Ashley Westwood: The man who keeps Aston Villa ticking

The role of the deep-lying playmaker is sometimes undervalued by fans, but coaches like Mourinho and Guardiola attach significant value to players who can retain possession of the ball.

Mourinho himself is a firm believer in the concept of ‘resting in possession,’ where he considered that a team would spend more energy without the ball than they would whilst in possession. Mourinho’s theory is that a team should employ a high intensity pressing game to quickly win the ball back from an opponent, as once your team had regained possession of the ball, your players could rest in possession.

To rest in possession, you need players like Ashley Westwood to control the tempo of the match and mitigate against the kind of burn-out which Villa fans saw under Martin O’Neill.

Frustratingly, O’Neill’s teams worked tirelessly hard to regain possession of the ball, but they were often reckless in giving the ball away again straight afterwards. Players such as Nigel Reo-Coker were wasteful in possession and the defenders which O’Neill purchased for the club were not particularly sophisticated in an attacking sense either.

Ideally, Westwood’s game would more rapidly develop if he had an imposing defensive midfielder to play behind him such as Genk’s Kara Mobadj. Westwood has a lot to offer going forward and this sort of protection would enable Westwood to exploit his enviable passing range in more threatening areas of the pitch. Former mentor Dario Gradi certainly thinks there is a lot more to come from Ashley Westwood in future, as he explained recently to the Crewe Sentinel:

“He’s very good with his longer passing for instance,” Gradi said. “He’s got one of the best records of successful passes in the top flight, but I said to his dad, I’m not bloody surprised as he only passes it five yards! He needs to be pinging some balls around if he wants to go on to the next level, and he has certainly got that in his armoury. He can score goals, too. There’s more to come.”

Villa fans will be hoping there is a lot more to come from Westwood this season, especially if his cheeky Panenka-style free kick in pre-season against Wycombe was anything to go by.

Westwood finished the season strongly with four assists in back-to-back games against Sunderland and Norwich, and hopefully goals and assists will be something that Westwood looks to add to this season. It’s something that the player himself is planning for in the upcoming season.

“In terms of progress, I’d like a few more assists,” Westwood told Sky Sports. “I’d love to score in front of the Holte End too. That would be special – to hear the roar and celebrate with the fans.”