BT Sport might have football’s best kept secret tucked away. Ask the average Champions League watcher and they might never have heard of the Goals Show.
They should have. There is no better way to take in the utter madness that eight games across Europe’s elite cup competition can be than the James Richardson fronted show.
More than inspired by the NFL’s RedZone, which is the preferred method of watching the growing sport for many, the Goals Show drifts from strike to strike, showing highlights as they happen.
James Richardson, James Horncastle, Julien Laurens and Raphael Honigstein front the show
The format is simple. A ‘live’ match is shown initially but is cut away from the first time a goal goes in – which is preceded by a graphic across the bottom of the screen.
From that point on, the game of choice changes every few minutes as and when significant moments occur. The rest of the time is filled with analysis of the matches.
Imagine Soccer Saturday with an extra serving of cream. And without the shouting.
Instead it is anchored by a foursome of football’s more interesting personalities. The aforementioned Richardson brings the same vibe to the programme that he did when he helped to alter how the game was viewed with Football Italia.
Add in French football reporter Julien Laurens, Rafael Honigstein with his knowledge of Germany and James Horncastle, Italy, and you have the experts to explain any event across the continent in enough detail.
While any commentator can flag up someone’s goals and games, the trio of journalists instead know whether a player has been in and out of the side, his relationship with the manager and any other side stories.
Watchers are alerted to upcoming goals using graphics at the bottom of the screen
There’s always a fear when watching any one fixture that you’ll miss the best moments in another.
Watch Liverpool’s demolition of Maribor and you feel as though you’re missing out on the tension that other games might have.
Enjoy the 1-1 draw between Real Madrid and Tottenham and you’ve missed a hatful of beautiful strikes elsewhere on the continent. That’s without factoring in what was going on at the Etihad in the first-half and how Napoli responded in the second.
With the Goals Show, you’re not missing out on either. The only problem was Liverpool’s lurid orange away kit flashing up on the screen without enough warning.
But beyond English involvement there are always moments worth seeing. The celebrations performed and noise that the Feyenoord fans made when they went a goal ahead were brilliant. The atmosphere poured out of the television.
Without the Goals Show, why would the average English audience member have ever realistically watched them against Shakhtar?
Every single goal is shown on the programme, from every Champions League clash
For fans of early noughties Premier League backup goalkeepers, there was also a timely reminder that Brad Jones, formerly of Middlesbrough and Liverpool, plays in this competition for Feyenoord.
Both are valid experiences on a night like this.
You get to see all of the brilliance and the ridiculousness. Jean-Kevin Augustin’s incredible turn. Roman Burki’s awful clearance. Kevin De Bruyne smacking the bar with a wonder strike. Karim Benzema’s miss.
It is an excellent way to watch football.
Admittedly, no show is without its problems. The nature of the programme means the pundits are tasked with watching two games apiece and analysing it over live action.
That can veer into something that feels less natural – although it obviously is. It’s just that no one wants to be caught without anything to say on television.
Information from across the matches appears down the left-hand side of the screen
Having that prepared sometimes sees the panel miss what is occurring in the live action. During footage from the City game, they had gone through their spiel and then Kyle Walker clearly fouled someone in the box. From the off it was obvious there would be a penalty, but none of them reacted.
It took a full 10 seconds for any of them to notice it, a long time after the referee gestured for a spot kick.
That takes the viewer out of the action slightly. Maybe that is partly just conditioning. Televised football has taught us that everything must be reacted to both visually and audibly. Then again, that would also be the case in the stadium, so it may just be the relatively muted way they play the live audio when the pundits are speaking.
Either way, it leads to this slightly strange disconnect where the best moments are when an upcoming goal is flashed across the screen before being shown while the more difficult ones to enjoy are during live action.
That is only the smallest of complaints and should not be blown out of proportion.
The show is really hooked on how well the pundits perform, though, and generally they do. There are laughs following the fact that Maurizio Sarri used to be a bank manager. The panel fire out puns aplenty – ‘Napoli opened their account’, ‘let’s cheque what’s going on in Moscow’ – primarily pushed by Richardson.
The bank manager knowledge itself is beyond what most commentators would discuss. The reaction is appealing in the same way that Richardson’s various podcasts have been. It feels like a joke your friends might make.
Technically it also has to be a monstrous production to put together. Think about the work going on behind the scenes to cut between the games, line up all of the replays and what should go live.
The show isn’t without it’s fair share of humour too, largely led by the host James Richardson
The show will cut live to moments of interests, such as penalty kicks, as well as showing goals
There is just so much to consume over 90 minutes that it is impressive they have made it manageable.
Ultimately the Goals Show is a bit like having Match of the Day, Soccer Saturday and tomorrow’s newspaper beamed directly into your eyes and ears.
It seems designed for generation selfie, the attention-less and the focused viewer alike.
If you’re debating which game to watch on Wednesday night, the answer is easy. Watch them all.