Manchester City are represented in the latest Premier League team of the week that has been selected by BBC pundit Garth Crooks.
Actually Garth is now down as a ‘Football Analyst’ these days, a posh term for a pundit then!
The performance by Kyle Walker in the two nil victory over Brighton at the weekend at the Amex Stadium was enough to earn them a place in the side alongside the other, in the opinion of the former Spurs striker anyway, most impressive performers in the topflight over the latest weekend.
I think we’ll already know ourselves, and not just based on the latest performance, why Crooks, we’ll also not argue with it, selected Walker as part of his team but explaining his choice he told the BBC.
‘I would no have sooner paid £50m for Kyle Walker than fly to the moon but I can see why Pep Guardiola did. How else was Guardiola going to get Spurs to let this particularly athletic full-back join their rivals? Unless, of course, he was prepared to offer Tottenham something quite outrageous in order to bolster his chances of winning the Premier League title? After all that’s what’s at stake. Against a courageous Brighton and Hove Albion, who defended as though their lives depended on it, Walker looked every inch the player Guardiola would have wanted: comfortable on the ball, patient in defence and in no particular hurry to demonstrate to the viewing audience that he was worth the money. That said, Brighton didn’t do an awful lot to test him but that wasn’t the defender’s fault. This is a massive season for Walker, especially with him having walked out of Spurs. To win nothing now, having taken such a serious step, would be a disaster for both manager and player.’
It’s always good to see the club represented in this way, and well played to Walker for his recognition, but the most important thing about the weekend was of course the win.
Full Team:
Jonas Lossl (Huddersfield Town), Kyle Walker (Manchester City), Toby Alderweireld (Tottenham Hotspur), Phil Jones (Manchester United), Stephen Ward (Burnley), Wayne Rooney (Everton), Nemanja Matic (Manchester United), Dele Alli (Tottenham Hotspur), Stefano Okaka (Watford), Romelu Lukaku (Manchester United), Steve Mounie (Huddersfield Town).
