Soccer

Alex Scott’s most iconic moments

After becoming an England centurion and Arsenal legend on the pitch, Alex Scott has smoothly transitioned into broadcasting, where she continues to provide us with iconic moments.

Alex Scott MBE enjoyed a highly successful playing career, starring for Arsenal, Birmingham City and the Boston Breakers.
Since retiring in 2018, she has gone on to become one of the country's leading pundits, working regularly for the BBC and Sky Sports.

After co-hosting Goals on Sunday and appearing in other TV shows like Mission Survive and Strictly Come Dancing, Scott was recently named the new host of Football Focus.

To celebrate her achievements, Planet Sport looks at Scott's most iconic media moments.

Ripping into Arsenal

During Arsenal's terrible run of form at the back end of 2020, Scott criticised their lack of style after a 2-0 loss to Tottenham Hotspur in the north London derby.

She stated that she couldn't tell what Arsenal's style of play was, questioning why so many crosses were put into the box when players like Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang didn't particularly thrive off that kind of service.
It was a significantly better analysis/breakdown of the game than offered by Graeme Souness, who simply damned the Gunners without suggesting where they had gone wrong.

Scott gave her engaging, informative take on the problems Mikel Arteta's team had, without it turning into one of Roy Keane copy-and-paste "passionate" rants. It is to date her most viewed piece of analysis on YouTube, with 250,000 views.

However, Scott's analysis of Arsenal's poor 2020/21 season didn't stop after the defeat to Spurs. Three months later, on the back of a 1-0 home loss to Manchester City, Scott's former club were once again in the firing line.

Alongside fellow pundits Jamie Redknapp and Micah Richards, Scott made a rallying cry for more positivity at Arsenal, demanding no more 'transitional' seasons.
Without necessarily implying that Arsenal should be winning titles, Scott declared it unacceptable for Arsenal to not be competing among the league's best. Her constructive and reasonable analysis was again well received by the show's viewers.

Analysing Unai Emery's fitness revolution

As well as being a fixture on Sky Sports' Super Sunday, Scott is also a regular on The Debate show.

At the beginning of Unai Emery's reign as Arsenal manager in 2018, Scott, alongside Ian Wright, discussed how she believed Emery's training ground changes could take the Gunners to the next level.

Her analysis involved comparing soccer to other sports such as american football, suggesting soccer is slightly behind the curve when it comes to gaining fine margins.

Scott explained that Emery's adaptation of the players' diets increased aspects of their performance slightly.

Using Harry Kane as an example of how a nutritionist has benefitted a player's game, Scott provided a detailed assessment. And, despite Emery's tenure eventually ending in despair, her analysis showed her talent in punditry.

Feature interview with Wilfried Zaha

Ahead of Wilfried Zaha possibly becoming Crystal Palace's all-time top goalscorer in the Premier League, Scott conducted a compelling interview with the Ivorian.

Scott covered his move to England when he was young, becoming a role model, and the possibility of leaving Palace, which had been speculated for some time.

The interview was praised for appearing very natural and comfortable, encouraging Zaha to be open and honest with his answers.

Scott's interviewing skills showed yet another string to her punditry bow, and it resulted in a scoop of Zaha admitting, "I don't need to leave Crystal Palace".
Scott showed her familiarity and confidence around the soccer environment and after conducting such a successful interview, showed her potential as a pundit for years to come.

Leading the discussion on Arsenal's top four prospects

Heading towards the conclusion of the 2018/19 season, a 1-0 loss on the road to Everton left Arsenal hopes of qualifying for the Champions League uncertain.

In a tone tinged with disappointment, Scott wasn't impressed with how Unai Emery's team set up tactically, suggesting the formation left Everton room to exploit their defence.

Scott cleared up any potential bias towards Arsenal when asked about how they would finish the campaign, saying there were too many players who frequently let the side down.

Ultimately, Scott's prediction was proven right and Arsenal ended the season in fifth position, one point outside of the Champions League places.

Strictly Come Dancing

Away from soccer, Scott made a name for herself in the mainstream media with her appearances on the BBC's Strictly Come Dancing in 2019.

On one of the most watched programmes in the UK, Scott finished a respectable fifth, eventually being eliminated after 11 weeks.

Featuring on primetime Saturday night TV will have no doubt opened further doors for Scott and she is now far more well known away from sporting media than she was prior to going on the show.

Media appearances elsewhere

Away from being on Super Sunday, The Debate, Strictly and Mission Survive - which she won, Scott has been a regular presence on a number of other programmes.

She often features on BBC's Match of the Day 2 and has been a pundit for the channel's live FA Cup and England Women's games. Scott also provided coverage of the 2018 World Cup and, at the end of 2020, was one of the hosts of the Sports Personality of the Year Awards.

Scott also spends her time making media appearances for other companies, including McDonalds UK where she competed in soccer challenges with Jamie Redknapp.

Additionally, she has hosted an interview series on Dream Team where she talks to players in the locations where they started their careers. Both these series can be found on the companies' YouTube channels.

It's fair to say Scott is one of the hardest working former soccer players in the media and after becoming the latest host of Football Focus, it is clearly paying off.

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