Garth Crooks blown away by ‘outstanding’ West Ham United star Mohammed Kudus in win v Wolves
Garth Crooks was blown away by an “outstanding” display from West Ham United star Mohammed Kudus, naming the Hammers ace in his Premier League team of the week.
The Ghanaian international scored his fourth and fifth Premier League goals of the season in the Irons 3-0 win over Wolves on Sunday 17 December as David Moyes’ side climbed up to eighth in the table.
Rather surprisingly, there was no place for Lucas Paqueta in Crooks’ team of the week after the Brazilian picked up three assists at the London Stadium, but Kudus was included with the BBC pundit admitting the 23-year-old is “on fire”.
Writing in his BBC Sport Team of the Week (18 December) he said: “This lad is on fire at the moment. He’s been outstanding for West Ham since his return from the international break while on duty with Ghana.
“Against Wolves, he scored two well-taken goals and now looks a handful for any defence. Considering West Ham had to contend with a midweek European fixture against Freiburg three days earlier, they looked surprisingly fresh.”
A handful
When it was announced that West Ham had managed to beat a number of clubs to Kudus’ signature in the summer, his signing was greeted with much excitement from supporters and his display against Wolves showed exactly why he was so coveted.
The Ghanaian international was a thorn in the away team’s side all afternoon as he constantly tormented them with his impressive dribbling ability and his pace when running in behind. He didn’t give Wolves’ backline a moment to rest across the 90 minutes and that would have delighted Moyes.
His two goals were incredibly impressive as he showed that he only needs a glimpse of the net to punish a defence and that sort of ruthlessness in front of goal is what the Hammers have been crying out for in recent weeks. They may not have a prolific number nine, but their attacking talent is certainly providing the goods at the moment.
Despite all that positivity, Paqueta must be wondering what he has done to offend Crooks. The Brazilian was phenomenal against Wolves on Sunday and certainly deserved a place in the team of the week. Maybe it takes four assists to impress the BBC pundit.
In other West Ham news, Ally McCoist has admitted that Vladimir Coufal was “unbelievably fortunate” to avoid punishment for an incident against Wolves