This season has been dramatic. It has a blend of fire, hope, team spirit, and, of course, losses. Everywhere, in the Premiere League, in the FA Cup, in the Champions League, and elsewhere, every player and every team is fighting and putting forth effort to win and remain at the top.
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It is this ignition that has inspired Garth Crooks’ team of the week.
Garth Crooks currently works for BBC Sports as an English football pundit and was once a former professional player from the ’70s through the ’90s. He is often credited as the first black player to score in an FA Cup final against Man City in 1981 before his retirement in 1990 after a knee injury.
Crooks’ team of the week selection is not coincidental. It shows how much critical thought has gone into examining every match played, every move or effort players have made to save or mar. Placing his judgement from both a goalkeeping, defensive, midfielder, and striker’s point of view. In short, it is a blend of individuality and collectivism, where one cannot do without the other.
11 players from Southampton, Liverpool, Brentford, Chelsea, Newcastle, Manchester United, Burnley, and Brighton are on the list, even though there are eight teams on it. They are all good at skills, saves, goals, and other things.
While some may not agree with this selection, Crooks’ choices are influenced by the last few matches played and the performances exhibited by each team.
For instance, Sadio Mane, Christiano Ronaldo, and Timo Werner found their way into Crooks based on their performances. In the match against Man City in the FA Cup Semi-Final, Mane scored two intrinsic goals that brought the RedStars to the final. According to BBC Sport, “Mane became the first Liverpool player to score twice at Wembley since Steve McManaman in the 1995 League Cup final against Bolton.”
Ronaldo had a hat-trick against Norwich City in Old Trafford last Saturday—his 50th hat-trick at club level and 60th in a professional career. The same could be said about Timo Werner, who displayed team spirit in their match against Crystal Palace. Somewhere, during the Crooks of the Matter, Garth Crooks confessed that Werner was the most “unselfish striker and willing runner” he had seen in a long time.
However, other players like Ruben Loftus-Cheek (Chelsea), Bruno Guimaraes (Newcastle), Mason Mount (Chelsea), Leandro Trossard (Brighton), Ibrahima Konate (Liverpool), James Tarkowski (Burnley), Pontus Jansson (Brentford), and Southampton’s goal keeper, Fraser Forster, all made it to the Crooks Team of the Week.
Reporting by Bestman Michael; editing by MarkAnthony Nze, Ph.D., for Africa Today News, New York.
