reckon Dunk hit his harder and better than Big Jurgen's. Commentators and match officials got 3/10 for me....could do better...very much better...


TNBA

TTF

 

[Weststander]

Not sure it really did overwhelm the commentary but to be fair its a prem v struggling champ tie. its the cup. its a one off. And millwall have a decent track record at the Den with prem teams including Everton a few weeks ago.
So if its 0-0 after half time and millwall have had a decent half with some chances , then go 1-0 up and are 2-0 up with a few minutes to go then its not a surprise if you're talking about giant killing and wembley and the rest. Who wouldn't ?

Pearce screamed about Millwall from the off, very excited about their forays, including long throw ins ffs. It was a pretty even game from 15 minutes until their opener, but according to NSC posters he went on about Millwall relentlessly during that long period.

 

[Perkino]

He is seen a lot watching Albion games when he is not working

I'm pretty sure he has a season ticket in the West stand 1901