The best thing about being a pundit is you can make outlandish comments and be totally unaccountable for them. Indeed, Mark Lawrenson has made a career out of it. In management if you make one bad decision (or eleven in Derby's case) it could cost you your job.

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David Pleat's regular column in the Guardian dissects how every match was won and lost using over complicated jargon and unnecessary diagrams. In August last year he said, "I don't think that Manchester United are that good at the back and last season Edwin van der Sar in goal was starting to creak, a frailty which might be further exposed this year."

United have the best defensive record in the Premier League.

Then there's Tony Cascarino and Terry Venables, who are always available for incisive comment though not usually on football related matters. At the start of the season Cascarino thought Man City could well finish bottom and that "Darren Bent is the signing that brings Tottenham into the brink of breaking into the top four."

Spurs are currently languishing in the bottom half of the table.

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El Tel's pre-season views weren't exactly on the money either, something that wouldn't necessarily surprise Steve McClaren. Venables opined at the start of the season: "Newcastle are one of the dark horses in this year's title race. Sam Allardyce has spent wisely and is the kind of boss to get the best from players."

Among Big Sam's signings were Joey Barton, Jose Enrique (£6.3m), Alan Smith (£6m) and David Rozenthal (£2.9m).

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