Article: Ashley Williams | Football, Swansea

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JamieT567

JamieT567

Member
May 31, 2011
213
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16
Swansea
A few people have brought up Ashley Williams and they way that he has played the last few games, Which I thought was unfair but listening to the game last night, and reading some match reports It seems like Ash is starting to get a little cocky and thinking he's better than the team.

I've read reports, I listened to the game last night, and it seemed that the young players, like Alfei and Walsh had great games, Tate gave 100%, but Ashley had this attitude that we was to important to play against such a lower league side, which I think is shocking.

This whole debate started last night, because somebody tweeted this at Ash - 'reports say you looked like you thought you were too good to be in that game last night - we need a big one from you this Saturday.' Fair comment I thin, some criticism but nothing that isn't the truth. Ashley's response to this was to block the person that tweeted it, which I think is wrong.

One thing that I as a fan love, is somebody who gives %100 no matter what the game, and I think as fans we all have a soft spot for somebody who gives %100 weather they are a great player or not, e.g Alan Tate, not our best player, but gives %100 no matter what, and that's why most of us love him.

The last thing we need at the club is for players to get the "do you know who I am?" mentality which seems to be developing in Ashley Williams, and I think that it needs to be sorted out sooner rather than later so the fans don't get angry, and his team mates don't either.

650 fans went to the game last night, what a great attendance for a Tuesday night game against a League 2 team. But most of the players didn't think they had to try hard in the game because they were League 2, alot of these players are fringe players, so they should be trying as had as they can to get into the team, 650 fans went to watch their heroes, but their heroes didn't seem to think they had to give %100.

At times Ashley Williams has been the difference between winning and losing, I think that now is the time that he has to start earning his Premier League wages, if he doesn't start performing, I think the biggest kick up the arse is bringing in Tate or Monk to replace him.

To be fair to Ashley he did go on twitter after the game and say sorry - but he shouldn't have to do that, he shouldn't have to say sorry because there is nothing to be sorry about when you've given 100% and just weren't good enough.

Rant over.
 
Doesn't really surprise me that Ash may have been one of the players to have the wrong attitude towards the game last night. Always seems a bit cocky anyway which is normally a good thing, because it makes you think you can play against the best, but you have to have the talent to go with it. He is a good defender, but maybe he thinks he is undroppable for both Swans and Wales, which has gone to his head a bit. He needs to keep improving otherwise he will be remembered as Danny Gabbidon part 2
 
he's been like that for a while, obviously thinks he something special(he's been on holiday with rio don't you know) he almost cost the game saturday with his rash turn his back on the action challenge. he's bitched about fans giving him stick on twitter last season(if i remember correctly) the only time i'd follow him was if he had a hole in his pocket and his wages were falling out.
 
I don't think it will happen but given the posts so far it would have to be Ash which, no doubt, would quickly be followed by a transfer request.
 
Well this is a thread isn't it!!! Don't know where to begin.

Twitter is a live by the sword die by the sword kind of thing isn't it. Nothing like the fans letting it rip through twitter, no place to hide there if you mail it in on the field. You can walk away from the boo birds at the stadium but you can't walk away from Twitter. And whoever commented on apologies shouldn't be necessary - damn right, no shame in losing if you give 100%.

If Ash is really that guilty of not putting in a full shift then BR needs to effect a serious recalibration - however it's done, publicly, privately - cause this is not tolerable. Whether we / he or BR likes it, Ash is our leader and proxy captain on the field and needs to perform that way at all times. Transfer request be damned - the situation if it exists must be sorted. Can't quite see any other Prem Manager giving sweet FA on whether or not a transfer request would be pending and he's just signed a contract extension so either way we get cash and control the situation.

As for Monk coming in ... Caulkner hasn't really put a foot wrong in either game. For a 19 year old kid he's been exemplary, not perfect, but how can you not play him. Redknap has got to be loving this! Monk or Tate for Ash ... quite frankly I don't know if Caulker has enough talent or experience yet to cover the spread, it wouldn't be fair on him.
 
you may have a point about ash being the big i am. im not certain now if he should be made captain as its a big responsibility and he tries too hard to impress. when he makes a howler its a big howler but who else do we have in his position. i love the guy and have met him a few times. I think he should not try too hard as thats when you make mistakes, he should play his natural game which he is very good at. By the way have you seen the band he is part of, here is ash,Sinclair, dyer and someone else(i have forgotten who) and they are called none other than the Liberty Jacks.......cool eh....
 
Finger pointing is not going to help, we win by the team, we lose by the team, all them were responsible last night, and I am sure brendan will sort out who needs to be sorted out, sorry but twitter , facebook are crap, they do my ****ing head in, and reading posts about who twittered is bollocks, I don't give a monkeys, just let any problems be sorted out internally and that is it!
 
I dont care if ash has an off day , he has had plenty of good games to warrent the odd bad one IMO. Dont forget he plays far more games than any other player in our team ,and sometimes he is going to be below par .

i dont think it takes 1 player to make the other 10 not play well,i think there must have been a team full of big time charlies last night . a shame ,i never thought i would say that about our boys :)
 
In my opinion, this is an unfair rant and it's using one player as a scape goat... The team performance against Shrewsbury was awful. Not just Williams, he may not have had a good game but it was the whole team. We can't entirely blame Graham that we haven't scored yet, or Vorm that we conceded 4 at Man City blah blah blah.

Also, I don't understand how people can base so much on assumption and opinion... What make you think that Williams thinks he's the "big I am" or that he's "too big" for the club? Where do you get that information from?
 
