Westwood Joins the squad.

[pazowl55]

2 hours ago, SiJ said:

What a farce.

 

I would suggest a top priority is to get a new keeper in the summer.

 

Westwood...he's back...again. Let's see how he does, but I'm not sure it would be wise to keep him around after this season.

Exactly in 12 month time we could be in the same position as we were in waiting for a new manager to come in and save him from training with the kids.

[McRightSide]

2 hours ago, Hookowl said:

 

I would be very shocked if he did start, so far Wildsmith is doing well and unless he has a drop in form I don't think he'll be immediately replaced.

He said in the press conference that if he’s available he’s playing.

 

I’m sure he won’t now be asking a rookie keeper to stand-in for the guy that he just announced was taking his place

[Hookowl]

2 minutes ago, McRightSide said:

He said in the press conference that if he’s available he’s playing.

 

I’m sure he won’t now be asking a rookie keeper to stand-in for the guy that he just announced was taking his place

 

He actually said "If he was available I would be looking for him to be playing", so yes he obviously was saying he rates him.

Your interpretation is that he meant he will definitely play at the first opportunity, my interpretation is that he rates him and would like him in his team.

So we maybe interpret things differently, but I didn't hear at anytime that he said Westwood would be taking any ones place.

[Joe Sunburn]

Apologies if already addressed but now that Westwood’s registered, who got bumped off? 
 

[Hookowl]

9 minutes ago, Joe Sunburn said:

Apologies if already addressed but now that Westwood’s registered, who got bumped off? 
 

 

Nobody.................still only 23/24 players registered.

[cookeh]

Well done to the club on that one.

 

Still an embarassment from Monk that he wasn't named in the league squad to start with.

[cowl]

35 minutes ago, Hookowl said:

He actually said "If he was available I would be looking for him to be playing", so yes he obviously was saying he rates him.

Your interpretation is that he meant he will definitely play at the first opportunity, my interpretation is that he rates him and would like him in his team.

So we maybe interpret things differently, but I didn't hear at anytime that he said Westwood would be taking any ones place.

 

Hopefully not, eh?

[Hookowl]

2 minutes ago, cowl said:

 

Hopefully not, eh?

 

After two clean sheets one would hope not, wouldn't improve team morale if he did.

[cowl]

1 minute ago, Hookowl said:

After two clean sheets one would hope not, wouldn't improve team morale if he did.

 

We've just had a change of manager. It won't affect team morale negatively at all because it's understood there'll be varying changes.

 

But then again, excluding Westwood from the squad in the first place didn't positively affect team morale in any obvious way either (despite that seemingly being the rationale behind it).

 

It'll obviously affect Wildsmith's morale though, you'd expect, which isn't a great thing in itself, but I'm less concerned about that than I am about the team as a whole.

[McRightSide]

1 hour ago, Hookowl said:

 

He actually said "If he was available I would be looking for him to be playing", so yes he obviously was saying he rates him.

Your interpretation is that he meant he will definitely play at the first opportunity, my interpretation is that he rates him and would like him in his team.

So we maybe interpret things differently, but I didn't hear at anytime that he said Westwood would be taking any ones place.

 

He said

 

”If he was available...I’d be looking to pick him.”

 

He’s available 

[Hookowl]

21 minutes ago, cowl said:

 

We've just had a change of manager. It won't affect team morale negatively at all because it's understood there'll be varying changes.

 

But then again, excluding Westwood from the squad in the first place didn't positively affect team morale in any obvious way either (despite that seemingly being the rationale behind it).

 

It'll obviously affect Wildsmith's morale though, you'd expect, which isn't a great thing in itself, but I'm less concerned about that than I am about the team as a whole.

 

You may be right although I would still be surprised if he plays straight away.

[Guest LondonOwl313]

17 minutes ago, Hookowl said:

 

You may be right although I would still be surprised if he plays straight away.

In 2018 when he’d not played all year or trained with the first team, Jos got fired on the Monday after Swansea and he played on the Saturday against Preston. So he could play straight away.. I guess match fitness isn’t so much of an issue for a GK. 

 

So now we know he can play.. it seems quite likely he will even though it’s harsh on Wildsmith 

[cowl]

59 minutes ago, Hookowl said:

You may be right although I would still be surprised if he plays straight away.

 

Who knows right now though?

 

Had Pulis not been talking Westwood up the other day, I'd have just assumed only what would be natural, which is that a player who's not been playing for a year would be way off being fit enough.

