Paul Merson Can Barely Speak as He Analyses Manchester City vs. Crystal Palace

Paul Merson, working on Sky Sports' Soccer Saturday show, had a serious battle with the English language.

The former Arsenal man, who once made the astute observation that, "If you end up going to the hairdressers every day, by the seventh day you’re going to get a haircut," struggled with several players' names during his coverage of Manchester City versus Crystal Palace.

As you can see here, trying to pronounce the name of Palace keeper Julian Speroni was particularly problematic:

"

“@FYPFanzine: #Serproni https://t.co/fDDff6qOUf” haha

— Charlie Rose (@crose91) December 28, 2013"

 So much so, it seems, that even the word "save" then proved a bit awkward.

 Another Twitter user compiled a list of other mistakes heard during the course of the match:

"

Ronaldinho-Fernandinho Jeroni-Speroni Gabidal-Gabbidon The wonderful words of Paul Merson

— Sam (@Sam_Mackley) December 28, 2013"

At another point in the proceedings, Merson could be heard saying he hoped City keeper Joe Hart stayed on the field—primarily because he didn't fancy his chances of pronouncing the name of the reserve goalkeeper Costel Pantilimon.