Garth Crooks makes very strange choice of Newcastle United player in Premier League team of week | OneFootball

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The Mag

·24 January 2022

Garth Crooks makes very strange choice of Newcastle United player in Premier League team of week

Article image:Garth Crooks makes very strange choice of Newcastle United player in Premier League team of week

Garth Crooks has selected what he considers to be the best 11 performers from the weekend’s action.

The Premier League team of the weekend that has most impressed him.


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Included in his top 11 is one Newcastle United player who is a very strange inclusion.

Garth Crooks selecting Jonjo Shelvey in his top eleven Premier League performers, after his display against Leeds.

Having read and heard a lot of reaction from numerous Newcastle fans since the win at Elland Road, I don’t think I am alone in thinking the choice of the NUFC midfielder is a surprising one.

Shelvey played a little better against Leeds than he did against Watford the previous weekend, the same as a number of other players. However, I wouldn’t rate him amongst my best Newcastle United performers, never mind one of the best from all 20 Premier League teams.

I think there was an overwhelming consensus after this victory over Leeds, that four Newcastle players really stood out, none of them being Jonjo Shelvey.

That quartet being, in no particular order…

Kieran Trippier – Looking a class act since his signing and an excellent display against Leeds.

Martin Dubravka – A brilliant probably match winning save from Daniel James early on and came and took every cross into the box, giving those in front of him so much confidence. Looked like the Dubravka of old and easily his best performance this season.

Fabian Schar – Blocked so many shots and crosses and invaluable cover for Paul Dummett who increasingly struggled against Raphina as the game went on. A cool head as well, with the Swiss international playing and bringing the ball out of defence on a regular basis, as well as launching it when necessary.

Javier Manquillo – Replaced Dummett and instantly improved the defending on our left side to a huge degree, then also got forward, with one run showing great determination to charge up the pitch from his own half. That run seeing a Leeds defender dragging him down on the edge of the box and Shelvey scoring from the resultant free-kick.

Then we have Jonjo Shelvey.

He did ok up to a point in Saturday’s match and obviously scored the winner, he got it on target and forced the keeper to make a regulation save, which Meslier somehow didn’t! So for me, an ok display from Shelvey and got the winner thanks largely to a blunder from the keeper.

So how come Garth Crooks selected this particular NUFC player and not any of the Newcastle United quartet who actually played really well?

Well…it is something that I have pointed out before with Garth Crooks.

A lot of the time it appears that he has simply gone down the list of Premier League matches and picked out players who have scored goals, in all positions!

Sure enough, this week nine of the ten outfield players (see below) chosen by Garth Crooks, all scored at least one goal. The only exception being Bruno Fernandes for Man Utd, where Crooks uses the stat that the midfielder created more chances (four) in that game than any other player to justify the selection.

However, as I say, all the other nine outfield players, including Shelvey, scored at the weekend.

This includes all four defenders – Kyle Walker-Peters (Southampton), Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool), Aymeric Laporte (Man City) and Thiago Silva (Chelsea).

What are the odds that these four scored goals AND were their clubs’ star players as well over the entire 90 minutes?!!!

Garth Crooks explaining to BBC Sport why he chose Isaac Hayden in his Premier League team of the week (full PL team of the week below):

Jonjo Shelvey:

“What a result this was for Newcastle.

“To go toe to toe with Leeds having seen how they dismantled West Ham recently was as brave as it was impressive.

“I said the last time I selected Shelvey for my team that he looked fitter than I had seen him for some time and in the mood.

“I also said it could save Eddie Howe a great deal of money in the transfer market if he could keep this lad level headed and retaining a sense of responsibility.

“In other words, Shelvey must not get involved in scrapes, costly bookings and sendings off.

“If Shelvey can do that Newcastle may be a team that can start talking about survival again.

“Did you know?

“Shelvey has scored 61% of his Premier League goals from outside the penalty area (14/23); of players with 20+ goals in the competition, only David Ginola (67%) and Laurent Robert (65%) have a higher ratio.”

Garth Crooks Premier League team of the week:

Alisson (Liverpool)

Kyle Walker-Peters (Southampton)

Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool)

Aymeric Laporte (Man City)

Thiago Silva (Chelsea)

Hakim Ziyech (Chelsea)

Josh Sargent (Norwich)

Marcus Rashford (Man Utd)

Jonjo Shelvey (Newcastle)

Joao Moutinho (Wolves)

Bruno Fernandes (Man Utd)

Stats from BBC Sport:

Leeds 0 Newcastle 1 – Saturday 22 January 3pm

(Half-time stats in brackets)

Goals:

Leeds:

Newcastle:

Shelvey 75

Possession was Leeds 63% (64%) Newcastle 37% (36%)

Total shots were Leeds 13 (8) Newcastle 15 (9)

Shots on target were Leeds 4 (1) Newcastle 3 (1)

Corners were Leeds 6 (4) Newcastle 7 (3)

Crowd: 36,405 (2,690 Newcastle)

Referee: Chris Kavanagh

Newcastle United:

Dubravka, Trippier, Lascelles (Clark 69), Schar, Dummett (Manquillo 63), Shelvey, Willock, Fraser, Joelinton (Sean Longstaff 42), Saint-Maximin, Wood

Unused Subs:

Darlow, Lewis, Hendrick, Murphy, Almiron, Gayle

(3 Positives and 3 Negatives from Leeds 0 Newcastle 1 – Read HERE)

(Match Report – Danger at the turnstiles for Newcastle fans but no danger of giving up this lead at Leeds – Read HERE)

(Marcelo Bielsa blames himself and match officials after Newcastle United beat Leeds United – Read HERE)

(Eddie Howe reacts to essential away day win at Leeds – ‘Heroic’ players and ‘Brilliant’ fans – Read HERE)

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