football cliches that drive you mad

e.g. "that little bit of quality"

"referees are honest" ;)

X is a good footballing man

^^^this one

As said by the likes of Andy Gray, whose role is essentially to vocalise the internal monologue of the moronic, utterly unoriginal armchair twat

"we thought scenes like these were a thing of the past"

"that was liquid football"

These days Shearer's implausible "at least"s are driving me most mental - 'Luca Toni should've scored at least half-a-dozen', 'Spurs should be in at least double figures'

"and he's unlucky" as unchallenged striker blazes over from four yards. NB applies only to British and/or popular players, unheralded foreigners like that new Blackburn guy get slated for same

"asking questions"

"face", as in "Aldershot face Chesterfield in a mid-table clash" - use other words!

"it's important we get off to a good start"

like, no shit!

We're taking it one week at a time...

It's not the result that matters at the moment, it's getting the process right...

taking it one week at a time is a cliche that's a cliche because it deals with a beautiful, universal bit of profundity. :')

While you're dead right on Shearer, he's kinda right on Toni - if that guy could take his chances as well as he could inexplicably make them open up for himself then he'd be scoring every five minutes.

"defender's just done enough to put him off there" as carragher/vidic blatantly fouls a spurs forward for the nth time in the box.

hehe yeah.

Also "..maybe takes a sliiight deflection" after heavily praising a goal that is revealed on replay to have cannoned off a defender so it hard it completely changed direction.

Or results in a corner against Liverpool.

"it's important we get off to a good start"

Also:
"it's important we keep up the momentum"
"It's importasnt we keep on scoring goals"
"It's important we keep the ball moving"

tbh, almost everything a footballer says drives me mad. Why bother with those post match interviews? They're not paid to talk.

We really don't need to know the "gaffer" gave us a "good talk" at half time.

in the spirit of that deflection one-

sticking with an incorrect offside/foul call the commentator's made, in the face of clear video evidence 5 seconds later

be fair ned, those interview cliches are probably drilled into footballers from the age of 15 onwards as part of their media schooling

''He's not that kind of player'' - after one of the worst tackles you've ever seen

"he's not that kind of player" is the most perfect example of "if you have to say it" that you're ever gonna see

be fair ned, those interview cliches are probably drilled into footballers from the age of 15 onwards as part of their media schooling

I know, and that's what irks me. Does anyone really need to hear their inane chat? Does it add one bit of understanding to the game? Can anyone not guess what the answer to the question "So, good game, must feel great to put two past their defence?"

last throw of the dice

"This could be dangerous"

"manchester united are a great footballing side" no they aren't, not since teddy sheringham left ffs

Can anyone not guess what the answer to the question "So, good game, must feel great to put two past their defence?"

it'll be worth it for that one occasion when someone ponders why their life is still so empty and meaningless after winning the Champions League.

"He's hit it too well" or "Couldn't have hit it any better" when there's a near miss.

yeah too well is a classic. IF IT WAS HIT TOO WELL IT'D HAVE FUCKING GONE IN.

Classic cliches: hail mary/hollywood pass.

"They are a team that plays football" to refer to teams that play one touch passing games instead of long ball. It's such fucking bullshit. Sure, Graham Taylor's Watford looked more akin to rugby but other than that, it's condescending and stupid.

xp nah, big ronnisms are totally different. lollipop, little eyebrows, etc

Also, any time a commentators share a wry chuckle about "a typical Paul Scholes tackle." We get it already.

it'll be worth it for that one occasion when someone ponders why their life is still so empty and meaningless after winning the Champions League.

I always hoped that Pat Nevin would have done that. Maybe quote a Joy Division lyric. Never got the chance though did he.

Classic cliches: hail mary/hollywood pass.

― 123456789 (jim), Wednesday, 26 August 2009 11:46 (59 seconds ago) Bookmark

QUARTERBACK PASSES.

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/44488000/jpg/_44488336_ab21.jpg

yes Ronglish is genius, one of the reasons I really like Andy Gray, one of the most dedicated users of the Ronglish lexicon currently on television http://www.dangerhere.com/ronglish.htm

Classic cliches: hail mary/hollywood pass.

Oh god, "hospital pass" - hear this every match on a local station now.

