BBC pundit, Garth Crooks, has seemingly caved when it comes to the Blades and included George Baldock in his team of the week.
Crooks has come in for criticism from a section of Blades fans this season. The former striker seemingly wrote off United at the beginning of the season before branding their style of play ‘basic’ against Chelsea.
However, with the Blades continuing to impress and remaining unbeaten away from home, Crooks is looking like he is finally won round by Chris Wilder’s men.
This week has seen him select George Baldock in his XI. The Blades ace was on hand to provide on and score another as United ran out 2-1 winners at Norwich City. Speaking in his column for the BBC, Crooks compared Baldock’s spin and finish to George Best.
“I wasn’t sure if it was George Baldock or George Best!”, Crooks said.
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“I thought I was seeing things when I saw Baldock drag the ball back, pirouette and strike a glorious shot past Tim Krul. The finish – not to mention the skill – was superb along with Sheffield United’s performance.”
The goal from Baldock was his second of the season, while he has also assisted another three. Indeed, those impressive figures put him behind only Andy Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold in terms of attacking contributions from defenders.
Blades winning more and more supporters by the week
At the start of the season and in the opening few weeks, the consensus was that pundits were not doing their research on Sheffield United.
However, there seems to be have been a shift in opinion. The Blades are now being lauded on a weekly basis. In fact, Crooks even touched on this in his comments for his column.
“Blades fans have been telling me I’ve been a little hard on their team recently and not giving them the credit they deserve,” Crooks added.
The United defender rightly deserves his place in the team of the week. His performance was the epitome of everything good about Sheffield United this season.
Garth Crooks might have George Baldock down as a midfielder but at least, finally, the credit is there.