Doey said:
In my opinion, this is an unfair rant and it's using one player as a scape goat... The team performance against Shrewsbury was awful. Not just Williams, he may not have had a good game but it was the whole team. We can't entirely blame Graham that we haven't scored yet, or Vorm that we conceded 4 at Man City blah blah blah.

Also, I don't understand how people can base so much on assumption and opinion... What make you think that Williams thinks he's the "big I am" or that he's "too big" for the club? Where do you get that information from?
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Some people saying his attitude towards the game yesterday seemed that he didn't give 100%, The whole team played poor yesterday, It's just the fact that Williams has had a poor run of form and blocked that guy on Twitter. I don't think he's being used as a scape goat, because Gower and Orlandi were getting ripped to shreds by the commentators last night aswell, It's not just all about the Shrewsbury game, but the Shrewsbury game has arose many questions about him
 
Didn't see or hear the game.
Williams has had many great games for this club. But a few bad ones. It wouldn't surprise me if his attitude started to turn for the worse. Can't blame him. Playing all those games in row, new contract etc...But it needs to be sorted. Glad it's come to light in a game of not much importance though. Hopefully a change will come
 
I'm not denying Williams hasn't been set at his high standards lately. What i'm just trying to understand is how people can question the attitude of a player who has played 150(give or take) games on the trot and played at Shrewsbury on his birthday. Williams played that game because he wanted to, if he didn't want to play he could have asked to be rested and he would have been.

The twitter thing though, when you see how much stick they do get then sometimes a comment can tip you over... How does this guy even know he's been blocked?

Don't let a very bad team effort cloud your judgement of one player... If we lose on Saturday it won't be long before some start calling for Brendans head.
 
Doey said:
Don't let a very bad team effort cloud your judgement of one player... If we lose on Saturday it won't be long before some start calling for Brendans head.
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I'm sorry but I can't see that happening, Swansea fans are more loyal than that, if we lose on Saturday we will lose to a team which is better than us. Brendan chose a strong enough team yesterday, it was the players fault.

And I have said it already, the whole team played bad, with a few exceptions, but this isn't the first bad game Ash has had, and it's less about him playing bad and more about the cocky side of him coming out.
 
As far as I'm concerned this is all nonsense, the real issue is, that Rodgers made a statement of intent, that he failed to back up, and he only has himself to blame for that, if you look at his line up, there are issues there, and while he might say we put out a side that was strong enough, the reality is that it was not, he fully knows that these none league, and lower league sides, are always looking for a big scalp in the cup, not that we are a big scalp, but I'm sure you get my drift, Rodgers can say what he likes, but the reality is, he really was not interested in this Carling cup, only two players from our starting line up from the Wigan game only confirms that! By the way why wasn't Jazz Richards in the line up?? Sorry but I'm not interested in Rodgers shifting the blame to the player, he called the shots, and gambled with this line up, and it blew up in his face, and that's how I see it, just my opinion!..............
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So Jamie the whole team played bad yet you single out Ash, sorry but he had a good game against Wigan, the tackle that lead to the penalty was more bad timing and Gomez making a meal out of it to be honest!

As for Williams banning someone from twitter, so what it's his account, if someone was mouthing off at me, they would get the same treatment, it doesn't mean he is to cocky , and it doesn't mean there should be a witch hunt!
 
I just feel that you can't call someone "cocky", "too big" or "I am" purely on your own interpretation of it. You can't fairly assess Williams on Man City, that game is an exception. Therefore, all of this is really based on a mostly good game against Wigan and a rubbish team performance at Shrewsbury...

Maybe if Williams was banging on Twitter about how amazing he is or how important etc I'd get it. That's not the reality though... Williams has just signed a new contract, often does good interviews and as far as I know, has never come out and make himself look "cocky" in public.

P.s. Jazz is coming out the back end of an injury. Picked up a dead leg in training yesterday as well but he'd due to start today against a strong Man Utd reserve team!
 
Dragon-that is a fair point Made RE rodgers selection. Anyway guys its all about saturdays game . For me it has to be 3 points its going to be hard i know. But the shrews result Will be forgtton with a swans win and ash Will return to being the best thing since ski ed bread ! ;)
 
Exactly, it's all about Saturday and a good performance there! I did say it above though, if we lose on Saturday, there's too much sideways passing and no end product (Sousa style) then SOME will start calling for Brendans head.

It's good to say the fans are loyal, but the reality is that a lot of fans are as fickle as players.
 
Nobody knows for sure about Ash's supposed attitude. He's been an incredible capture for us, probably far more than we ever expected of him, but he is still not the finished article. This is going to be such an intense season, where we are going to need to be at the top our game, every game, just to compete. Nobody will know that more than Ash. That's still not any excuse for a 'lax' performance against Shrewsbury, if indeed that was the case!! I don't know, I wasn't there, all I can say I listened to full match commentary & I wasn't impressed by the sound of certain individuals' performances. I still think it was a good enough team to have put out though, but if your 'attitude's' not right (not up for a fight), the difference in class soon dissappears & it soon becomes a level playing field!! Everyone one of those players', with the exception of Walsh, have played at least Championship standard. There was no excuse for that result, even allowing for the fact that the set-up of the team could have been better!! Things happen for a reason & Brendan will certainly have learned, no sorry, confirmed probably, what limitations we have with some of our 'fringe' players. It's going to be a long season & with injuries/suspensions we could be wearing quite thin, standard-wise. Plenty of food for thought for him & maybe he'll utilise the remaining window days' even more so now. But if nothing else, a good Northern Irish 'tongue-lashing' might have woken a few up from their slumber!!!!........
 
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