VIEWERS hailed “refreshing” rival bosses Graham Potter and Thomas Frank – after they interviewed EACH OTHER.
Chelsea chief Potter and Brentford counterpart Frank responded with “insightful” questions and answers after Amazon Prime surprised them with the unique interview set-up before Wednesday night’s 0-0 draw.
One armchair observer posted: “That is class! Two opposing managers asking each other questions. We need to see more of this.”
Others agreed, with comments like: “They should do this more often” and “Game. Changed.”
Thanking the presenter, one viewer tweeted: Well done Simon Thomas for opening this and allowing it to flow, more of this please. Brings a whole new relevant and dynamic insight into commentary and build up.”
The innovation seemed to stun the audience at home as much as it did the two bosses on the Community Stadium pitch.
One observer said: “That was odd but I really enjoyed it.”
And approval snowballed on social media with posts like: “Quite refreshing to be fair.
“Football constantly gives off the message of being very insular and impenetrable. Open discussion, seeing they are just normal people in a unique position most would give their right arm to be in. Should happen more often.”
Another fan reckoned it’s just part of the channel’s bright coverage.
He tweeted: ” Absolutely love this from Prime. Big fan of their coverage.”
Quite a few viewers, however, pointed they they were still suffering major technical problems.
One wrote: “Great idea, now please fix your streams they are buffering and awful!”
But, when the technical side was fine, Prime won plaudits for its general coverage of the Premier League.
These included: “Amazon have got this coverage locked, every game every goal is fantastic. Graphics spot on. Innovation pre match. The coverage is the coverage, but it looks so professional.”
And this was a similar verdict: “Less ads, more analysis and not afraid to do things slightly different like the above content. Shame they only cover 20 games a season.”
So what were the “penetrating” questions asked by each of the two managers?
Frank lived up to his name with: “Why are you changing your formation so many times?”
A laughing Potter replied: “Good question!” – before explaining it depended on the differing needs of each game, such as opposition tactics.
But he added: “Hopefully there are things that look the same even if the formation changes.”
Consistency certainly seems a feature of Potter’s brief Chelsea reign so far as Wednesday’s tough stalemate leaves him with five wins and two draws from seven games.
But when turning the tables on Frank, Potter considered dishing out a a “hard question” before settling for a more a standard question: “The biggest difference from the Championship to the Premier League?”
Frank’s reply to that was also by the book.
He said: “The pace of the game, the quality of the players is crazy.
“You can make one minor mistake and be punished every time. You just get punished so much more.”
Frank, then, clearly won the battle when it came to choosing questions – in what was very much an interview of two halves.
