Robbie09 Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 Looked a lot more like his last season self last night, which was really encouraging to see. Agreed. Will benefit from having a more creative player alongside him but always looking for the ball. Not way out of his depth as some are stating. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ROTTERDAM1982 Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 He is one of the worst players i have seen in a Villa shirt.Last night summed him up.Very poor in the 1st half, too negative, too slow, not aware of his position, not aware of his role, too weak, and failed to pick up his man for the goal.In the 2nd half he tried to be more positive, but only did passes i expect an average Prem player to make, nothing exceptional.His lack of quality passing, plus his lack of pace, strength, positional awareness makes him a liability, he is not as good as Bannan, and hes not Prem quality. The quicker Westwood and Lowton are out the team, the better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WooJung Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 I feel like this season he isn't offering much neither when attacking nor when defending. His passing is accurate but hardly ever elaborate. The defensive aspect of his game is where he really lets me down. He plays in a position in which he HAS to help the defence out. He is also disadvantaged on a physical level. He is not strong, he is not tall and he is not pacey. In other words, the simplicity of his passing (with a few exceptions) is something you would excpect from a holding midfielder, and his defensive inability is something that can only be justified (if at all) if you have great skills on the ball. That said, the total lack of movement and tactics doesn't help him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AVTuco Posted January 14, 2014 VT Supporter Share Posted January 14, 2014 I try not to write negative things, except about Tonev. However, our midfield is so non-existent it pains me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hanky Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 I thought Westwood and KEA were appalling, and have been all season. Westwood didn't get close to any of their players last night, and does not track his runner at all. The man runs past and Westwood points at him. That's all well and good if he is passing the man on to someone, but often it was to one of the centre halves who had Giroud and/or Ozil to deal with as well. Both midfielders were constantly ten yards of their man for most of the game, and this was summed up when Wilshere wondered into our area and scored. A lot of our problems this season have been because we have a very poor midfield. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bunnski Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 Hes the only midfielder we have that is always looking for the ball and always looking to pass it forward and he has a good eye for a killer ball its just that he is usually too deep to make as big an impact due to our tactics this season. The guy is young and still has things to learn and he will improve. People stating him as being shit must must have something wrong with there eyes as the only time he has been shit for us was during a bad spell earlier in the season, he has upped his game since then and put in some decent performances. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ozvillafan Posted January 14, 2014 VT Supporter Share Posted January 14, 2014 I thought Westwood and KEA were appalling, and have been all season. Westwood didn't get close to any of their players last night, and does not track his runner at all. The man runs past and Westwood points at him. That's all well and good if he is passing the man on to someone, but often it was to one of the centre halves who had Giroud and/or Ozil to deal with as well. Both midfielders were constantly ten yards of their man for most of the game, and this was summed up when Wilshere wondered into our area and scored. A lot of our problems this season have been because we have a very poor midfield. Interestingly, I thought Delph was the worst of our central midfield. I agree about the pointing and the positioning with Westwood - it does my head in. But I wonder about them being "10 yards off their man". I don't disagree with you, but think it has more to do with the oppositions superior numbers in midfield than anything else. I'm pretty sure Arsenal play 4-5-1 with Giroud the only out-and-out forward. Our midfield is almost always chasing shadows - especially when we only have 3. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KHV Posted January 15, 2014 Share Posted January 15, 2014 Hes the only midfielder we have that is always looking for the ball and always looking to pass it forward and he has a good eye for a killer ball its just that he is usually too deep to make as big an impact due to our tactics this season. The guy is young and still has things to learn and he will improve. People stating him as being shit must must have something wrong with there eyes as the only time he has been shit for us was during a bad spell earlier in the season, he has upped his game since then and put in some decent performances. He has been crap ever since he arrived. He is nowhere near good enough for top flight football Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bunnski Posted January 15, 2014 Share Posted January 15, 2014 Hes the only midfielder we have that is always looking for the ball and always looking to pass it forward and he has a good eye for a killer ball its just that he is usually too deep to make as big an impact due to our tactics this season. The guy is young and still has things to learn and he will improve. People stating him as being shit must must have something wrong with there eyes as the only time he has been shit for us was during a bad spell earlier in the season, he has upped his game since then and put in some decent performances. He has been crap ever since he arrived. He is nowhere near good enough for top flight football Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
