Keyblade

Nice. I love how assured we are in the transfer market under Dr. X. We don't mess about and address our weaknesses stat (though RDM did make a huge oversight on our midfield in the summer).

Only if that's what you want to infer. There are a whole host of reasons why a player's level of play can decline, and to boil it down to a mere lack of application is reductive.

How can you gauge any of that from watching a player on the pitch without projecting your own biases? What if Milner didn't actually have much motivation or desire as you say, but was actually just really gifted at learning new positions and improving as a player? Conversely If you don't have the ability to improve in a position, it doesn't mean you're any less of a pro. But yeah it does seem like your definition of a model pro is different from most. Most people refer to conduct, how they train, application etc. Westwood hasn't put a foot wrong in those areas, and has been praised by his previous managers and people like Stan Petrov in that respect. So while you might say that calling him a model pro is a bit too much, is it really such an egregious statement that you have to bring it up again months after the initial discussion?

Isn't that your answer right there? Almost every player we've signed in the past 5 years either regressed or not lived up to expectations other than special players like Benteke.

Not sure how Johnstone is supposed to be better than Gollini. At least Gollini has top flight experience. Anyway, Lansbury is a no-brainer. He's not as good as people would have thought he was, but for 3M he would be a very astute addition to the gaping hole that is our midfield.

Yeah this. He plays well when the team is playing well and vice versa, and doesn't grab the game by the scruff of the neck...so it was to be expected that he would be awful alongside Gardner who's even worse in all those aspects. He's limited and can be useful in certain situations and for squad depth, but given the state of our midfield and our style of play...we can't really afford to accommodate him anymore. We don't even really try to keep possession all that much anymore, so he's pretty much superfluous to our setup now.

Yeah I've been saying for a while now that there's no need to use undercooked stats to show how bad he is. His performances of late speak for themselves. Getting hauled off at half time is probably a better indicator that he didn't play well than any stat, accurate or not.

Surely it's impossible to not make a pass until the 41st minute as a CM with 63% possession unless you're actively trying to avoid the ball at all costs. And even then, it's probably more likely that you'll accidentally touch it

Wait...the periscope stream had video? I messed up not checking it

I don't even know how that's possible. You can get more than 3 touches by the ball simply breaking to you randomly. Incredible if true.

How is that even possible. 3 touches, was he dodging the ball or something?

You've posted the stat on here before to make the same point (or perhaps it was somebody else, I could be mistaken). But if by your own admission he's not the only reason then the stat is useless is it not?

It's completely relevant. You don't need empty stats to prove he's not good enough anymore. There's no reason to reach so hard. Seriously, on a purely logical level do you really think Ashley Westwood presence/absence in the team was the sole determinant for why we didn't win as much when he played and/or why we won less when he didn't in the very limited sample size of like 20 games? Like, you actually think that's a sound argument?

Today was the perfect excuse to buy a brand new midfield and I'm sure Dr. X will oblige. Still confident we'll make it. It's funny though, how do we suddenly have no chance . We're only one point worse off than the last round with 20 or so games to go. There's like 99% of the same chance we had after boxing day.

Gareth Bale once went 24 or so consecutive games for Spurs without being on the winning team. Must have been pretty shit.

I'd be kinda flattered if I were Westwood tbh, to have someone so obsessed with me for better or worse . Logs into a website just to talk about me.

Got a cool 5.5 hours of SOT with 10% left today. Very pleased with the battery life. This phone is now officially a beast.

Not exactly conclusive evidence to be fair.

You sure youre watching a football match?

I mean, the sarcasm in your post implied you considered the opposite of what you posted to be true. I'm just going by what you posted and trying to clarify, because from llooking at it it's safe to assume that you don't believe in the possibility of not all players in a team being shit. But here you're saying that's not true.

I agree, I've actually used that argument in favor of Gardner before, but I don't know man. At least Delph had attributes, he just struggled with putting it all together. What exactly is Gardner good at? I can't think of anything.

You seem to be saying that sarcastically so I'll ask, do you think Gana is a shit player?

Westwood's performance was nothing to write home about, but based on current showing Gardner could never pull that off. I'm actually stunned at how much of a nothing player he is or has become. Everyone had such high hopes for him