Westwood out for two weeks

[@owlstalk]

5 minutes ago, edwinowl said:

Neither wildsmith nor Dawson are good enough at this level. 
Westwood is 

 

 

Except he keeps making blunders, costing us games, costing us points, and going off injured, or not being available for selection through either 'injury' or being banished

Apart from that maybe?

[@owlstalk]

1 minute ago, cowl said:

 

The sad truth is that when you exclude Westwood's extended periods on the naughty step, his fitness record has been the depressing ‘normal’. And I reckon Hutchinson's was only probably slightly below (and actually very fit over his last season with us ironically enough). The problem with these two players wasn't the number of games they started though, but the number of games they finished.

 

But I've no doubt, injuries and general squad fitness has held us back massively. Yeah, we also find other ways to fail, but none more so than this, in my opinion.

Bang on

I wonder if Pulis bringing in massive lumbering oak trees of players will help with this issue

[cowl]

1 minute ago, @owlstalk said:

Bang on

I wonder if Pulis bringing in massive lumbering oak trees of players will help with this issue

 

It's an itch he's to scratch for himself though.

 

If Wildsmith or Dawson would already have established a reputation within the game as solid keepers he wouldn't have bothered.

 

Yeah, he was probably always going to reintegrate Westwood back into the squad (because incoming managers tend to do at least this), but I highly doubt he'd have been so keen to get him straight into the first team again—and he was VERY keen, after all.

[CircleSeven]

1 minute ago, cowl said:

 

The sad truth is that when you exclude Westwood's extended periods on the naughty step, his fitness record has been the depressing ‘normal’. And I reckon Hutchinson's was only probably slightly below (and actually very fit over his last season with us ironically enough). The problem with these two players wasn't the number of games they started though, but the number of games they finished.

 

But I've no doubt, injuries and general squad fitness has held us back massively. Yeah, we also find other ways to fail, but none more so than this, in my opinion.

The injuries situation is one of the things that baffles me more and more the longer it goes on. 
Manager after manger turns up, says we have one of the worst injury situations they have seen and then nothing changes and eventually the manager gets fired, in no small part due to the injury situation!

I’m sure it’s the punishing Sheffield hills which if your not used to them really take their toll. 
The daft thing is that I have never seen I more convincing theory than that!

There must be something intrinsic to the coaching and medical infrastructure surely that can be improved?

I know signing players who typically haven’t been playing regularly at their own clubs doesn’t help, but I have never seen anything like we have experienced in the last few years anywhere else. 

[cowl]

1 minute ago, CircleSeven said:

The injuries situation is one of the things that baffles me more and more the longer it goes on. 
Manager after manger turns up, says we have one of the worst injury situations they have seen and then nothing changes and eventually the manager gets fired, in no small part due to the injury situation!

I’m sure it’s the punishing Sheffield hills which if your not used to them really take their toll. 
The daft thing is that I have never seen I more convincing theory than that!

There must be something intrinsic to the coaching and medical infrastructure surely that can be improved?

I know signing players who typically haven’t been playing regularly at their own clubs doesn’t help, but I have never seen anything like we have experienced in the last few years anywhere else. 

 

To be honest, I'm a bit sceptical that Pulis really has unearthed the reason for the high-volume of injuries. Or at least, all of a sudden anyway. I mean I assume if it's known now, then it was also known before he came to the club. It's not like Pulis is himself an expert in the field, after all.

 

Still, it's so true that all the managers we've had have come in and made the right noises about the injuries, only for them later to be sacked amidst a crippling injury list.

 

In fact, we've already seen the pattern we've seen so many times in the past: a manager feels they have little option but to risk starting players that are carrying injuries. They get away with it for a week, and rather than quitting when they're ahead they get over confident and try to get away with it again. The luck never holds long enough. But the games keep coming and the pressure to play the best team always exists.

 

So, I don't know if it's because we always seem to be on the slippery slope of a lengthy injury list to begin with, or we just have reckless managers, or incompetent backroom staff, or susceptible players, or just poor facilities? All I know is that it's held us back every season for as long as I can remember (apart, perhaps, from CC's first? And even that was hardly injury free.)

[BRADDO]

Good old Westy. 

 

Enjoy Christmas with your family and we'll see you in January. 

 

For 20 minutes. 

[Etchesketch]

3 hours ago, Dutch McLovin said:

Which he was rightly dropped for. But that was over a year ago and we were hunting down a top 3 place.

 

Now the ex gaffer has been and gone like an earthquake leaving the club in a perilous position ON the field. Pulis who was not my choice has come in and looking at how to get the best out of what he has until January when he will battle no doubt with our owner to get good players in. We have a lack of experience and leaders. Westwood can contribute in both those areas with his clean slate and his backing from the manager.

 

Ideally a couple of years ago we should have been integrating one of our keepers into the first team with the help of Westwood to take over his number one spot and should by now have the position as his own. That hasnt happened through years of mismanagement from the top down. We are where we are. Westwood is not the future but he can contribute now. 