 

But it's very hard to imagine that Pulis would've said all he did about Westwood if he didn't also know that his fitness was at least adequate or close enough to being adequate.

 

Even if he was a fortnight away, it would be very questionable to put Wildsmith (or Dawson) in the position of knowing that it probably doesn't matter how well they play because Westwood would be in as soon as he's fit.

 

Still, as a counterpoint, Pulis did say all this at the stage while still not knowing for certain whether the issue over Westwood's registration would actually be resolved, and had it not been resolved as hoped, it would have created an unnecessary issue.

 

In truth, as happy as I am that Westwood has been made available again, I'll not be impressed if Westwood is only on the bench. But not because I'd think he ought to be playing, but because it would be like putting Wildsmith in the position of knowing that a single error will immediately see him dropped. I just hope Pulis is more sensible than that.

[Hookowl]

3 minutes ago, cowl said:

 

In truth, as happy as I am that Westwood has been made available again, I'll not be impressed if Westwood is only on the bench. But not because I'd think he ought to be playing, but because it would be like putting Wildsmith in the position of knowing that a single error will immediately see him dropped. I just hope Pulis is more sensible than that.

 

Definitely agree with this.

[Guest LondonOwl313]

8 minutes ago, cowl said:

 

Who knows right now though?

 

Had Pulis not been talking Westwood up the other day, I'd have just assumed only what would be natural, which is that a player who's not been playing for a year would be way off being fit enough.

 

But it's very hard to imagine that Pulis would've said all he did about Westwood if he didn't also know that his fitness was at least adequate or close enough to being adequate.

 

Even if he was a fortnight away, it would be very questionable to put Wildsmith (or Dawson) in the position of knowing that it probably doesn't matter how well they play because Westwood would be in as soon as he's fit.

 

Still, as a counterpoint, Pulis did say all this at the stage while still not knowing for certain whether the issue over Westwood's registration would actually be resolved, and had it not been resolved as hoped, it would have created an unnecessary issue.

 

In truth, as happy as I am that Westwood has been made available again, I'll not be impressed if Westwood is only on the bench. But not because I'd think he ought to be playing, but because it would be like putting Wildsmith in the position of knowing that a single error will immediately see him dropped. I just hope Pulis is more sensible than that.

Tbh on the last paragraph.. isn’t that exactly how it works being a goalkeeper. If Wildsmith plays with Westwood breathing down his neck he needs to keep standards up. It’s a bit of a sink or swim situation, if he swims then that’s great for the team. If he sinks then the more experienced player with better pedigree comes in. Win win

[cowl]

2 minutes ago, LondonOwl313 said:

Tbh on the last paragraph.. isn’t that exactly how it works being a goalkeeper. If Wildsmith plays with Westwood breathing down his neck he needs to keep standards up. It’s a bit of a sink or swim situation, if he swims then that’s great for the team. If he sinks then the more experienced player with better pedigree comes in. Win win

 

It would be a bit extreme though to place a keeper unnecessarily in that position without knowing much about him (how he ticks etc).

 

Besides, you want all the players to feel that they have rivals breathing down their necks to get in the side, but you don't want them to feel that the only way for them to stay in the side is to play out of their skin because that's when they start to take unnecessary risks in order to shine.

[theowlsman]

The most blatant, obvious, thing to expect, is for our fortunes to improve with Westwood in goal.

 

Even I can see that and my eyelids are stitched up.

[83owl]

12 minutes ago, theowlsman said:

The most blatant, obvious, thing to expect, is for our fortunes to improve with Westwood in goal.

 

Even I can see that and my eyelids are stitched up.

We’ve conceded 10 goals in 11 games. Our fortunes depend far more on what happens at the other end of the pitch.

[theowlsman]

3 minutes ago, 83owl said:

We’ve conceded 10 goals in 11 games. Our fortunes depend far more on what happens at the other end of the pitch.

 

So you’re going to say, when I’m proven right, which I always am, and our fortunes improve with Westwood in goal, that it was nothing to do with Westwood aren’t you?

[Guest LondonOwl313]

7 minutes ago, 83owl said:

We’ve conceded 10 goals in 11 games. Our fortunes depend far more on what happens at the other end of the pitch.

Maybe we don’t concede many because the focus is on defence and we don’t attack which is why we don’t score. We’re bound to be more open if we commit more players forward which we need to do.

 

We conceded far more second half of last season.

 

would have bet that we’d have got something at Rotherham with Westwood in goal. Dawson cost us the game in the first half