Michael118

Their fans seem to think so. I've only seen him play for them once. I saw him play enough for us though to not be surprised at all by the positive reviews.

It's a main point because that's how I saw it and it's the way it turned out. Everyone is aware of it now but I was being shot down for it when I said it originally.

You don't care that most people thought he was poor for us but he's looking more than decent for Burnley less than 1 season after leaving? Ciaran Clark, Leandro Bacuna, Marc Albrighton, Idrissa Gueye, Ryan Bertrand, Scott Sinclair, Adama Traore and others have a similar story. All players with a lot more potential than they were able to realise with us. It's disgusting how much talent we've had and how little we've been able to get out of them. You could add players like Hourihane and Hogan to the list who were dominating the Championship before they joined but have done very little since. Ross McCormack's scoring ratio at Fulham the season before he joined was more than twice what it has been for us. Tommy Elphick was a promotion hero at Bournemouth but can't get a game here. Even Steve Bruce who is an experienced and proven manager at this level is struggling massively to get us above midtable. I called most of this more or less. It points to a problem with the managers we are appointing at the very least and possibly runs deeper whether it's just the result of successive seasons of mediocrity or something else. I can't see how anyone can't think it's important.

Burnley fans rating him as one of their better players... http://www.uptheclarets.com/messageboard/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=20848

No it was because Westwood was playing.

I thought he was ok as a winger but I've always thought his most natural position was as an attacking LB or LWB.

No my rating of Amavi is independent of stats. I used it as an independent and objective source to support what I was saying.

Who was rating anybody based on whoscored.com? I used it as an independent, objective way to back up what I was saying. If you can't use stats to do that then what can you use? Consider it and then take it or leave it.

How is it pointless and mock-worthy? Amavi's biggest criticism on here was that he was frail defensively yet they've listed it as one of his strengths. I've also read on here that he's poor in the air which they've also listed as one of his strengths. On the other hand I keep hearing how amazing Taylor is defensively and that he's better in the air than Amavi but neither Defensive Contributions nor Aerial Duels are listed as a strength of his but they are both listed for Amavi. In fact, Aerial Duels are listed as one of Taylor's weaknesses. I don't normally read too much into stats but I think those are more right than it would seem and highlights how unfair people have been on Amavi. Amavi's best was a lot better than anything Taylor has produced for us so far.

Who Scored have got 'Defensive Contribution' listed as a strength for him along with Tackling, Aerial Duels, Dribbling and Ball Interception. No weaknesses. Taylor's only strength is Blocking the Ball. Tackling and Aerial Duels listed as weaknesses.

I didn't see the game but he was named man of the match in his last game which was the first time he's played a full 90 mins this season.

Amavi is a much better player overall. More skillful, far better offensively, a better cross and is more dynamic and creative. Taylor might be slightly more solid defensively but I think Amavi is better in that area than people give him credit for.

Fair enough. I completely disagree.

He was playing well enough for us to be offered 25m for him in January. His form dropped off after that. Bruce obviously didn't rate him either or he didn't fit into his style of play. It doesn't surprise me at all he didn't regain his form under him.

If you sent both of them to a top Premier League team one would fit in and possibly push on and the other wouldn't.

I didn't see the Barnsley game. I agree he has been fairly solid defensively. I just don't think his ceiling is anywhere near as high as Amavi's currently. Even though Amavi was inconsistent you could say that about nearly all our players over the last few seasons. There is a big gap in quality between Amavi and Taylor in my opinion.

Liam Lindsay is 21 years old and a CB so he has years to develop and has probably been thrown into the deep end at Barnsley. Fwiw, he was rated as one of the top 10 signings of the transfer window less than 2 weeks ago in Four Four Two magazine. I stand by my comments on him and especially Paul Heckingbottom but my confidence on this one is a lot less than others just because I watched very few games last season compared with the 3 seasons before.

"Too much truth is uncouth". - Franklin Pierce Adams

@Mjvilla You said your stats showed how Burnley "slumped down the table when Westwood joined". If your stats weren't aiming to show that Westwood was responsible for that to a large degree then what were they aiming to show? You didn't highlight any other player to explain why Burnley 'slumped down the table'. If you did and it was found out later that player didn't feature or barely featured but performed well when they did feature then you can only say that player was being scapegoated as well. Knowing Westwood has a history of it just makes the case for it even stronger. Westwood alone had nothing to do with us being relegated. At another club, under another manager with the right players around him he would have been an asset. He's not Garreth Barry or James Milner. He brings his own set of qualities to the table and if our managers weren't able to recognize those or utilize him properly or get morale up to a point where players could fourish rather than flounder then that is on them. You could have put the majority of the Premier League in our shirts in 2015/16 under Sherwood/Garde/MacDonald/Black and they wouldn't have appeared to give 100% or performed much if any better. Singling out Westwood, Bacuna, Clark, Guzan just isn't right and is barking up the wrong tree.

Ok, well The Daily Mail rated him a 7 which was equal highest on the pitch after Lascelles who was the match winner and rated 7.5. On their forums there's been 3 replies so far in their equivalent of our 'Ratings & Reactions' thread and he's rated 7.5, 8 & 8. All said he was 'solid'. https://www.toonforum.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=9030&sid=55ba2b5abc08d8a925c01609cfa0754

Ciaran Clark solid again in Newcastle's 2-1 win over Stoke. http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/newcastle-2-1-stoke-player-13630895

Sounds like he's doing magnificently. Replacing Amavi with Taylor is up there with the stupidest decisions we've ever made. If Amavi gets a move back to the Premier League one day that will become a fact.

It's baffling isn't it? Quote from a Reading fan - "The midfield was a shambles, Edwards looked badly off the pace especially in the first half. Bacuna (and Evans) badly missed".

Anybody on a shortlist with RDM should be automatically disqualified. I'd like to know who's writing up our 'shortlists'.

I personally hope we don't go for Garcia. I'm not a big fan and I think we can do better.