Haven't Wildsmith and Dawson both had good runs in the side these past couple of years though.  What do you mean by integrating them into the side?  By Westwood being frozen out they have been given chances. 

[Etchesketch]

1 hour ago, cowl said:

Why are many fans keen to see Westwood given the chance to regain his form?

 

Because all our current keepers have been making mistakes when called upon for 2 years now. There is no obvious alternative.

 

But Westwood unlike the others has at least at one time been voted POTS twice and been in nets when we twice achieved our highest ever number of clean sheets in a season. Not to mention the countless MOTM awards.

This was four or five seasons ago when he was at his peak.

[matthefish2002]

Think our bad injury record over the years is down to:

 

1. Signing players with bad injury records
2. Playing players too early coming back from injury.
3. Bad luck.

I cant believe Pulis had suddenly found an answer that medical experts at the club have never worked out.

[Etchesketch]

1 minute ago, matthefish2002 said:

Think our bad injury record over the years is down to:

 

1. Signing players with bad injury records
2. Playing players too early coming back from injury.
3. Bad luck.

I cant believe Pulis had suddenly found an answer that medical experts at the club have never worked out.

I think this just about sums it up.  A combination of these three will always lead to bad injury situations at any club.

[cowl]

2 minutes ago, Etchesketch said:

This was four or five seasons ago when he was at his peak.

 

And since then no-one, including himself, has bettered the level he'd set.

 

Quite the opposite, in fact, and this is why many are keen to see whether Westwood can recover any kind of form.

[@owlstalk]

4 minutes ago, cowl said:

 

And since then no-one, including himself, has bettered the level he'd set.

 

Quite the opposite, in fact, and this is why many are keen to see whether Westwood can recover any kind of form.

 

 

I've checked

No he can't

He just makes blunders and gets 'injured'

Hope that clears this up once and for all for everyone

[matthefish2002]

Just now, cowl said:

 

And since then no-one, including himself, has bettered the level he'd set.

 

Quite the opposite, in fact, and this is why many are keen to see whether Westwood can recover any kind of form.

 

Think a lot of football fans and Wednesday fans in particular are sentimental.

Westwood was an integral part of our best seasons recently and added to this he seemed a bit of a character with the head in the towel on his knees just before kick off, crossing himself before every corner, berating the defence when a goal went in.

Some fans get too attached to players and find it hard to let go when players are over the hill.

[cowl]

Just now, @owlstalk said:

I've checked

No he can't

He just makes blunders and gets 'injured'

Hope that clears this up once and for all for everyone

 

I thought you said your opinion on this doesn't matter though and that only Westwood on the pitch can set the record straight?

[@owlstalk]

Just now, cowl said:

 

I thought you said your opinion on this doesn't matter though and that only Westwood on the pitch can set the record straight?

 

 

Exactly

I checked by checking out the last few games that Westwood played, evaluated his performance, checked for injuries

 

 

[Hookowl]

1 hour ago, FreshOwl said:

You don’t lose talent in a year. Keepers notoriously age better and peak later in their career 

 

What I would say is that there’s been nothing to prove he’s not, and until then you’d have to assume he’s of a similar standard to what he was 

 

Before he was 'frozen out' as it were, he was dropped from the team because his form was bad. So if you would assume he's of a similar standard to what he was then you'd have to  assume his form is bad.

[cowl]

1 minute ago, matthefish2002 said:

 

Think a lot of football fans and Wednesday fans in particular are sentimental.

Westwood was an integral part of our best seasons recently and added to this he seemed a bit of a character with the head in the towel on his knees just before kick off, crossing himself before every corner, berating the defence when a goal went in.

Some fans get too attached to players and find it hard to let go when players are over the hill.

 

You mean over-sentimental.

 

Sentimentality is the very basis of being a club's fan, and certainly not a condition only Wednesday fans are afflicted by.

[cowl]

Just now, @owlstalk said:

 

 

Exactly

I checked by checking out the last few games that Westwood played, evaluated his performance, checked for injuries

 

 

 

Even so, I think your other point about Westwood setting the record straight on the pitch is a good one. That's the way Pulis sees it anyway.

 

But I also did a bit of checking, and it turns out that all the keepers are far from convincing.

[FreshOwl]

3 minutes ago, Hookowl said:

 

Before he was 'frozen out' as it were, he was dropped from the team because his form was bad. So if you would assume he's of a similar standard to what he was then you'd have to  assume his form is bad.

All footballers go through bad form. I think it’s fair to say that before then he had been pretty much exceptional for years, so we rule him out over a few poor performances? 

[@owlstalk]

4 minutes ago, FreshOwl said:

All footballers go through bad form. I think it’s fair to say that before then he had been pretty much exceptional for years, so we rule him out over a few poor performances? 

 

 

It's not 'a few' though is it?

It's like you've seen his calamity and then just deleted it from your brain and are now trying to tell all of us that saw it that it didn't happen