Ashley Westwood

[AJ]

I think it is a bit exaggerated to say that Westwood is the worst player at the club. Yes, his defence is horrible and at best non existent, but I do remember him having a few good games for us last season. I stress that, a few, meaning no more than two or three.

As for worst player at the club, Richards, Gardner, and Kozak are stronger contenders to fill that role.

I agree that he should not be starting games, but should be kept maybe 4th choice? After January of course.

Edited September 21, 2016 by AJ

[commander]

he's shit, everyone said he'd boss the championship, he did well against rotherham, utter shit the rest of the games. The reality is he was nowhere neart good enough for the Premier League, and he's proven he's not good enough for the Championship. 

[commander]

Also I can't agree with this good attitude and tries hard nonsense. he hasn't improved in any way in 5 years, he can't (or won't) tackle, can't go up for a header with his eyes open. His weakness has been (predominantly) defensively yet, there's been no improvement whatsoever, also in 5 years you'd expect he'd learn how to occasionally take a corner or free kick that wasn't complete garbage? 

 

Just because he isn't as outwardly disgraceful as say Richards, Guzan, Lescott or Gabby doesn't mean he should be excused for not even trying to get better.

Edited September 21, 2016 by commander

[KHV]

Plenty of people were keen to hammer Westwood after Ipswich and lay praise on Jedinak. Jedinak was atrocious at Ipswich and our worst player by a country mile 

[rjw63]

11 hours ago, DCJonah said:

The defence of Westwood now just seems to be for the sake of being stubborn. 

Surely we're all on the same page, no one thinks he should be starting games and part of our future do they?

No, check back through the thread, two or three think he's amazing

[jackbauer24]

I'm one of those people who likes to see players play in their proper positions, so why are we even debating Westwood being dropped?

We need at least two, preferably three true midfielders behind our attacking threesome. So if three, there isn't a single other option but to play Westwood really, Gardner is awful. If taking a risk and going all out attack, you need two players but neither Tshibola or Jedinak have inspired much confidence that they'll be out of the treatment room long enough to threaten the first team. So, again, Westwood has to play regularly. 

Overall he's still not our worst player by a long shot. A few months ago I stepped in to the normal Westwood bashing and suggested, while no world beater, he was nowhere near a priority to be replaced. I guess the summer window backed up I wasn't alone in that belief. However, he's now fallen well in to that bracket as other areas have been improved first so I expect in 2017 we'll see midfield improvements. Just as any progression dictates, you fix the urgent areas first and leave the other bits alone til you're trying to improve and not just repair. Strikeforce improved, defence improved, midfield is NOW on the list.

But I won't cheer when he's gone and don't think he's the worst player in the current squad or historically. I said there were at least 10 players who were worse than him last season and, even after the sales,  I'd still prefer to see him in the squad than Richards, Gabby, Gardner, Kozak, Hutton, Cissokho to begin with. 

He's tarnished by being an almost ever present in one of the worst periods in our history. Yet if several managers have tried to firefight our inevitable decline and still chosen to leave Westwood alone while they fix other areas he must be doing enough/ have the right attitude as a professional footballer to have warranted at least a little more appreciation, even if not a fan of his. First stage was repair so he will stay in the team, next stage will be improvement so he probably won't, but I'll give him a round of applause if I see him playing for the opposition.

Edited September 22, 2016 by jackbauer24
Spelling

[DCJonah]

You say he wasn't a priority to move on and that it shows that you're correct because managers have stuck with him. 

I'd point out 18th in the championship and relegated as arguably the worst team in premier league history suggest you and they were wrong. 

I will certainly cheer when he finally leaves, it's been a long time coming. 

[jackbauer24]

16 minutes ago, DCJonah said:

You say he wasn't a priority to move on and that it shows that you're correct because managers have stuck with him. 

I'd point out 18th in the championship and relegated as arguably the worst team in premier league history suggest you and they were wrong. 

I will certainly cheer when he finally leaves, it's been a long time coming. 

Well if that's your argument, any player who was there last year and here this year should be sold and we should cheer their departure. So I assume you'll be doing the same with Grealish, Ayew, Gestede, Cissokho?

Or, do you treat each player individually and assess their merits? The really bad ones have gone (Lescott etc), the poor ones are on the bench (Hutton) and the ones fine for now are playing (Ayew and Westwood).

Both can be improved on though, that's not the debate. For now, he's ok but the priority has shifted so that he is now much closer to being replaced than he was before the summer.

[bobzy]

1 hour ago, DCJonah said:

You say he wasn't a priority to move on and that it shows that you're correct because managers have stuck with him. 

I'd point out 18th in the championship and relegated as arguably the worst team in premier league history suggest you and they were wrong. 

I will certainly cheer when he finally leaves, it's been a long time coming. 

lol

[HanoiVillan]

5 hours ago, jackbauer24 said:

I'm one of those people who likes to see players play in their proper positions, so why are we even debating Westwood being dropped?

