Jens Berthel Askou

[NCFC man 0]

i know we should''nt be panicking and its only the first game of the season, but at the start of last season he was probably are best player and i think would have challenged holt for player of the season. and now he is fit i think he should be in the first team alongside ward

[alysha 0]

I''d say it should be Ward who gets dropped instead of Nelson going on performances, we''re just hoping he improves as he has experience at this level

[NCFC man 0]

although his deflections cost us 2goals, he looked more the comfortable defender.

[Depraved 0]

I know his primary job is a defender, but lets face it he scores some cracking goals does our Nelly.

[Brendo 0]

[quote user="NCFC man"]although his deflections cost us 2goals, he looked more the comfortable defender.
[/quote]errr no.

Nelson was rock solid against Everton, and looked ok on Friday. For me, if he can work on his passing and distribution, he could be very good.

[Standard 0]

Jens is still short on fitness though, I rate him and I''m sure he''ll play on Tuesday.

I can''t see Nelson playing ahead of a fit Jens or Whitbread

[Willmeister 35]

Jens is vastly under rated by many of our fans.

[Lincs CR 0]

I think behind the scenes and deep inside the mind of Lambert his ideal pairing if everybody was 100% fit would be Ward and Whitbread.

Ward is our only CB with real championship experience and I think Zak has always been in Lambert''s plans, it''s just a matter of how long he intends on being so injury prone!

As it stands, I think the sooner we get Askou match fit and capable of challenging Ward/Nelson forcing them to play to their abilities the better.

[Brendo 0]

[quote user="Willmeister"]Jens is vastly under rated by many of our fans.
[/quote]Oh most definately!

As Whitbread is far over rated by many it seems.

[Lincs CR 0]

I''ve not really understood that either Brendo how fans rave about Whitbread. He''s played around 3 games for us, mostly as a sub if I''m right? Hardly enough to judge whether he''s our best CB or not, however I still think Lambert bought him in to play a part other than as a bench warming sub.

[Power Hamster 0]

[quote user="Brendo "][quote user="Willmeister"]Jens is vastly under rated by many of our fans.[/quote]Oh most definately!As Whitbread is far over rated by many it seems.[/quote]I haven''t actually seen Whitbread play yet, but surely Askou deserves another chance as I thought he looked like our best defender early last season.

[Brendo 0]

[quote user="Power Hamster"][quote user="Brendo "][quote user="Willmeister"]Jens is vastly under rated by many of our fans.
[/quote]Oh most definately!

As Whitbread is far over rated by many it seems.[/quote]

I haven''t actually seen Whitbread play yet, but surely Askou deserves another chance as I thought he looked like our best defender early last season.
[/quote]Oh most definately!

Askou and Nelson for me. [Y]

[Bryangunnshairline 0]

makes me laugh when everyone goes on about whitbread. he has been injured most of the time. nelson and askou should start. elliot not 100% or not good enough at the minute

[Yellow Wal 314]

If Ward puts in another inept performance as he did Friday he should find himself at the bottom of the pecking order.

He has the experience but why have other Championship teams let him go?

Hopefully we can improve his play and get the best out of him.

[Norfolk Mustard 94]

[quote user="Brendo "][quote user="Willmeister"]Jens is vastly under rated by many of our fans.
[/quote]Oh most definately!

As Whitbread is far over rated by many it seems.[/quote]

Hear Hear!

Askou is class - I really admire him.

Whitbread - What do we know about him? Not a lot to judge him on so far; very blond hair, wears his socks rather high and is injured most of the time. Has a real mean streak - apparently he was banned for 6 months by the FA for violent conduct when at Liverpool. (I''ve met and seen the career-ending damage caused to his victim who was a Blackburn player at the time).

I would be happy with an Askou/Nelson partnership. Love the distance Askou gets on headers - with excellent direction too. He can play the ball out of defence well enough too. Fine player.

Not sure about Elliott Ward yet...

 

 

[GJP 79]

[quote user="Willmeister"]Jens is vastly under rated by many of our fans.
[/quote]

And overrated by some of the others.

[The Great Wall Of Tettey 0]

although nelson probobly had the better game friday, yet there is an obvious reason why nelson has been in leagues 1 and 2 all his career, he has NO pace. Ward cost coventry a million, paid for by the fans. This shows the lad clearly has quality, youll see during the season how nelson is consistantly average whereas i think that ward may star in many games.

looking on the coventry forum after we signed him, they all said they were sad to see him go and wanted him to stay, and that it was just the fact aidy didnt like him because he didnt smack every ball and he liked to play real football, so he was dropped.

it always has to be a case of finding a partner for ward, and not for nelson. :)

[Davo 0]

Norfolk Mustard Said:

Has a real mean streak - apparently he was banned for 6 months by the FA for violent conduct when at Liverpool. (I''ve met and seen the career-ending damage caused to his victim who was a Blackburn player at the time).