I quite like "hospital ball", it's evocative.

took me years to get 'hospital pass' tbh

still not entirely sure, tbph

everyone should take time out to read dangerhere.com, although i'm not sure all the archived stuff is still there?

xp
The first time I heard it, yes, but now (for this one particular commentator anyway) it's every high ball.

Agreed with ahoyhoy - that "they play football in the right way" thing is infuriating. Especially when mixed with reference to principles ("I try to stick to my pronciples"), ugh.

i thought a hospital pass was one likely to put the recipient in danger?

Any mention of "that night in Barcelona" during Man Utd Champions League coverage.

'pronciples' is a beautiful typo

yeah i thought a hospital pass was a pass that's a little bit short in a way that puts the receiver in danger of receiving a clattering tackle.

"He won't be happy with that"
"It's nice, but I wasn't really thinking about [reaching some milestone or other] - the important thing is that we got the three points"
"We're not getting carried away, we're just taking each game as it comes, we've got an important game against Birmingham/Crewe/Blyth Spartans on Tuesday night and we're focusing on that"

The concept of "doing the opposition's team talk for them"

"marginal" for offside decisions that can, with the help of the video replays that we have and the officials don't, be easily determined to be one way or the other is always going to be my no.1 irritant over here

I mean if Steve Bruce's method for getting Blues psyched up for derbies was sellotaping Olof Mellberg quotes to the dressing room door no wonder they kept getting relegated

Yeah, blatant intelligence-insulting lying about what you can actually see happening on screen is the most annoying thing by far

"It's nice, but I wasn't really thinking about [reaching some milestone or other] - the important thing is that we got the three points"
"We're not getting carried away, we're just taking each game as it comes, we've got an important game against Birmingham/Crewe/Blyth Spartans on Tuesday night and we're focusing on that"

I hear ya but from their POV I can see why being considered dull and cliched by ppl watching at home would be preferable to being considered shortsighted and/or self-centred y'know?

Also, "they don't like it up 'em" as if it is terrible to not want to be kicked and attacked.

There was a game two seasons ago where we played Blackburn and in the motd highlights Shearer used this. Which is great and all but while he was too busy spouting this cliche, they neglected to show Gamst stepping on Hleb's neck at one point.

yeah i thought a hospital pass was a pass that's a little bit short in a way that puts the receiver in danger of receiving a clattering tackle.

This may be why I've been confused listening to radio commentary because I thought it was a lofty ball which leads to two or more heads going up, leading to a collision and onto A & E.

Computer says it could be either but earliest use seems to be a short pass in rugby. Which makes more sense. Ouch.

"Last chance saloon"

Black players are invariably described as "athletic", as though non-black footballers were somehow not athletic.

"you've got style, you've got class, but most of all you've got love technique" from Fine Time by New Order sounds like it ought to be a football cliche.

xp
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/d0/Foulke-sufc.jpg

"Samba skills" to refer to Brazilians. Especially funny when talking about Lucio or Gilberto etc.

Also, it seems to have gone away but the idea that African players were naive or just happy to be making a few bob and thus respectful. Eto'o, Adebayor etc. doing their best to show that Africans can be just as cuntish as Europeans or South Americans.

good point about samba. It seems to have become an adjective, synonym of Brazilian, cf Toon for anything pertaining to Newcastle

Haha yeah I doubt we'll be seeing much of that that idea for the foreseeable

xp

Never mind Gilberto - "samba skills" is used to refer to literally any Brazilian player. Case in point: Santos Gaia, jobbing, clogging non-league centre half, currently at Truro. (To be fair, he did score for Exeter against top-flight Charlton at the Valley: his samba skill in this case being a big header from a corner.)

rivelinho-esque header, by any chance?

"Get in!"

More Lescottian, to be truthful. Louis will tell you all about it, he was there you know.

"The lads've given me 110%"

"The gaffer's come in and installed a bit of confidence"

On Match of the Day, referring to a non-big-4 player as "the defender" because the pundit can't be arsed to find out what their name is.

referring to foreign or smaller players as lightweight without any reference to their actual aggression/tackling/style of play

"sometimes you've got to hold your hands up"

How teams like Villa/Everton/Spurs etc. will overtake Arsenal in the top 4 because you need an English 'spine' to be successful. Just like those really English invincibles, Cech-Carvalho-Essien-Drogba etc.

"I've seen them given"
Which is particularly annoying in that everyone has seen blatant pens not given at one time or another so therefore doesn't tell us whether the commentator thinks its a pen or not!
Cop Out!!

all the ferguson stuff becomes cliché within about 3 mins of him saying it.

