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Like KVV, Crooks is a player whose undoubted technical ability and moments of occasional mercurial brilliance has disguised a lack of consistent end product.
Macclesfield aside, in how many games has he truly 'bossed' the midfield against L2 opposition? As others have said, too often he has simply 'gone missing' from games and for a supposedly Championship-level midfielder playing in L2 that isn't really good enough.
In addition, one of the big issues with him, I think, is that none of our managers really knew where to play him. Is he best as a deep-lying playmaker, as the furthest forward in a three in a 5-3-2 or as one of the two in a 4-4-2 or as a number 10? I would say that this ambiguity about how to best accommodate Crooks is the main reason why successive managers have failed to establish a consistent formation. Hopefully now he is gone Curle can establish a consistent midfield in which everyone is clear on their role and JJOT is able to shine.
Wilder always recruited players based on character in addition to ability. Page, JED and JFH all failed to do this and that is one of the main reasons why we are where we are. Hopefully Curle will buck this trend and recruit replacements with the stomach for the fight.
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