FANS CALL FOR TROY DEENEY TO BE SACKED AFTER HIS FIRST BBC TEAM OF THE WEEK COLUMN FOR BIZARRELY CLAIMING MO SALAH LOOKS 'DOUBLE-HARD' WITH HIS 'NEW TRIM' AND 'BREAKING HIS PROMISE' TO NOT PICK PLAYERS OUT OF POSITION

Troy Deeney named his first Team of the Week for the BBC on Tuesday morning
It has not gone down well with fans as some have called for him to be sacked
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Fans have called for Troy Deeney to be sacked from his BBC Team of the Week column after his first XI was released on Tuesday morning.

Deeney was announced as Garth Crooks' replacement last week, and a number of supporters were already unconvinced by the appointment as they claimed they 'didn't think it could get even worse, but here we are'.

Upon taking up his new role, Deeney assured fans 'I promise players will be in their correct positions for starters,' after Crooks famously put together teams for well over a decade without it being obvious what formation he was playing.

But Deeney has already caused controversy with his first selection by picking Mo Salah on the left wing when he operates from the opposite 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 the opening day. Monster. New trim as well for Salah, makes him look double-hard which I think is always good.'

One fan was having none of it as they responded: 'New trim? Double-hard? Sack him, sack him right now'.

Meanwhile, others were more keen to focus on Deeney opting to pick players out of position, as he named Brighton's Kaoru Mitoma as a No10 rather than on the left wing, and Dan Burn at left back when he played at the heart of the defence in Newcastle's 1-0 win against Southampton.

'Already broken his promise,' one X user pointed out.

'Dan Burn played centre back… Mitoma played as a winger. Salah played on the right. So bizarre,' another added.

One fan stated: 'Done exactly what he said he wouldn't do (and what Garth Crooks repeatedly did) and just picked players who played well even if 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 though.'

In fairness to Deeney, he did pick eight players in their correct positions, which is more than Crooks managed with a number of his sides.

Nick Pope got the nod in goal after keeping a clean sheet for Newcastle, with Trent Alexander-Arnold, Harry Maguire and Ruben Dias making up the back four alongside Burn.

Deeney then plumped for Amadou Onana and Mateo Kovacic in central midfield after both players got on the scoresheet over the weekend for Aston Villa and Manchester City, respectively.

Arsenal duo Bukayo Saka and Kai Havertz also got the nod to make up the front four with Mitoma and Salah.

Somewhat surprisingly, there was no place for Erling Haaland despite the Norwegian striker scoring his 91st goal on his 100th appearance for City, while Joshua Zirkzee's debut goal for Manchester United was not enough to earn him a spot in the XI either.

2024-08-20T11:12:45Z dg43tfdfdgfd