Friday 13 February 2009

Lawro's predictions

I suppose Mark Lawrenson's prediction column for the BBC should really be our JoeChat. However this is the first time I've blogged on it.

First up a couple of quick Lawro tips.
1. When he doesn't know much about a team he makes a generic statement on them. This week we have:

good side
as good a football team as most
tough act at home
they are not a bad team
great footballing team


2. He never predicts a team to score more than 2 goals. This week:

2-0
2-1
1-1
2-1
0-2
1-1
1-1
0-2
2-0

Anyway let's move on to his first effort this week.

Swansea v Fulham (1245 GMT)
Swansea are as good a football team as most in the Championship. They are in form and won't change the way they play.
Fulham are a good side and quite strong away from home, but I'm going for a home win.


You might think with him being a regular MOTD pundit that he would know quite a bit about Fulham. While his assertion that they are a 'good side' is true if vague, the strong away from home comment isn't entirely accurate. It is in fact completely and wildly inaccurate. Fulham's Premier League away record is better than only Stoke's and WBA's and they have not won any games away from home in the league this season.

That would be a good reason to predict a win for in form Swansea. Except Lawro thinks they are strong away from home but still says they will lose 2-0!
Take that logic!

West Ham v Middlesbrough (1500 GMT)
The Hammers are much improved and Boro don't know where their next win is coming from, so I'm going for a draw!

The use of the exclamation mark suggests that even he realises how stupid his prediction is, and yet he makes it anyway. To write this sentence and expect to be taken seriously as a football pundit you need to be a special kind of person. NOT in a good way.

Portsmouth v Man City (1500 GMT)
Following Harry Redknapp was a very difficult job for Tony Adams at Fratton Park and having to sell their best players - but they were unlucky against Liverpool last weekend.
Man City don't have much of a physical presence up front and have to play on the counter-attack, so Pompey have a chance here.


All kinds of (sic) in the first bit. Unlucky or rubbish? Distin and James had a horror show and in fact Distin has been shocking ever since Adams got the job.
Also surely most teams play on the counter-attack away from home anyway? I would say that having incredibly fast skillful front players against Campbell and Distin is a plus not a minus. What he really should mention is City's horrible away form and if the real City will show up or not.

The message is clear Lawro: stick to what you are good at (making fatuous, unfunny remarks to distract everyone from the fact you haven't got a clue how to put together an interesting or insightful analysis of the game).

Blog Archive