Why is Ashton so poor in the air

[Rudolph Hucker 0]

Running onto a cross Deano is fine; on the ground he is excellent and it is a crime that the ball is so seldom played to his feet. But with his back to a defender he is no Iwan Roberts. Thorne consistently flicked headers on to Ashton on Saturday but Deano always seemed to jump too soon and I cannot remember him winning anything in these situations. He is surely big enough and good enough and while I deplore the tactic of playing the high ball up to him he should surely be doing better with this aspect of his game. Mind you, Liverpool fans probably wonder even more so about Crouch and at least Deano knows where the net is.

[gazzathegreat 0]

Rudolph, you have more or less answered your own question, Deano is not so great in the air because he was coached to receive the ball on the ground or from crosses into him, not great hoofs from a desperate defence or a quick route one pass from Greeno.  I expect he will get better at receiving these assists from Green as it is obvious that it is the style preferred by the coaching staff.

 

[ZLF 335]

Is the real question why is Ashton so poor in the air or why are we so poor at passing the ball to ashtons feet?

Ashton has never been a target man but we play him as one - once we learn to play to peoples strengths we will have an awesome team - until then its limited coaching success.

 

OTBC

[still holding out for new heroes 0]

1 word - timing

he always seems to jump just a tad too early

 

 

[Mouse 0]

Give him some credit, he''s better in the air than Huckerby

[AJ 1,359]

hes not bad, he is just not brilliant at it

dean ashton has never been a target man, he has always been played as a player to hold the ball up, like at crew. Just because he is a tall lad, doesnt mean he is great in the air, and yet mckenzie is small yet he can do great in the air. Its the way he plays, everyone is different, thorne and ashton are both good in the air thou and can pose a real threat from corners and set pieces.

[Robbo007 0]

You could ask the question. Why is Thierry Henry so bad in the air? I think Neil Adams knocked it on the head on Canary call a few weeks back. he said along the lines of "....Dean Ashton is being coached to do aspects of the game he wasn''t required to do at Crewe, ie, run down blind alleys, go for long balls/play the target man, play deep..."

Surely, we spend 100k on someone else to do this donkey work, as we paid £3 million on Ashton because he is a top-notch Striker!!!

Sort it out!

[Making Plans 957]

Why single out heading - isn''t he just poor at everything ?

[JP 0]

[quote user="Making Plans for Nigel"]Why single out heading - isn''t he just poor at everything ?[/quote]

What else is he so poor at then, Making Plans?

[Making Plans 957]

I don''t think I can make it any clearer - in my book everything means everything.

But if I have to I''ll give you a list -

Shooting, passing, staying onside, taking penalties, ball control, involvement and finally, scoring goals - which is what he''s there for.[quote user="JP hucks06"]

[quote user="Making Plans for Nigel"]Why single out heading - isn''t he just poor at everything ?[/quote]

What else is he so poor at then, Making Plans?

[/quote]

[Rudolph Hucker 0]

Clearly Norwich are not playing to Ashton''s strengths. Why buy a Rolls Royce and expect it to perform like a scrambler bike.

[gazzathegreat 0]

Or a top breed thoroughbred racehorse and turn it into a donkey

And devalue him by a couple of 00s

[ZLF 335]

It asks the question why is he being coached into behaviours that make him a worse player then when he joined?   Tells you all about out coaching staff and managerial priorities methinks.

The boy is gifted - yet we get him to play to his weaknesses - top plan that!

 

OTBC