Garth Crooks names Craig Dawson in Team of the Week after West Ham United win v Fulham
Garth Crooks has named West Ham United defender Craig Dawson in his Premier League Team of the Week after the 3-1 win against Fulham on Sunday (09/10).
The BBC pundit could not believe his eyes after Andreas Pereira fouled the enforcer four times from set-pieces before a penalty kick was finally given.
Fulham reacted in “horror” but Crooks only believes that made it look as though they had lost the plot after the continuous decision to block runs off the ball.
Writing in his latest column for the BBC this week, Crooks singled out the defender for reacting superbly to win his side a penalty at the London Stadium.
“How many times did Andreas Pereira think he could block Craig Dawson’s run into Fulham’s penalty area without the referee taking action? Three times is the answer, and on the fourth occasion referee Chris Kavanagh decided, with Pereira not heeding the warnings, to award West Ham a penalty which set them on the way to a 3-1 win,” he wrote.
“What was worse, not one of his Fulham teammates told him to refrain from such activity or even changed places with Pereira to make the situation less problematic.
“To then see the entire team surround Kavanagh in horror and disgust at awarding West Ham a penalty makes you wonder if the Cottagers had lost the plot. The only sensible person in that scenario was Dawson, who handled the situation brilliantly.”
Shocker.
As soon as David Moyes saw Pereira was the man to be picking up Dawson, he will have known that his side were more than in the game each time the ball went out of play in the final third.
The defender is one of the most dangerous men in the air from attacking set-pieces, so it was smart to try and halt his progress, but you can’t do it like that.
Like Crooks said, Chris Kavanagh was more than lenient given it happened numerous times, so it should have been no surprise when the penalty was finally given.
With each passing week, it becomes more of a shock that West Ham United actually considered letting Dawson leave the club over the summer and nearly join Wolves.
Thankfully, he stuck around at the London Stadium and is now playing a huge role in our resurgence after that slow start to the current Premier League season.