Pre-match analysis: Manchester United Vs Spurs

Sports Journalism has changed a lot within the last couple of decades with what they do
before, during and after a game. It has changed the perceptive for each fan and is neutral
about what goes on in all three aspects of a game, and gives them a sense of enjoyment
and buzz. The pregame for any journalist is undoubtedly one of the trickiest as you have to
do so much research which could be boring as such but you are trying to get some buzz out
of a game so the fans can get up for the game and for the neutrals to watch it.

In this article on the Spurs Web, it has taken out the best of his press conference for his
game at the weekend against rivals Manchester United. Press conferences in football are
usually two days before the game so it gives them the day before to prioritise the team and
get them ready for a crucial game in the league or cup competitions. The main thing they
have taken out is the three fresh injuries that they have got from their FA Cup game with Ben
Davies, Giovani Lo Celso and Dane Scarlett all being out. It is to give the fans a sense on
what the team will look like in the coming game days in advance and it helps journalists to
prepare for the game to see who to do stats on and for their predicted teams.

Manchester World was also quick on the scene to announce the squad news for Manchester
United with both south american stars Martinez and Casemiro both being back for the devils
after a lengthy amount of time on the sidelines. Two massive boosts for United will get their
top four push back on track after a poor couple of months for Erik ten Hag’ outfit. They was
also the quickest to announce this as an article as other outlets like Manchester Evening
News, BBC and The Mirror did as a full article about half-an-hour after Micheal Plant did that
article.

Another common article pre game to any sport fixture is a full article preview that every
online website does. They do it to create a buzz around a game and shows the fans what
they could be missing out on throughout the week in terms of injury news, transfer news or
any other thing that they could of missed, They also show the head-to-head of the last
couple of meetings between the two sides to show who’s in form, and also a short piece on
the last time the last two clubs met which was back in August and ended in VAR controversy
with a handball from Romero being dismissed.

Samuel Luckhurst is also a well-known Manchester United journalist for Manchester Evening
News and he is the one where all United fans go for their day-to-day news. Every press
conference that he attends, he only posts on Twitter the most crucial bits of information to
get the most engagement when he does these. The most viewed tweet is about Jadon
Sancho who has been training away from the first team for a handful of months, and has
recently gone back on loan to Borussia Dortmund in the Bundesliga
 .

This tweet from both respective clubs is normally the first tweet of the day on both social
media accounts to tell the fans that it’s match day and to get the spectators buzzing for the
game. It often says the opponents, time of the game and where the game is being played
and for this game, it’s Old Trafford. They often use the stadium in the background as well,
while also using the clubs inform players to try and create a sense for fans to see who is
going to be playing. When teams use players in the game day graphic, they tend to be
starting that game. They also do a graphic for fans who don’t just live in the United Kingdom
for the times that the games will be played with so they can try and work around their times
and watch their beloved clubs.
In these different screenshots, they are taken from both official club social media’as, BBC
and Sky Sports as they are the main sources for this game and are the most popular. The
BBC one has information about who is missing and who is back, on the other hand to Sky
Sports who just put it into a fancy yellow rectangle saying breaking news and just the teams.
Giving the fans an outlook on who’s missing gives them a look on who’s playing, and gets
them excited to watch the game.

Manchester United also brought Warrington darting superstar Luke ‘The Nuke’ Littler to Old
Trafford. Lifelong fan met some of the greats like Sir Alex Fergurson, Bruno Fernandes and
Tommy Fury after his sensational World Darts Championship run that sent him to the final
but was unfortunately beaten by world number one, Luke Humphries. The sixteen year old
took the world by storm with his brilliant games where he beat five-time world champion
Raymond Van Balderveld and Rob Cross to get to the final. He has taken the world by storm
with everyone either eating kebabs, or getting a dartboard themselves to become the next
‘Luke Littler’
In the BBC live feed, they have had loads of BBC pundits give their views on the game and
what they think is going to happen. I chose Chris Sutton as he does a lot of stuff in football
with the BBC, his thoughts are really good and they are very analytical. This is good
because fans can see what the experts think and try to get to grips of some facts before the
game that Chris has provided. He has also added a rhetorical question to see will it happen
and makes us question will that actually happen.

In game updates :
The first thing on the match updates is when United took the lead and this has been taken
from BBC and Sky Sports with both being the main broadcasters for the Premier League.
They offer rapid fire updates to show fans if they can’t watch the game and so they can keep
up to date with the most crucial information. It also says details about the goal for people
who can’t watch the goal back due to being in a different country or not being subscribed.
They also offer rapid fire in game photography from different angles and they can update
them as soon as possible.
Both of the live updates also take stuff from commentary and what the experts think of a
certain event that has taken place. It is crucial to see how the goal was created for people
who can’t watch the game or who have hearing impairments and it tells them how the goal
was and where the goal was scored. It is also good how quick and at the same time spam
both of them were published and show how quick they react which is what they need to do to
keep the fans engaged.
The BBC also uses rapid time analysis every 10 minutes by sport journalists about what has
happened in the last quarter of the game. They often do this to give updates on either other
games that are being played at the same time, or the most breaking news that is in the sport.
This is about Onana and that he will be going to AFCOM after this game to represent for
Cameron as they test to go into the later rounds. But there is also an argument that it could
possibly hurt Spurs as a lot of their players due to the Asia Cup with Hueng-Min Son and
also the African Cup of Nations. However, United are in their own right to delay Onana’
departure as he is their player.

