Starts: 🐺 STARTING 11 🐺🚨 Head to @VfLWolfsburg_EN for match coverage! 🚨#BVBWOB | #VfLWolfsburg 🟢⚪️ pic.twitter.com/k5FCIDmpSl— VfL Wolfsburg US 🇬🇧🇺🇸 #GetENwithUS (@VfLWolfsburg_US) January 3, 2021 Match on ESPN+.
Starts; up 2-1 at the half: 🔥 Our Starting 11 for today! 🔥Less than one hour to go before we face off against @RBLeipzig_EN!#WOBRBL #VfLWolfsburg 🟢⚪️ pic.twitter.com/gqs5ltoovS— VfL Wolfsburg EN/US 🇬🇧 🇺🇸 (@VfLWolfsburg_EN) January 16, 2021 ⌚️ HALFTIME!Fantastic effort from the Wolves to make a comeback in this one despite going down early. 💪🐺Weghorst and Steffen on the scoresheet as we go into the half up by a goal! #WOBRBL | #VfLWolfsburg | 2⃣-1⃣ pic.twitter.com/Q1epv3adj6— VfL Wolfsburg EN/US 🇬🇧 🇺🇸 (@VfLWolfsburg_EN) January 16, 2021
Starts: 🚨 LET'S GET THIS DUB! 🚨 Today's Starting 11 for our match against @Mainz05en! Arnold's back! 💪🟢⚪️ #M05WOB #VfLWolfsburg 🐺 pic.twitter.com/jQYWzau8OV— VfL Wolfsburg EN/US 🇬🇧 🇺🇸 (@VfLWolfsburg_EN) January 19, 2021
Lost amidst the goings-on between those blue teams in England and Dortmund-Leverkusen - a great 2-0 shutout performance by Wolfsburg with Brooks going 90 as LCB and they are high enough in the table to be getting nosebleed. Congrats.
Brooks has been solid all year. I literally lost count of how many aerial duels he won today. Good performance.... love him paired with the young and fast Lacroix.
Solid and good results are not going to drive clicks to his link. Bring us abject failure and loss of marking leading to goal and we'll be back.
I switched over to the Wolfsburg game after Adams was subbed for Leipzig, so I saw the last 15-20 minutes. Brooks was very solid and kept Leverkusen at bay as they were throwing everything forward to find an equalizer. I feel like he's really flown under the radar for us as YA watchers a bit (I know I haven't watched many Wolfsburg games this season with all the other options), but he's started every game except for two, and Wolfsburg is in a UCL spot as of now. Seems like he's having a very good season.
Starts: Your starting lineup for our 4⃣0⃣0⃣th home match in the @Bundesliga_EN! #WOBSCF | #VfLWolfsburg 🟢⚪️ pic.twitter.com/T2ZTDyVBnf— VfL Wolfsburg EN/US 🇬🇧 🇺🇸 (@VfLWolfsburg_EN) January 31, 2021
BROOOOOKSSS BABY!!!! GOALLLLL!!!!! pic.twitter.com/7bZK2Pxia8— VfL Wolfsburg EN/US 🇬🇧 🇺🇸 (@VfLWolfsburg_EN) January 31, 2021 Scores
Brooks was very good today. His passing was excellent, his positioning on defense was prescient and he made several nice interceptions. The goal is nice, too, but the clean sheet is more meaningful for a CB.
Team of the Week: 🇩🇪 | Team of the WeekBundesliga's Round 19 wrapped up yesterday night, and this is our highest-rated XI! 👇Wolfsburg have the most players featured (3) following their 3:0 win over Freiburg, while Borussia Dortmund's midfielder Thomas Delaney is our Player of the Week! 🌟 pic.twitter.com/cBq5GuGQZb— Sofascore (@SofascoreINT) February 1, 2021
Guy's got a wonderful left foot. In fact, @bungadiri that might be a good idea for thread title: My Left Foot: Brooks at VfL Wolfsburg.
Another TOTW: 🇩🇪 Bundesliga Team of the Week pic.twitter.com/fpIlhQH8Zl— WhoScored.com (@WhoScored) February 1, 2021
You do realize these go straight into my sock drawer now, don't you? Let's aim for Team of the Month, please.
Funny, I spent a lot of time yesterday trying to decide if I was applying some Yanks Abroad bias to Brooks' game. I watch all the BL games, but I don't focus on CBs too much (except for Dortmund). I decided that I must have been given how generally Brooks is not considered a top BL CB (or even top 10). I guess my eyes were right yesterday.
I think he is close to being in the top 10 in the BL... maybe 10-15.... He is above average at passing, long-range passing and attacking on set pieces... he is well above average at winning defensive aerial duels... pretty elite there IMO... and he is also quite good at defending when the opponent has their back to goal. But he is below average at one-on-one defending when the opposing player is facing him and doesn't have elite speed to catch up to fast guys that get a step on him. Those weaknesses are hard to exploit however when you have an hyper-athletic partner like he does in Lacroix. Brooks is allowed to come up field to try and break up plays because he knows he has Lacroix to cover for him if he misses. It also helps to have a good pair of CDMs and wing-backs like he does in Wolfsburg. In short... all alone he is still a VERY good CB... but in that system, with those players.... he is near elite. That is why they have only given up like 18 goals all year... tied for 2nd best I think.
He's a lock starter for the third best team and defense in the Bundesliga. I would have thought that would have earned him more rep than being maybe in the top 10-15 central defenders in the league. His contract will only have a year left at the end of this season, so I think he will be playing in the Champions League next year, one way or another.
A lowly MOTM award: You've voted...and your Man of the Match from this weekend's 3-0 victory over @scfreiburg is John Brooks! NOTE: Brooks' goal was the 700th home goal for #VfLWolfsburg in the @Bundesliga_EN! https://t.co/96IRnaKtYJ pic.twitter.com/2TUGjqK6wN— VfL Wolfsburg EN/US 🇬🇧 🇺🇸 (@VfLWolfsburg_EN) February 2, 2021