Ian Westlake !! Hearing raving things about him in this loan spell ?

[billy_bremner]

First of all , Leeds fan here coming with peace and good wishes. Not stupid enough to enter the most active Brighton message board in the net and try to take the piss , so hope I can get some good banter going with regards to Ian Westlake !

I belong to the minority of Leeds fans who felt that Westy should not have been sent out on loan ,especially to a playoff rivals who had loads of games in hand !! Now , it hurts to see him perform wonderfully by the sounds of things and race past us in the table

We ve played Westy in the middle last season and out wide this season. During our fantastic run at the start of the season , Westy had a good role to play as a left winger but people always moaned about his lack of pace and power. I'm surprised now when I read your player ratings thread that all of you have credited him with good pace !!

Shows how badly the lad wanted to play competitive footy again and prove some people wrong ! I ve always rated Westy and even though he is not a natural winger , he is a versatile attacking midfielder who puts in a good shift unlike most players with such skill who tend to be lazy.

What is your take on Westy then lads ? We paid near 1 Million to sign him ( Harding costed us around 700k and Ipswich wanted an Extra 350k !! ) and I thought he would be our prime player in league 1. Can you afford Westlake if at all we decide to sell him ? How good has he been for ya ?

Good luck for the rest of the season ! If we continue to play as poorly as we have been off late , then I can see Westy returning to us sooner than later ! It's good to see him enjoy his football with Brighton instead of rotting in our reserves behind some rubbish players.

Heres hoping both of us reach the playoffs with the help of Westy

 

[Beach Hut]

If you paid a million for him then we cannot afford him.

We have been a bit light weight this season in midfield on the left and he plays very well. Good control and distribution not so sure on the pace but he contributes and it is clear he has been around a bit and knows what he is doing.

I think he is only here for a month so I would guess Leeds may not allow us to keep him after that as we have now passed you in the table.

Now as we a more sensible Leeds fan what on earth has gone wrong ?

Is it really the leaving of Poyet that has caused this poor form ?

 

[dougdeep]

Feel free to speak your mind on this forum, we are a lot friendlier than Waccoe.

 

[Superphil]

Blimey, sensible Leeds fan alert, but great to have you here. I spoke to "Westy" after the gmae yesterday, and he made it quite clear that he is not that enamoured with being at Leeds, and he will leave when he can. He said he would love to sign permanently for the Albion, and hopes that is what happens. He thinks the fans, the manager and the rest of the squad are great, and prefers living closer to his home area. He says he has a great family life so being in Leeds is a bit tough in that respect.

All in all a decent person, not a bad player either. I hope we can get him permanently, but I think that will be a tough one for our Chairman to pull off.

Stick around Billy, we do enjoy a bit of sensible banter with fans of other clubs

 

[Curious Orange]

It's a bit difficult to tell on a couple of games whether a player is going to be any good or not, but certainly if Westlake continues to perform like he did yesterday then he could make the difference between us reaching the play-offs or not (I still reckon we'll finish just short of that, but top ten is creditable). Doncaster Rovers are just about the best side we have seen down here, after Forest, very organised, very hard-working, and pretty inventive in areas where it counts (lots of dummies that actually come off!) and they don't concede goals very often. Now Westlake seemed to relish that challenge, hit an absolute cracker of a volley from a set-piece corner, and turned his full-back inside out on more than one occasion. Basically, he looked dangerous, and looked like he could deliver good ball to our strikers - which has been a problem for us all season.

 

[Da Man Clay]

Well in the last two games he has probably been the difference between a draw and a win. Leeds must have a brilliant midfield if this fella can't get into it. I reckon if we could get him for 200/300k we would take him, but given the fact you have paid a million I doubt very much we would get him for that.

Shame as if we managed to keep him for this season/next we would have a really good chance of promotion.

 

[Barry Izbak]

No he's shit actually.
I can well understand if you don't want him back.
We would be prepared to save you his wages by keeping him on I suppose.

 

[Yorkie]

No he's shit actually.
I can well understand if you don't want him back.
We would be prepared to save you his wages by keeping him on I suppose.

I agree. He can't be worth much at all really.






I really wish we'd taken him on a 2 months loan cos you just know that Leeds are going to want him back now.

 

[billy_bremner]

If we let him have you for an extra month , the fans would let their feelings known even more harshly during the games !!

Westlake never got a fair run in the side and was always the scapegoat for a bad team performance. Also , we played too much hoofball , something Westlake cannot adapt to !

I'm sure the club won't let Westlake go for anything less than 500k because his quality is obviously imminent ! He is just 23 and has a long way to go in fulfilling his talent !

As for whats gone wrong !! It's that bloody midget called Dennis Wise . He has left behind a depth less , incompetent , imbalanced squad behind for Macca to inherit. Yes , it does loook like Poyet was the real brains behind all these things because he provided the IQ to our team while Wise did all the dirty things on and off the pitch. We looked rudder less once Poyet left and after Wise spent loads of money on players we never required and left us for good , we were a disaster waiting to happen !

I really do feel sorry for Macca. 37 players in the squad and yet , it's so imbalanced and he has such a difficult job to do ( changing the attitude from hoofball to passing stuff ) .So the little mistakes he has made as a manager so far , it has back fired big time ( sending Westy on loan , Parker on loan etc ... dropping Huntington when he was on fire , giving Beckford a free run in the side etc ) ..

Even if we make the playoffs , I think we stand lil chance because of the fact that our squad is still craving for a proper left winger and a left full back !! A makeshift midfield and defense cannot take us through any further and we ve been exposed by every team in this league !