On BBC, they often get people on twitter with the # get involved to get the fans reaction to
the game and so the people following the updates get a taste of what the game is actually
like. They do this when they see a good enough story and post it, this one is about ETH and
what he has to deal with this year and it’s only halfway through the season. This is a good
feature to do because it gets the fans involved with the game and give their views on what's
happening and also gives them the opportunity to speak out about stuff that doesn’t often get
said.
Every single local newspaper, often at half-time, does a player ratings to show the fans who
are playing well, and who needs to buckle up their ideas for the team and get a run on. They
are often really critical of the player, or of high praise of an individual depending on when
they are playing, there’s not often an inbetween. It is really interesting at times to see what
journalists rate players after the first-half, and they are occupied with stats which is clearly
dominated by Spurs.
Also at half-time, there is often a feature where they add quotes from post match interviews
on the most previous game which is good because that is the only time journalists can add
quotes as they are moving on straight to the next game. It is occupied with the Everton
badge to show clearly what the update is about and so people don’t get confused with the
actual game that you are on the live updates for. It also has the lowest reaction rate of the
past couple because all of the fans from respective clubs Everton and Villa have moved on.

Post game analysis:

There are dozens of things that journalists do after a game, and it all happens at a quick
pace with post match interviews taking place, having to write a match report, playing ratings
etc to get all the content up. Sports Journalists often write the match report whilst the game
is happening, but that is only a rough cut and they have to proof read it fully to look for
grammar mistakes before publishing to the public.
Straight after the game, they do a full-time section saying about what the outcome of the
game was and was a success for either team. They also have the addition of the new
looking league table to show fans what the new standings are after another brilliant round of
Premier League action. They have also added the best picture via getty images to show the
overall reaction to the game.
Straight after the game, both managers are interviewed by BBC and Sky Sports as they are
the main broadcasters of the Premier League and so they can get words before they go off
to the media shortly after. Sky and BBC have priority with the Premier League broadcast
code and can interview or speak to football personalities at any point before, and after a
game. They also often put an adjective in inverted commas in the title to give the backstory
of the game, and what they think about it. They also put under the video a little tagline in
small writing to make it not distracting a short sentence about a brief overview of the
interview and what was said so fans know what to expect.
Match reports are one of the most crucial parts of the post-match process to show fans what
they missed if they didn’t watch it, and also shows off their writing skills to the sky high. The
local newspapers or tabloids release the match report 5-10 minutes after the game because
they need to do other things in order to complete the full post-match production witty
interviews still to come and some journalists also do an opinion piece to show what they
thought of the game and so fans can see what the experts think and see if they agree with
them.

At the very end of the live updates, journalists often do a plug to either the next game that
broadcaster will be covering or they say where they can watch the full game for free in the
later hours which is what he has used for MOTD2 at 22:30. This is to show fans where they
can watch the game if they are just getting home from the game, or couldn’t watch it as they
don’t have a Sky Sports subscription.
Journalists have the write to go into the presser after a game and interview the coaches to
try and create a story, and so the journalists that are in attendance get to grips of any injury
news that might have occured during the game. The managers have a duty to explain things
to a bigger degree, so journalists will want to explain it, good or bad. And 90% of the time,
their future will depend on the results, so it's often your duty to ask them about that. Post
match press conferences are there to help players get their stories told, for journalists to
deliver news of real value, and for the public to get a better understanding of the sport.
Here are two examples of the next day’s newspapers where we can see that it is a big story
because it is the first main thing you can see on the back of the newspaper. They have used
a lot of images to try and create a story, with also both Daily Express and The Times using
the same Getty images to show the action of the goals. They have particularly used the
same Bentacur shot because that is the goal that got the game level and shared out the
points between both teams. Both news outlets also used new Man United stakeholder Jim
Ratcliffe who was attending his first game in the title because he said before the game that
United often do well against Spurs. The Times newspaper is 50/50 with images, and also the
match report for the people who can’t access the internet and don’t know what happened in
the game. They are targeting people over the age of 60.

The Times have also added stats which helps me to understand how technology has
changed sports journalism for the better. They have added a timeline on where the workrate
was the best and where it was the lowest. It also adds a really good stat for how many
minutes Marcus Rashford has played since last scoring a goal at Old Trafford. Something
that I found interesting was the difference between the two newspapers is that The Times is
50/50 with text and images, with on the other hand the Daily Express being more image
based, and also the Express crediting Getty images in their work which is what they need to
do due to copyright law.

Both of the writers for both respective newspapers are the chief sporting reporters because it
was the biggest talked game of the weekend and the best go to them was sort of games to
make it look professional as possible and that it’s up to a good standard. The Daily Express
used the terms ‘Your Toy’s Broken Jim’ and ‘ Ten Hag Sickener’ which in a way is
disrespectful but it’s to engage the fans and make them want to pick up the newspaper and
read more into the situation. It is also in bold writing to make it stand out from the rest of the
texts and so it’s appealing to the audience.