srsmithusa Posted January 15, 2014 Share Posted January 15, 2014 Deciding when to be the DM and track the runners back and when to be the link between the defense and the offense is a constant series of highly complex decisions, rooted in multiple considerations. He is learning. He still makes the wrong choice too often, but not as often as he used to. If we had someone else who could do the role, and loan him somewhere else to learn from his mistakes, it would be ideal for everybody. Or, with the time to make the mistakes here, a vocal, experienced center half behind him, he could come good very soon. On the other hand, even the best get it wrong sometimes. Against a very good Arsenal attack, Westwood only made that error and it cost us, one time. Not too bad really. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevo985 Posted January 15, 2014 VT Supporter Share Posted January 15, 2014 He is one of the worst players i have seen in a Villa shirt.Last night summed him up. Behave 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8pints Posted January 15, 2014 Share Posted January 15, 2014 (edited) He's a very intelligent player who can spot a good pass once he gets his head up who is inexperienced learning the ropes. He's another one of many who could do with some on the pitch guidance. And fair enough, anyone who complains about Lambert not addressing that has a point in my opinion but it seems like, from what Lambert has said, he's going to look in to that this January. Westwood suffers sometimes from making the wrong decision, as a lot of players do, and that can be both on and off the ball. I know this is the top league and it's ruthless and there's little time for adjustment but someone experienced talking him through the game would benefit him greatly. He seems to have the humility and willingness to learn that would mean he'd listen to someone too. Edited January 15, 2014 by 8pints 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Risso Posted January 15, 2014 Share Posted January 15, 2014 I think if you picked any League 1 midfielder and dropped them into the Premier League, they'd try to do what Westwood does, ie pass the ball as quickly and easily to somebody else and not show any responsibility at all for creating chances or moving into space etc. He really isn't good enough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avfc1982 Posted January 15, 2014 Share Posted January 15, 2014 He is one of the worst players i have seen in a Villa shirt.Last night summed him up.Very poor in the 1st half, too negative, too slow, not aware of his position, not aware of his role, too weak, and failed to pick up his man for the goal.In the 2nd half he tried to be more positive, but only did passes i expect an average Prem player to make, nothing exceptional.His lack of quality passing, plus his lack of pace, strength, positional awareness makes him a liability, he is not as good as Bannan, and hes not Prem quality. The quicker Westwood and Lowton are out the team, the better. Agreed. Westwood is one of the most overrated players ever to play for Villa. He's so out of his depth it's untrue and I lost count the amount of times he either have the ball away or lost possession in midfield against Arsenal. He just isn't Premier League standard. Ditto Lowton. His defending is amateurish and his positional play diabolical. They need to be shipped out back down to the lower leagues before they drag the club down with them Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevo985 Posted January 15, 2014 VT Supporter Share Posted January 15, 2014 I think if you picked any League 1 midfielder and dropped them into the Premier League, they'd try to do what Westwood does, ie pass the ball as quickly and easily to somebody else and not show any responsibility at all for creating chances or moving into space etc. He really isn't good enough. Hasn't he got the most assists in the whole squad since he joined? Got to hand it to you though, turning good passing into a negative is pretty special. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kwan Posted January 15, 2014 Share Posted January 15, 2014 I think if you picked any League 1 midfielder and dropped them into the Premier League, they'd try to do what Westwood does, ie pass the ball as quickly and easily to somebody else and not show any responsibility at all for creating chances or moving into space etc. He really isn't good enough. Hasn't he got the most assists in the whole squad since he joined? Got to hand it to you though, turning good passing into a negative is pretty special. Most assists and second to Benteke in key passes for the last two years. But that's because he takes the set pieces. Never mind anything else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Risso Posted January 15, 2014 Share Posted January 15, 2014 I think if you picked any League 1 midfielder and dropped them into the Premier League, they'd try to do what Westwood does, ie pass the ball as quickly and easily to somebody else and not show any responsibility at all for creating chances or moving into space etc. He really isn't good enough. Hasn't he got the most assists in the whole squad since he joined? Got to hand it to you though, turning good passing into a negative is pretty special. He's got 1 assist all season! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted January 15, 2014 Share Posted January 15, 2014 I think if you picked any League 1 midfielder and dropped them into the Premier League, they'd try to do what Westwood does, ie pass the ball as quickly and easily to somebody else and not show any responsibility at all for creating chances or moving into space etc. He really isn't good enough. Whats your opinion on Carrick? maybe Pirlo, Xabi Alonso or Xavi? they are better players but do exactly what you described Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big_John_10 Posted January 15, 2014 Share Posted January 15, 2014 I think if you picked any League 1 midfielder and dropped them into the Premier League, they'd try to do what Westwood does, ie pass the ball as quickly and easily to somebody else and not show any responsibility at all for creating chances or moving into space etc. He really isn't good enough. Whats your opinion on Carrick? maybe Pirlo, Xabi Alonso or Xavi? they are better players but do exactly what you described Those players have the ability to dictate the speed of play and the control a team has. Also whilst maybe not getting an assist stat they have the ability to play an important role in starting and contributing to a great attacking move. While I don't think Westwood is awful he has not shown the ability to do much of that. He plays it very simple and keeps the ball. If we had better players then that might be enough but I think we need more currently from a cm than he's offering. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Risso Posted January 15, 2014 Share Posted January 15, 2014 I think if you picked any League 1 midfielder and dropped them into the Premier League, they'd try to do what Westwood does, ie pass the ball as quickly and easily to somebody else and not show any responsibility at all for creating chances or moving into space etc. He really isn't good enough. Whats your opinion on Carrick? maybe Pirlo, Xabi Alonso or Xavi? they are better players but do exactly what you described That's like comparing Grant Holt and Wayne Rooney because they're both strikers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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