 

[Horses Arse]

If we let him have you for an extra month , the fans would let their feelings known even more harshly during the games !!

Westlake never got a fair run in the side and was always the scapegoat for a bad team performance. Also , we played too much hoofball , something Westlake cannot adapt to !

I'm sure the club won't let Westlake go for anything less than 500k because his quality is obviously imminent ! He is just 23 and has a long way to go in fulfilling his talent !

As for whats gone wrong !! It's that bloody midget called Dennis Wise . He has left behind a depth less , incompetent , imbalanced squad behind for Macca to inherit. Yes , it does loook like Poyet was the real brains behind all these things because he provided the IQ to our team while Wise did all the dirty things on and off the pitch. We looked rudder less once Poyet left and after Wise spent loads of money on players we never required and left us for good , we were a disaster waiting to happen !

I really do feel sorry for Macca. 37 players in the squad and yet , it's so imbalanced and he has such a difficult job to do ( changing the attitude from hoofball to passing stuff ) .So the little mistakes he has made as a manager so far , it has back fired big time ( sending Westy on loan , Parker on loan etc ... dropping Huntington when he was on fire , giving Beckford a free run in the side etc ) ..

Even if we make the playoffs , I think we stand lil chance because of the fact that our squad is still craving for a proper left winger and a left full back !! A makeshift midfield and defense cannot take us through any further and we ve been exposed by every team in this league !

When both Poyet and Wise were around and you were getting results at the start of the season were you playing particularly well? Sounded like there were a number of fortunate wins in the last ten minutes or so of matches; the philosophy being keep it tight and let the opposition tire before using the quality players to make the difference when it counts most.

Has these been a drammatic drop in form or is it a case of what comes around goes around?

 

[bright1064]

I have a feeling Leeds will be recalling Westlake sooner than we might think.

That is unless there is an agreement between the two teams whereby he cannot be recalled until the month is up?

 

[Beach Hut]

I have a feeling Leeds will be recalling Westlake sooner than we might think.

That is unless there is an agreement between the two teams whereby he cannot be recalled until the month is up?

Normally a loan player can be recalled anytime as far as I am aware - remember we called FDM back from Boston very quickly.

 

[Yorkie]

Normally a loan player can be recalled anytime as far as I am aware - remember we called FDM back from Boston very quickly.

Only goalkeepers can be recalled during the first month of a loan

Westlake - North Stand Chat

 

[Beach Hut]

Only goalkeepers can be recalled during the first month of a loan

Westlake - North Stand Chat

Thanks for clearing that up so we may well be without Westlake, Richards and Whing against Leeds............

 

[Yorkie]

Thanks for clearing that up so we may well be without Westlake, Richards and Whing against Leeds............

Whing's two match suspension is Swindon and Forest.

 

[Beach Hut]

Whing's two match suspension is Swindon and Forest.

Good, one morsel of comfort.

I would say a minimum 2 weeks out for Richards.

 

[billy_bremner]

When both Poyet and Wise were around and you were getting results at the start of the season were you playing particularly well? Sounded like there were a number of fortunate wins in the last ten minutes or so of matches; the philosophy being keep it tight and let the opposition tire before using the quality players to make the difference when it counts most.

Has these been a drammatic drop in form or is it a case of what comes around goes around?

No , we were just a team capable of winning battles but not football games , under Wise n co ! Fair enough , it worked well untill our captain got injured and some key players were missing ( Clapham , Casper etc ) . We never had a back up plan and the replacements that came in struggled to match that intensity we had earlier !

Those fortunate wins you talk about , it came from the winning mentality that Wise set up for the team. The never say die attitude and the siege mentality that prevailed , really took us through in the last few minutes of every game with belief. We lost all of that after our first dip in form.

Also , Jermaine Beckford himself admitted that many players became complacent after that fantastic start and they let it affect their performance. Now that didn't do Wise any good , especially when Poyet left , the complacency turned into disorganization amongst the team.

The final blow was when Wise spent loads of money this january on players who might be good for this level but were not filling critical positions in the squad that needed to be filled immediately !! Macca really has his hands tied at the moment . There are a lot of players out there who think that just because they wear the white shirt of LUFC , they are bigger and better than any other player in this league. It's a stinking attitude that needs to be thrown out of the system !!

 

[Couldn't Be Hyypia]

Interesting stuff Billy. Welcome to the board.

 

[billy_bremner]

Well in the last two games he has probably been the difference between a draw and a win. Leeds must have a brilliant midfield if this fella can't get into it. I reckon if we could get him for 200/300k we would take him, but given the fact you have paid a million I doubt very much we would get him for that.

Shame as if we managed to keep him for this season/next we would have a really good chance of promotion.

Yes , we had a brilliant midfield when Alan Thompson's groin was doing Okay . Thompson , Jonathan Douglas , Prutton and Carole - they were doing fine and Westlake couldn't really break into this midfield as they were fantastic for this league. But it's just that when he did break in , he got dropped in few times unfairly and off late , when we ve had quite a few injuries , Westlake was not considered for the central midfield position ( which I think is dubious because he played there for Ipswich and thats his best position ) ..

Yes , he will soon fade out for you fellas I'm thinking , once the dust settles down !! But he will still be a solid performer if you lot ain't expecting Messi to turn out every week like how we do !!

 

[Couldn't Be Hyypia]

"Yes , we had a brilliant midfield when Alan Thompson's groin was doing Okay"

Must have made interesting viewing!!!