BBC football pundit Garth Crooks has been ridiculed online after describing Liverpool defender Joel Matip’s performance against Tottenham – even though Matip didn’t actually feature in the match.
Crooks selected Liverpool center-back Joel Matip in his team of the week lineup, and discussed the German-born Cameroon international’s performance against Tottenham last week.
Writing about Matip’s week, Crooks said that the Reds defender “survived one or two scary moments” against Tottenham last Wednesday.
There was just one problem with his assessment: Matip didn’t play in the game. In fact, he wasn’t even in the Liverpool squad for the match.
As you might expect, fans on Twitter pounced on Crooks’ error and proceeded to ridicule the pundit, with freelance writer Andrew Beasley tweeting, “You think you’ve seen it all in 2020 but then Garth Crooks describes the scary moments Joel Matip had during a game he didn’t play in. No context, indeed.”
You think you’ve seen it all in 2020 but then Garth Crooks describes the scary moments Joël Matip had during a game he didn’t play in. No context, indeed. pic.twitter.com/Kf5INEAX2P
Pound for pound worst pundit on football, like he’s in an alternative universe half the time.
One fan commented: “Loooool, he was probably watching our game with Spurs from last year.”
Another offered: “One of the worst offenders for the [former manager] Martin O’Neill style of speaking slowly to pretend you’re clever or have gravitas.”
And one fan suggested his near-namesake from the world of country music might be a better fit for the job, tweeting: “Garth Brooks would make a better pundit!”
pic.twitter.com/0j90OdVhoj
Garth Brooks would make a better pundit!
Crooks has made similar errors in the past – most notably in 2012, when he wrote that West Bromwich Albion winger James Morrison was worthy of inclusion in then-England manager Roy Hodgson’s England squad.
The problem with that particular take was the fact that Morrison had been a Scotland international for the past four years.
