Ashley Westwood - Sold to Burnley

[adrenachrome]

This is a pointer called Westy watching the running dogs go by.

[Comrade Blitz]

Planting trees on a football pitch is criminal.
Someone should call the copse

It is most definitety an arboration

[Dribbler]

Bull. He was shit from day one. I remember scratching my head in disbelief when seeing him in a  pre-season game just after he signed wondering what the hell we were doing signing rubbish like him (and others). Even funnier was when the club PR machine tried to talk him up for an England place in his first few months here. The most ridiculous part was that so many fans fell for it. Now look at us!

Bull. When he was playing in the midfield with Delph alongside him he looked ok. Kept it simple, got the ball, moved it on to the more creative players in the team, did a job. When those better players moved on, he had more responsibility to affect games and be creative, his game isn't up to that which is why he has struggled badly for the last couple of seasons

So the best you can up with is that at times during his 5 years here he looked "okay" and occasionally "did a job".
Christ what a miss he'll be.

Your comments seem to display a distinct lack of perception about football, football players and how football teams are built... but from experience that doesn't surprise me. I'll requote for you what i wrote earlier in the thread about his leaving:

Good luck to him, as people say he's a nice guy who always tried his best, it's just his limitations were laid open for all to see by playing in some very poor squads with even poorer midfields.

A quick look at some of the player's analysis on various sites have his strong points listed as: short/long passing, agility, ball control, stamina, composure and vision, and to me that seems pretty accurate. What you get is a player that can sit in midfield, seeks to react, intercept, or contain and close down the ball when out of possession (rather than tackling), and when in possession keeps the midfield 'ticking over' with mainly short to medium length simple passes, and the odd long ball, to the right creative players, rather than runs and dribbling past opponents.

To me that's exactly what he did for us, and pretty well when he had the right players around him to create the correct balance in midfield at the start (so much so some pundits were calling for an England call up), but with poorer players around him all of the the things he doesn't do so well, or does poorly, got highlighted. He's very much a player in the Carrick mould, though not as good obviously, and Carrick is/was much stronger in other areas of his game. But unless you're generally paying top dollar, you're not going to get players that are 'total footballers' that are strong in all areas and that's where the correct gelling of players with different, but complementary, attributes comes in. I think he could do well at Burnley, Dyche will know how to play him, and who to play him with, and ironically i think he's better suited to the more technical game of the premier league than the rough and tumble of the championship.

Doesn't deserve the stick he's been getting from a lot of the fans on here IMO, but do think it's the right move for him and us, and think he's been left a bit psychologically scarred by the events at Villa over the last 4 years or so.

Essentially then, to try and simplify that for you: Every player has strengths and weaknesses, a good manager will play that player in a team and system that utilises those strengths whilst negating those weaknesses. As a consequence, when playing in a team with the right balance of midfielders, as highlighted above, he was very effective as they highlighted his strengths and negated his weaknesses, he could essentially play the role he's good at. When played in a poor midfield that lacked.. well most things, and a poor overall team, he looked surprisingly... poor.

Yes he has to take part responsibility for his time here and where we are, but he can only go out and play in the team that's been picked in the role he's been asked to play, which to my mind he did, and did so conscientiously and as a model pro. For his attitude to the club and effort at the least, he deserves a bit of respect, especially given how may other players have shafted us in that same time period.

Obviously that's only one analysis though, and there are other well considered and reflective analysis that can be brought to light on the subject too such as:

He's a wanker!

[saunders_heroes]

Thanks for the essay, but I know a shit footballer when I see one and Westwood falls into that category.

[Tony Erdington]

My favourite part of this thread, is the title - WESTWOOD SOLD, for that reason alone its been a good window. Sold.

[saunders_heroes]

My favourite part of this thread, is the title - WESTWOOD SOLD, for that reason alone its been a good window. Sold.

Hear hear!

[brian green]

The best bit about the pitch tree planting story was the little Scots girl who said "we just dribble round them" which gets us perfectly back to Westwood.

[Mister E]

Why O Why has Aberdeenshire Council planted trees on public football pitches?  Does the SFA have some sort of pitch dimensions (excluding trees) agenda?  I blame Russon.  The spokesperson on TV was wearing a claret and blue woolly hat.