"squeaky bum time"
"wouldn't sell that lot a virus"
"hairdryer treatment"

etc etc

obv yeah 110 per cent or even better 200 per cent, love this sort of word inflation.

"I've seen them given"

God, yeah, I hate that. See also "it could have gone either way" BUT IT FUCKING DIDN'T, DID IT?

When you play Bolton/Blackburn/Stoke/Wigan/any other bunch of unfashionable Northerners "you know you're in a game" because they get "in your faces" and "compete for every ball" and "get it forward quickly". This usually accompanied by the truism that Arsenal don't like it up 'em.

they'll run all day!

"fortress" "hard to play" because of the "12th man". Fucking hell, it must be so bewildering for professional footballers to play in front of people!

"bunker ball"

is a bunker ball like a suicide pass?

"plays with a smile on his face"

seldom said about white players

No morelike "scrub team goes up 1-0, plays 10 men behind the midfield line for the rest of the game". I just hate the term.

lol it's often applied to USA nat'l team ;)

"that was liquid football"

― Chewshabadoo, Wednesday, 26 August 2009 08:37 (13 hours ago)

I am going to shout this in a british accent every time I poo

The one about foreigners and diving (as though British players never dive)

"he's really expressing his artistry" or words to that effect.

No, he's playing football.

''He's used his experience there'' or ''He's been clever there''

No, he's been a cheating bastard

"Won" a penalty <------ only used when players from English teams dive, of course

"Teddy Sheringham is always such an intelligent player" </90's>

The one about foreigners and diving (as though British players never dive)

See also foreign keepers and their preference for punching instead of Properly British Catching.

"One for the cameras" <----- snidey comment made by former outfield players, who know fuck-all about goalkeeping and are quick to blame goalkeepers for every single goal conceded

"no nonsense defender" = can't play football, kicks people.

"traditional/classic centre forward" = he's quite big and has elbows.

"Should have scored" after EVERY chance = oh fuck off, it's not that easy

skills, teamwork they're all important, but i have a feeling it's going to come down to a matter of who wants it more

Not surprising that the manager has stuck with the 4-4-2 formation. I'd say on the face of it, he's looking for another solid performance from his players

are these PES commentary quotes?

Wayne Rooney bends down to tie his shoelace:

Clive Tyldesley: "Roooooooooooooooooooooooooooney!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

ya but rooney, tho

good to see defenders so good on the ball, so comfortable, they're more like midfield players than centre halves!

not the most adventurous play but a backpass always useful

Goal in the closing minutes:

Jonathan Pearce: "... and [insert name here] wins the game for [insert name here]"

... and when I say closing minutes, that could be up to 15 minutes from the end

the crowd adding so much to this game, the roars and the colours, giving this game a unique flavour

o that ken c

"one goal is never enough", "the second goal's the most important", and other such untrue truisms.

brings back the old argument about referees who have never played the game at this level

'takes a lot of skill to do that' - typically said after some first-time volley wonder goal

Of slow, old forwards: "He's got the extra yard in his head"

"It's their cup final" = e.g when Anderlecht, who have actually won a European competition, played Liverpool in the Champions League a few years back

... I was almost expecting it in the Arsenal v. Celtic game last night!

that's unfair tom. arsenal are a pretty big club.

True, but it must have been a novelty for their players to be playing in front of actual football fans

was probably a new experience for most celtic fans being in a library too though.

:p

celtic has triumphed over barcelona in a competition which is more than what arsenal had managed..

hearing alan hanson say 'non chalant' was a great MotD moment

ken c is killing it all over the football threads atm.

Jonathan Pearce: "... and [insert name here] wins the game for [insert name here]"

This guy. See also: inane observation, followed by same observation in portentous voice. Everton fan sitting among Liverpool fans, no-one batting an eyelid - "You don't want to be sitting there, son. [pause] YOU. DO NOT. WANT. TO SIT THERE."

"We all do things in the heat of the moment"

word for word what was in my mind when i saw the thread in new answers

"You'd bet your mortgage on Rooney scoring from there."