We need at least two, preferably three true midfielders behind our attacking threesome. So if three, there isn't a single other option but to play Westwood really, Gardner is awful. If taking a risk and going all out attack, you need two players but neither Tshibola or Jedinak have inspired much confidence that they'll be out of the treatment room long enough to threaten the first team. So, again, Westwood has to play regularly. 

Overall he's still not our worst player by a long shot. A few months ago I stepped in to the normal Westwood bashing and suggested, while no world beater, he was nowhere near a priority to be replaced. I guess the summer window backed up I wasn't alone in that belief. However, he's now fallen well in to that bracket as other areas have been improved first so I expect in 2017 we'll see midfield improvements. Just as any progression dictates, you fix the urgent areas first and leave the other bits alone til you're trying to improve and not just repair. Strikeforce improved, defence improved, midfield is NOW on the list.

But I won't cheer when he's gone and don't think he's the worst player in the current squad or historically. I said there were at least 10 players who were worse than him last season and, even after the sales,  I'd still prefer to see him in the squad than Richards, Gabby, Gardner, Kozak, Hutton, Cissokho to begin with. 

He's tarnished by being an almost ever present in one of the worst periods in our history. Yet if several managers have tried to firefight our inevitable decline and still chosen to leave Westwood alone while they fix other areas he must be doing enough/ have the right attitude as a professional footballer to have warranted at least a little more appreciation, even if not a fan of his. First stage was repair so he will stay in the team, next stage will be improvement so he probably won't, but I'll give him a round of applause if I see him playing for the opposition.

Approximately 1000% too balanced. 

You haven't even called him a word removed, must try harder. 

[DCJonah]

3 hours ago, jackbauer24 said:

Well if that's your argument, any player who was there last year and here this year should be sold and we should cheer their departure. So I assume you'll be doing the same with Grealish, Ayew, Gestede, Cissokho?

Or, do you treat each player individually and assess their merits? The really bad ones have gone (Lescott etc), the poor ones are on the bench (Hutton) and the ones fine for now are playing (Ayew and Westwood).

Both can be improved on though, that's not the debate. For now, he's ok but the priority has shifted so that he is now much closer to being replaced than he was before the summer.

Apart from grealish I wouldn't be too fussed to see the others replaced. And none of those players have been the ever present that Westwood has been in a team that has consistently declined to embarrassing levels over the past 4 years. 

[DCJonah]

3 hours ago, bobzy said:

lol

I've been thrilled with seeing the back of lots of players. You've never been happy with a player being moved on?

[tismyk]

19 hours ago, KHV said:

Plenty of people were keen to hammer Westwood after Ipswich and lay praise on Jedinak. Jedinak was atrocious at Ipswich and our worst player by a country mile 

Close to being the worst against Brentford as well

[KHV]

7 minutes ago, tismyk said:

Close to being the worst against Brentford as well

He had Mcarthur and Cabaye round him at Palace. He needs a player with legs round him and a playmaker. We don't have this. Playing him with Tshibola and Westwood in a 3 will probably help deflect his inadequacies. In a midfield two he is woeful

[KHV]

7 minutes ago, tismyk said:

Close to being the worst against Brentford as well

He had Mcarthur and Cabaye round him at Palace. He needs a player with legs round him and a playmaker. We don't have this. Playing him with Tshibola and Westwood in a 3 will probably help deflect his inadequacies. In a midfield two he is woeful

[bobzy]

20 hours ago, commander said:

Also I can't agree with this good attitude and tries hard nonsense. he hasn't improved in any way in 5 years, he can't (or won't) tackle, can't go up for a header with his eyes open. His weakness has been (predominantly) defensively yet, there's been no improvement whatsoever, also in 5 years you'd expect he'd learn how to occasionally take a corner or free kick that wasn't complete garbage? 

3rd most tackles (average per game) behind Tshibola and Ayew.

The amount of things people make up in some odd attempt to validate why they think Westwood is shit is baffling.

[bobzy]

2 minutes ago, KHV said:

He had Mcarthur and Cabaye round him at Palace. He needs a player with legs round him and a playmaker. We don't have this. Playing him with Tshibola and Westwood in a 3 will probably help deflect his inadequacies. In a midfield two he is woeful

Surely Jedinak's main strengths are being effective defensively.  Why wouldn't he be able to operate with, say, Tshibola?

[tismyk]

58 minutes ago, bobzy said:

Surely Jedinak's main strengths are being effective defensively.  Why wouldn't he be able to operate with, say, Tshibola?

Hardly made a tackle against Brentford, thought Downing was back for a while

[KHV]

4 minutes ago, tismyk said:

Hardly made a tackle against Brentford, thought Downing was back for a while

He made none at Ipswich

[TRO]

On 21 September 2016 at 20:06, Mantis said:

What's your point? I never said every team plays with a holding midfielder.

Why is your opening gambit, always,"whats your point"....do you not understand about what is being said or is it just habitual.

If so , ask, in a more courteous way.....and an answer maybe forthcoming.

 

Edited September 23, 2016 by TRO