Planting trees on a football pitch is criminal.
Someone should call the copse

Bring back the birch!

Leaf it alone, pal.

[LeeB]

Thanks for the essay, but I know a shit footballer when I see one and Westwood falls into that category.

Indeed, and may I add regardless of the pitch size, he'd find somewhere to go missing.

[passitsideways]

Bull. He was shit from day one. I remember scratching my head in disbelief when seeing him in a  pre-season game just after he signed wondering what the hell we were doing signing rubbish like him (and others). Even funnier was when the club PR machine tried to talk him up for an England place in his first few months here. The most ridiculous part was that so many fans fell for it. Now look at us!

Bull. When he was playing in the midfield with Delph alongside him he looked ok. Kept it simple, got the ball, moved it on to the more creative players in the team, did a job. When those better players moved on, he had more responsibility to affect games and be creative, his game isn't up to that which is why he has struggled badly for the last couple of seasons

So the best you can up with is that at times during his 5 years here he looked "okay" and occasionally "did a job".
Christ what a miss he'll be.

Your comments seem to display a distinct lack of perception about football, football players and how football teams are built... but from experience that doesn't surprise me. I'll requote for you what i wrote earlier in the thread about his leaving:

Good luck to him, as people say he's a nice guy who always tried his best, it's just his limitations were laid open for all to see by playing in some very poor squads with even poorer midfields.

A quick look at some of the player's analysis on various sites have his strong points listed as: short/long passing, agility, ball control, stamina, composure and vision, and to me that seems pretty accurate. What you get is a player that can sit in midfield, seeks to react, intercept, or contain and close down the ball when out of possession (rather than tackling), and when in possession keeps the midfield 'ticking over' with mainly short to medium length simple passes, and the odd long ball, to the right creative players, rather than runs and dribbling past opponents.

To me that's exactly what he did for us, and pretty well when he had the right players around him to create the correct balance in midfield at the start (so much so some pundits were calling for an England call up), but with poorer players around him all of the the things he doesn't do so well, or does poorly, got highlighted. He's very much a player in the Carrick mould, though not as good obviously, and Carrick is/was much stronger in other areas of his game. But unless you're generally paying top dollar, you're not going to get players that are 'total footballers' that are strong in all areas and that's where the correct gelling of players with different, but complementary, attributes comes in. I think he could do well at Burnley, Dyche will know how to play him, and who to play him with, and ironically i think he's better suited to the more technical game of the premier league than the rough and tumble of the championship.

Doesn't deserve the stick he's been getting from a lot of the fans on here IMO, but do think it's the right move for him and us, and think he's been left a bit psychologically scarred by the events at Villa over the last 4 years or so.

Essentially then, to try and simplify that for you: Every player has strengths and weaknesses, a good manager will play that player in a team and system that utilises those strengths whilst negating those weaknesses. As a consequence, when playing in a team with the right balance of midfielders, as highlighted above, he was very effective as they highlighted his strengths and negated his weaknesses, he could essentially play the role he's good at. When played in a poor midfield that lacked.. well most things, and a poor overall team, he looked surprisingly... poor.

Yes he has to take part responsibility for his time here and where we are, but he can only go out and play in the team that's been picked in the role he's been asked to play, which to my mind he did, and did so conscientiously and as a model pro. For his attitude to the club and effort at the least, he deserves a bit of respect, especially given how may other players have shafted us in that same time period.

Obviously that's only one analysis though, and there are other well considered and reflective analysis that can be brought to light on the subject too such as:

He's a wanker!

Good post, but I think we've got well past the point where people can be reasonable and considered about Westwood.

[LeeB]

You would stick up for him with that username.

[supertom]

Ashley Westwood: Hide and Seek Grand Champion in his Primary and Secondary School years. On his leavers day having completed his GCSE's, he was given a lifetime achievement award for his skills at hide and seek. Unfortunately when it came to actually handing him the trophy they couldn't find the fucker.

[passport1]

Well if they need to find him he's up at Burnley playing in the Premiership, a division our club is currently having great difficulty in finding.

[Ads]

As long as he's massively out of his depth at somebody who isn't us, I can rest easy

[mr underhill]

that's how I feel - Rudy's playing for another PL side, and that's even shadier shit