"he's left his leg in there" when, in fact, what's he's left is the opponent's leg. severed.

the goalkeeper is NEVER the hero after a won penalty shoot-out. NEVER. STFU everyone who says this, seriously.

the 'heroes' are the people who score their penalties and even then they are not heroic; penalty shoot-outs are barbaric imo and should be replaced with a golden-goal system whereby every 2 minutes a player is withdrawn from each side

would you take the goalkeepers off first? would you?

well obv it becomes VERY important not to get sent off because the numerical disadvantage becomes exaggerated

i think that it is 2 minutes for every withdrawal until one or both teams have 2 men and then it is played indefinitely but someone will surely have scored by then

i would not take off the goalkeepers. assuming 11 vs 11 i would take off my most tired players in order of tiredness.

i am thinking eventually this will replace extra time completely, but let's just have it instead of penalties for now

you, sir, are a madman. and you must be stopped.

I agree with you about penalties creating only villains and not heroes tho.

while watching the bbc post-draw nonsense i told joel it wouldn't be surprising if we got the "if you'd told capello this morning that he'd get blah blah in the draw he'd have bitten your hand off". 10 seconds later, thank you alan shearer. although he's now 16 i believe joel thinks i still have mystical powers with football punditry.

"...and long may that continue". primarily by terry or lampard in every post-match interview when they've won eg. "yeah didier's been unplayable recently and long may that continue", "we haven't been conceding many just now and long may that continue", "peter cech is still rocking the headgear and long may that continue". seems to have been picked up by players from other teams who've been in the england squad now too. it's odd.

Shearer just uttered one re Lampard: "it's not a great penalty to be honest but it's a great save from Given". It's the same fucking penalty as Lampard hits every other week, you prick, Shay just dived the right way this time.

i'm already sick of people "booking their seat on the plane". 6 more months of this bullshit to go.

Motty following up with the same peanlty cliche about Fabregas ten minutes later

One beloved of lower division/non-League players: describing particularly talented colleagues/opponents as "different class".

One beloved of (at least my) local newspaper reports: managers never just signed a new player, they always "swooped to sign" said player.

One beloved of managers/programme note writers following an unexpected home defeat: "it was a bad day at the office".

Could get a 'poor penalty to be honest' hat-trick in a minute if they bother to do any punditry on the Pompey game. To be fair, that one was a shocker

Kudos to the fivelive commentator who described some harsh Sunderland double-team tackling as creating 'a Zamora sandwich' earlier. First time I've ever heard that the right way round - normally they talk about being 'caught in a Sunderland sandwich', 'tucking into a bread sandwich', etc.

"he had to get there"

"THAT... is a goal worthy of.....*insert superlative**"

My current bugbear is commentators' seeing inside players' heads, e.g. "...and Chelsea are fuming; they believe they should've had a penalty..."

If there's one thing worse than the "biting your hand off" cliche, it's the misuse of that cliche. Surely it's about taking something being offered to you with huge relish. So it sounds well weird when pundits say "if you'd said to us at the beginning of the season we'd be Xth in the table on X points in December, we'd have bitten your hand off". That sounds illogical and frankly barbaric to me.

"he's enjoying himself on the field now"

also bad is the corruption of 'bread and butter' and 'meat and drink'

and the latter's occasional transformation into 'food and drink' what?? next: 'that kind of pass should be fruit and veg for a player of his quality'

that should have been a gin and tonic catch for the keeper and he's made a complete hash of it.

I quite like "food & drink", it conjures the image of the centre backs like lions in a cage, devouring high balls tossed into their enclosure. I've been hearing it used on it's own recently though, and it just sounds weird. Lazy-ass pundits.

using metaphors correctly really ought to be cheese and ham for a sports pundit

Keane still struggling at Ipswich - this will be like prawns in a sandwich for the man

using metaphors correctly really ought to be cheese and ham for a sports pundit

whereas in fact they make a "Chicken Liver Parfait, Oak Moss and Truffle Toast" of the whole thing

should be careful here, this might turn into a roots shoots and leaves affair

"he can't hit it any better than that" when a keeper quite easily saves it/it goes wide/the player just doesn't score. he can hit it better- he can score.

spurs central defenders being a fucking disaster, how's that for a cliché that will send me to an early grave

x-post I dunno, if a player hits the post or something I kind of think "yeah he's done well, unlucky."

like it's just an inch or two away, he's done so little differently from what he would have had to do to score

which reminds me, "just an inch away!" or "only millimetres from scoring!" when the ball whistles past the post = idiocy, once ball clips post it's still got a good 7 or 8 inches' leeway before it's hitting post and going in

yeah but is pretty close...surely a post isn't 7 or 8 inches wide?

