Ashley Westwood

[Hanky]

I'm no fan of Westwood at all but I thought he was ok today (nothing more). Gana was dreadful.

[ROTTERDAM1982]

Offers nothing, no physical presence, no threat, no pace.He doesn't play bad he just offers nothing and makes fewer mistakes because he takes fewer chances.For me he is part of the reason why we are struggling.Gana is our best midfielder, and if he plays better alongside Sanchez, which i think he does, then we need to start with Sanchez.Whether Veretout or Gil play the 3rd midfield position, depends on who we are playing.

Sherwood made a mistake from the start by picking Westwood instead of Grealish, and Sinclair instead of Ayew, we should be more positive.

[avfc1982]

It'll be a happy day for me when this useless charlatan finally gets the boot from Aston Villa. 

He sums up Randy Lerner for me - the acceptance of mediocrity and a chronic lack of ambition.  

[Villarocker]

Sherwood loves Westwood. He said earlier in the season that Westwood is his kind of player because he goes under the radar and churns out constant 7 out of 10 performances, or something along those lines. 

Think that speaks volumes. Westwood does nothing as far far as I'm concerned. He's not defensive and offers little protection to the back four, he plays the odd decent pass but mostly it's nice and easy, his corners are atrocious most of of the time and he offers no kind of goal threat. Gana and Veretout offer a whole lot more IMO. At least one of them needs to play alongside Sanchez. Sanchez may not be brilliant but, for me, he's at least noticeable in a game. 

As for the corners, surely it has to be Gil and Grealish? 

[StefanAVFC]

To be fair, he did create our best chance of the game. Which is more than Gana and Veretout did. People are a tad harsh on him, because of the corners.

Edited October 4, 2015 by StefanAVFC

[Dr_Pangloss]

I've rated Westwood but have been very frustrated with him for most of this season.

 

However, I think the criticism of his performance yesterday is a bit OTT. He was better than both Veretout and Gana. Veretout was too weak and lightweight for the most part and Gana was just simply abysmal. 

[useless]

I thought he played pretty well yesterday. His game seems to suffer when plays alongside Sánchez.

[StefanAVFC]

I've rated Westwood but have been very frustrated with him for most of this season.

 

However, I think the criticism of his performance yesterday is a bit OTT. He was better than both Veretout and Gana. Veretout was too weak and lightweight for the most part and Gana was just simply abysmal. 

This sums up my position too. I'm baffled to why Gana and Veretout aren't copping the same flak when they certainly weren't better yesterday.

[PieFacE]

I thought he had a good game yesterday,  constantly looking for the ball,  didn't shy away like Veretout did at times,  always wanting to make things happen,  played like he actually cared. 

 

The fans reaction to him going off was pathetic.  Lost a little bit of faith in our own fans after that. 

Edited October 4, 2015 by PieFacE

[villa4europe]

I thought it was more ironic cheering because of Gil coming on rather than Westwood coming off

[PieFacE]

I thought it was more ironic cheering because of Gil coming on rather than Westwood coming off

Hmm don't think so ,  people were cheering Gil coming on and then when WWestwoods number came up the cheering kicked up a notch.  Certainly did in the upper Holte. 

[markavfc40]

I thought it was more ironic cheering because of Gil coming on rather than Westwood coming off

I got that impression as well. Of the three in the middle yesterday I thought he was the best player and wouldn't have been the player I'd have taken off.

[Dr_Pangloss]

I've rated Westwood but have been very frustrated with him for most of this season.

 

However, I think the criticism of his performance yesterday is a bit OTT. He was better than both Veretout and Gana. Veretout was too weak and lightweight for the most part and Gana was just simply abysmal. 

This sums up my position too. I'm baffled to why Gana and Veretout aren't copping the same flak when they certainly weren't better yesterday.

I'm not so sure. I read the Veretout thread and people were saying he played well. Out side of that very good run in the first half I thought he did little to nothing, and very often looked weak and out of his depth against a more powerful Stoke team. 

[lexicon]

Gana and Veretout are settling into a new team in a new league. What's Westwood's excuse? 

[troon_villan]

Gana and Veretout are settling into a new team in a new league. What's Westwood's excuse? 

Lack of ability?

[Hanky]

I thought it was more ironic cheering because of Gil coming on rather than Westwood coming off

I got that impression as well. Of the three in the middle yesterday I thought he was the best player and wouldn't have been the player I'd have taken off.

That was the bizarre nature of the change. I've been calling Westwood to come off in a few games this season, yesterday certainly wasn't one of them.

[commander]

everyone saying how well he played. He was picked to play DM second half, you would expect that someone picked to play DCM should actually play there, had he played his position, then the goal would never have happened. 

He summarises everything that's wrong about our team. He's been picked to play deep lying / defensive midfielder, he's weak doesn't mark people or track his man, he's been culpable / part culpable for half the goals we've conceded since he's been here. 

He does have some decent passes on him, but they are very few and far between. Most of his passes are sideways/ backwards. This possession retention is great when you're winning but when you're not winning (which le's face it is the situation most common to us) he literally offers nothing. For a long time we've been set up as a counter attacking team with pacey forwards, so by slowing down the game and playing sideways we're not utilising one of the very few benefits we have. 

For me he should never, ever play DCM on his own, might be Ok dependent on who we're playing alngside someone like Sanchez, but he's simply rubbish in DCM. I'd have given him a run wide right in a central 3 trying to eclipse Cleverly the later part of the season, but we have better players ho can play there. 

It's very simple to maintain an extremely high percentage pass accuracy rating if you continually pick the simple easy pass, but it doesn't get us anywhere. Bannan for his (many) faults at least used to attempt to pass the ball forward.

[Stevo985]

Are we really still peddling the myth that he only passes sideways or backwards?

 

[commander]

This sums up my position too. I'm baffled to why Gana and Veretout aren't copping the same flak when they certainly weren't better yesterday.

I'm not so sure. I read the Veretout thread and people were saying he played well. Out side of that very good run in the first half I thought he did little to nothing, and very often looked weak and out of his depth against a more powerful Stoke team. 

Perhaps cos he was picked as the defensive protection and offered none. 
Not saying the other two played well but at least they played their position - had westwood played his he'd have been on the edge of the box when the ball went straight to their man who had so much space. 
our defense has been terrible for ages but if you put God and Laursen there with Weswood in front and they'll be constantly exposed.

Westwood reacts to opposition attacks so is always teh chasing man on the edge of the area when his man has either scored the goal or made the goal, compare him to Sanchez who proactively reads and anticipates trouble

[StefanAVFC]

everyone saying how well he played. 

The rest of your post is void because literally nobody said this. "Pretty well' was the highest praise he received.

At the end of the day, he created our best chance that Richards should have finished. 

Edited October 4, 2015 by StefanAVFC