- Troy Deeney announced his first Team of the Week for the BBC on Tuesday morning
- It hasn’t gone down well with fans, as some have called for him to be fired
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Fans have called for Troy Deeney to be sacked as BBC Team of the Week columnist after his first XI was announced on Tuesday morning.
Deeney was announced last week as Garth Crooks’ replacement. Some supporters were already unconvinced by the appointment, claiming they ‘didn’t think it could get any worse, but it has’.
When Deeney took up his new role he assured fans: ‘I promise players will be in the right positions from the start’, as Crooks had managed to put teams together without it being clear which formation he was playing in for over a decade.
But Deeney has already caused controversy with his first selection by deploying Mo Salah on the left wing, while he operates from the other flank, and then making a bizarre claim about his new haircut.
Speaking about Salah’s performance in Liverpool’s 2-0 win over Ipswich, Deeney wrote: ‘An assist and a goal. I think that’s his seven billionth goal on opening day. Monster. New trim for Salah too, makes him look doubly tough, which I think is always good.’
Troy Deeney has chosen his first Team of the Week for his new BBC column
He singled out Mo Salah and said he looks ‘double hard’ with his ‘new trim’, which didn’t go down well with fans
One fan wasn’t having it and responded: ‘New version? Double hard? Fire him, fire him now’.
Others, however, were more keen on Deeney choosing to play players in different positions, with Brighton’s Kaoru Mitoma playing as a No. 10 instead of on the left wing, and Dan Burn at left-back when he played in the heart of defence during Newcastle’s 1-0 win over Southampton.
“He already broke his promise,” one X user noted.
‘Dan Burn played centre-back… Mitoma played winger. Salah played right. So bizarre,’ added another.
One fan said, “He did exactly what he said he wouldn’t do (and what Garth Crooks did repeatedly) and just picked players who played well, even though they played the same position.
‘Saka and Salah both played RW. Burn didn’t play LB. Mitoma didn’t play AM. At least he didn’t just pick 5 strikers.’
To do Deeney justice, he put eight players in the right positions, which is more than Crooks managed with some of his teams.
Nick Pope was preferred after keeping a clean sheet for Newcastle, with Trent Alexander-Arnold, Harry Maguire and Ruben Dias making up the bottom four alongside Burn.
Deeney subsequently replaced Amadou Onana and Mateo Kovacic in midfield after both players scored for Aston Villa and Manchester City respectively last weekend.
Arsenal duo Bukayo Saka and Kai Havertz were also given the chance to form the front four alongside Mitoma and Salah.
Somewhat surprisingly, Erling Haaland was not included, despite the Norwegian striker scoring his 91st goal in his 100th appearance for City. Joshua Zirkzee’s debut goal for Manchester United was also not enough to earn him a place in the squad.