yeah but it's kinda like saying 'oh that was close' when you get 5 out of 6 letters needed in a wordsearch.

cliche- jermaine defoe missing a penalty. that's 4 in a row.

edge of ball clips outside edge of post to centre of ball hitting centre of post is about 4 inches...2 more inches and it's inside of post and out...3 more inches and it's in. at a rough guess.

it's not...missing by 10 feet, missing by a lot, like I said, hitting the post is so close to scoring. putting ball straight at the keeper or something, that's worthy of disdain.

yeah, no i take and agree with your point, i was just arguing that when a ball MISSES the post and a commentator makes out a breath of wind could have taken the ball in, then i am in disagreement. a bit like

"it was in all the way! then it just curled away at the last moment!"

shut up.

"i've seen them given"

"the back of the net...'

Did a quick scan so not sure if it's been mentioned but....

The place every striker tries to put the ball, and every goalkeeper dejectedly retrieves the ball from after he's been scored against, is in fact the FRONT of the net FFS!!!! The BACK of the net is the area BEHIND the net, ie between the net and the perimeter fence!

"The Germans are very clinical and precise on the pitch..."

We can take a lot of positives away, despite the result.

You never hear athletics commentators say an ageing sprinter has an extra yard of pace in his his head, do you?

cliche- jermaine defoe missing a penalty. that's 4 in a row.

― dumb mick name follows (darraghmac), Sunday, 24 January 2010 00:12 (20 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

No wonder he isn't in Capello's 11.

"he shut the door in his face"

It's wrong to mock non-native speakers of English for their mistakes, but the expression "he's in a good moment" (to describe a player on a good run of form) is starting to get on my nerves.

I just worry that it's only a matter of time before it rubs off on the English lads and you get, say, Joe Cole saying Yeah, Didier's in a good moment, ya know.

In a good moment seems to be hugely prevalent among italian native speakers, it must be a direct translation of a phrase?

yeah, and Portuguese (cf Mourinho). As I say, I don't want to sound mean, but I just wish someone would have a quiet word.

kind of thing a professinal translator like mourinho should be marking himself down on tbh.

yes i am aware that the word 'interpreter' exists. gah.

That player x is a 'genius' instead of a 'talent'. How well one came run up and down a field and kick a ball is not realted to brain power but ahtleticism and instinct, so stop fucking calling good players genius. A great manager maybe.

I just worry that it's only a matter of time before it rubs off on the English lads and you get, say, Joe Cole saying Yeah, Didier's in a good moment, ya know.

^ inevitable. Rafa also does a line in 'in this moment' to mean 'at the moment' or alternatively 'now'

xp creative ability?

I don't know if thinking 'oh hai i'm going to overhead kick that' or 'oh hai i bet i can make it past 3 defenders' or 'oh hai if i put that ball over the top to the right, no-one will suspect it' is genius. We all do it on pro evo and alan hansen gets disappointed every week when someone hasn't done these things.

we all do it on pro evo!

David Moyes gets the "moment" habit:

...Moyes said of Sporting Lisbon who have met English opposition six times in European knockout competitions and won through each time. "However, when we played Benfica, they were in a really good moment and I am not sure that Sporting are."

that seems to be a borrowed from native latin speakers talking en ingles, i can remember mourinho using a lot

yeah, but David Moyes is a native speaker of English!

heard this one again recently "well for anyone who says that the fa cup isn't exciting anymore, this game proves blah blah"

but i've never heard anyone say the fa cup isn't exciting anymore, ever.

guess you didn't see the utd-chelsea final a couple years back then

Just did a "find on this page" for the word "passion", and strangely it hasn't been mentioned. Gaah I hate the overuse of that word.

say something other than fucking 'keystone cops moment' for once in yr career, plz pundits

We showed character.
They showed character.
Character.

Just realised that it's also one of those words that just looks wrong when you write it. Character.

character is important: utd - (badge + character) = ?

btw, during the man city game the last night i repeated the 'good feet for a big man' trope so often that my gf, who was trying to read in the corner, lost her temper.

Were you gazing adoringly at her feet at the time? That would explain it.

hmm maybe she's jealous of crouchy. an aspect i hadn't considered tbh.

stonewall penalty

now there's a football saying that's at least three removes away from correct usage of the original term, right?

