Garth Crooks ignores Newcastle players in his Team of the Week but still takes aim at the Magpies

While Alan Shearer saw fit to include two Newcastle United players in his Team of the Week, Garth Crooks couldn't find room for any Magpies in his side.

Newcastle brushed aside Wolverhampton Wanderers at the weekend with Fabian Schar and Bruno Guimaraes putting in superb performances. Both players earned a nine in our ratings and both were included in Shearer's Premier League Team of the Week.

You could easily say it's biased from Shearer and maybe that did creep in a bit, but I don't think there'll be many out there who flat out disagree with his decision to include the players he did.

We're not sure how Crooks managed to overlook every Newcastle player

Meanwhile, Garth Crooks must not have watched our game as there wasn't even a sniff of a Newcastle player in his BBC Team of the Week.

But while Crooks ignored Newcastle when it came to praising their players he did have a hot take on what they should be aiming for this season.

According to Crooks, it would do Newcastle good to miss out on Europe next year so that we can concentrate on other things.

"The Seagulls look like they are suffering from the mental and physical fatigue associated with competing in Europe, which Newcastle have also felt. It's not simply having an impact on both clubs' injuries, but the ability to produce the expected result or retain their performance levels. It will be interesting to see where Brighton and Newcastle finish this season. A year out of European competition might do them good and give them a chance to recharge their batteries."

Let me now just tell you why you're wrong, Mr Crooks

While I can see what he's trying to say, that doesn't mean he's making sense.

After a season in which we were in the Champions League and the extra revenue and attention that it brings, why would we want a season without that? Obviously, we're not going to qualify for the Champions League this year unless some weird miracle happens, but we could still scrape into the Europa or Europa Conference League. Not as glamorous, but still good for that extra revenue that we desperately need thanks to FFP.

This summer will be about building a team that can compete in Europe and the best way to get players in of that calibre is to be able to offer them European football from the start. So, no, Garth, a year off won't do us any good at all.