It does make you wonder how it found its way into football vocabulary.

'He's gone over as if....falling over a low stone wall there Brian?"

On a more topical theme, when Emile Heskey is picked again, we will no doubt be reminded ad nauseam that he 'does things that most people don't notice'.

That one's just gonna get repeatedly clunked against the "I don't care what anyone says, if you're a striker you have to score goals" one until something gives.

One thing that nobody has considered is that Heskey is so good he scores goals that people don't notice.

pedrofuckingmendes.gif

Heskey workin thru a proof of the Riemann Hypothesis in his head while the neanderthals around him insist on kicking a sphere. actually that may be more of a Berbatov.

"It's their cup final" = e.g when Anderlecht, who have actually won a European competition, played Liverpool in the Champions League a few years back

Neil Warnock actually said, about Barrow. "It's their cup final"... just before Barrow were about to play Stevenage in the, errrrrr, FA Trophy Cup Final

Berbatov blatantly thinks about nothing but genocide, look at his eyes.

the way the word FOOTBALL is constantly repeated like we don't know what the moronic game is called

(US version obv)

like we don't know what the moronic game is called

I thought this was true?

yes, that occurred to me

That one's just gonna get repeatedly clunked against the "I don't care what anyone says, if you're a striker you have to score goals" one until something gives.

cliches are often cliches for a reason. I don't think it unreasonable to expect strikers to score goals though 7 goals in 11 years says a shitload of England managers disagree.

Without wishing to reopen the Heskey debate, I think in my post above I was just bemoaning the patronising nature of being told, in effect, "you, the thicko public, just don't see how great he is"

...just before Barrow were about to play Stevenage in the, errrrrr, FA Trophy Cup Final

Would that be the final of the FA Trophy Cup?

Invoking Greek mythology whenever Greece or a Greek team are playing

Yes, Tom, and that old one about Greeks bearing gifts.

World Cup revive, by the way.

They're just happy to be here

This sums it up nicely: http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2010/jun/05/world-cup-2010-cliches

The Italians 'revert to type'

Just about everybody connected with English football believes that when push comes to shove Italy always fall back on defensive-minded cynicism. The finest example of this attitude came from Barry Davies after the Azzurri's defeat by South Korea in 2002: "And you have to say they have got what they deserve, because they just will not learn." Italy have won the World Cup four times; England have won it once. This suggests that whatever the Italians have failed to learn was maybe not worth knowing in the first place.

Considered zing

I had the conversation about the Germans with a work colleague earlier on. "Like a machine" he said. I pointed out that they were great to watch, inventive and quick the other night, but he was having none of it.

Germans passing the Turing test

It's not exactly news that Barry Davies is an idiot, but nevertheless it's always worth restating.

Machines can be great to watch and quick imo, so your colleague gets a pass xps

Only a matter of time before those manufacturing segments in kid's tv shows just default to Klinnsman passing it into the far corner every time.

I had the conversation about the Germans with a work colleague earlier on. "Like a machine" he said. I pointed out that they were great to watch, inventive and quick the other night, but he was having none of it.

― Daniel Giraffe, Wednesday, 16 June 2010 11:34 (21 minutes ago)

haha

i think it was established in an earlier thread that a lot of casual or stupid viewers srsly seem to take the cliches and phoned-in punditry shite as read

or heard

xpost re:'Italians revert to type'
The thing is, that doesn't really disprove anything. The Italians have a reputation for falling back on defensive-minded cynicism because they have a track record of falling back on defensive-minded cynicism. They've won more World Cups than England, sure, but that's because they're often very effective at defensive-minded cynicism, not because they're crazy all-out-attack kings of flamboyant lunacy. England are neither of these things.

england reverted to kick'n'rush type against USA, tbh

Germany have been fun for a while!

Germany have been the most consistently entertaining international side for nigh on a decade now

xp since 06 at least? iirc they were still quite dreadful in 02 wc

I thought they were okay in 02, but yeah they've been great since they got a bit cavalier to cover up their vulnerabilities

They were okay in '02 but in '06 their battle against Italy took on almost a moral character for me, like the good vs the dark side of football.

the current Germany is definitely a beautiful machine! Actually so are all good football teams to me. I guess I just love the idea of machines.

Voller took them down a bad path but credit goes to both Jurgen and Jogi for the marked difference in the last 4 years

"just banter"