This bit doesn''t add up to me. I was curious so did some google searches. Nothing came up. The search "Zak Whitbread" "violent conduct" "6 month ban"/"banned for 6 months" had 0 results. I typed in "Zak Whitbread" "violent conduct" and of the links I read nothing seemed to link to him to anything of a violent conduct (well aside from being an ex-Millwall player and Ian Henderson''s sending off against us in the ColWho match). In fact he''s only ever had 1 red card in his professional career. Ok the 30 yellows in 130 games shows he''s liable to making fouls but Holt received more yellows last season than Whitbread ever has in any one season.

I don''t mean to call you a liar but it''s the way you made a statement "Has a real mean streak" immediately followed by the word "apparently". Then you say you met the player whose career was ended by Whitbread. Surely if you had met this "victim" you would surely know if Whitbread was "banned for 6 months" or not?

Apologies but I don''t like people making unsubstantiated claims against players especially when it''s aimed at harming fans opinions of one of our players.

Davo

[ref89 0]

WARD WAS NOT MATCH FIT, BUT WAS MORE MATCH FIT THAN ASKOU OR WHITBREAD.

Sorry to shout, but has it now sunk in. 

[quote user="canary_girl"]I''d say it should be Ward who gets dropped instead of Nelson going on performances, we''re just hoping he improves as he has experience at this level[/quote]

[trueyellow 0]

What game were people watching, Nelson had a better game than Ward, really?? Nelson was woeful, slow, poor distribution 2 goals conceded on his side. He was way out of his league.

He is and should be no more than 4th choice CB this season. I am not a great lover or Russel Martin however i dont think he is as bad as what people suggest, he was made to look bad on friday by having Nelson playing along side him, not an inspiring thought for anyone!

[missing in action? 0]

Well, look at it logically and the good and bad points of each.Nelson:  + strong, good head, scoring threat at set pieces              - Slow, easily turned, poor distribution with feetWard: + mobile, good distribution from feet, can score goals (inc pens), championship experience.           - Lacking fitness, not the strongest of our centre backs, naive at times.Whitbread + likes a tackle, mobile, quick, uses both feet reasonably well                 - loses positional sense, injury prone? (based on time here anyway), clumsy into challengesAskou   + Strong as an ox, great in the air, can provide goal threat, quick and agile             - Positional play needs work, not the best passer of the ball, lacks experience at this level.on what i believe to be a fair assumption on each player, for me, id go for Askou and a "fit" Ward. with whitbread and nelson as back ups.

[Chelmsford Canary 0]

Agree once zak is back, him and askou will be first choice! Ward maybe good backup, and nelson is only here still because of his contract!

[Brendo 0]

[quote user="Colchester Canary"]Agree once zak is back, him and askou will be first choice! Ward maybe good backup, and nelson is only here still because of his contract![/quote]Why? [:@]

 

Grr Whitbread is soooo overrated. [:(]

 

[GJP 79]

[quote user="missing in action"]

Askou   + Strong as an ox, great in the air, can provide goal threat, quick and agile
             - Positional play needs work, not the best passer of the ball, lacks experience at this level.


[/quote]

Askou isn''t great in the air but he generally heads the ball well. There''s a difference.

Can''t say he''s particularly quick or agile either.

 

[GJP 79]

[quote user="Colchester Canary"]Agree once zak is back, him and askou will be first choice! Ward maybe good backup, and nelson is only here still because of his contract![/quote]

Reading between the lines it''s pretty obvious Ward has been signed with a view to being a first choice centreback.

[Northern Canary 0]

I dont see why Whitbread is often touted as the answer. We have seen so little of him in his time at Norwich, that in itself leads me to believe he doesnt have the fitness to become a real regularl.

[Norfolk Mustard 94]

[quote user="Davo"]Norfolk Mustard Said: Has a real mean streak - apparently he was banned for 6 months by the FA for violent conduct when at Liverpool. (I''ve met and seen the career-ending damage caused to his victim who was a Blackburn player at the time). This bit doesn''t add up to me. I was curious so did some google searches. Nothing came up. The search "Zak Whitbread" "violent conduct" "6 month ban"/"banned for 6 months" had 0 results. I typed in "Zak Whitbread" "violent conduct" and of the links I read nothing seemed to link to him to anything of a violent conduct (well aside from being an ex-Millwall player and Ian Henderson''s sending off against us in the ColWho match). In fact he''s only ever had 1 red card in his professional career. Ok the 30 yellows in 130 games shows he''s liable to making fouls but Holt received more yellows last season than Whitbread ever has in any one season. I don''t mean to call you a liar but it''s the way you made a statement "Has a real mean streak" immediately followed by the word "apparently". Then you say you met the player whose career was ended by Whitbread. Surely if you had met this "victim" you would surely know if Whitbread was "banned for 6 months" or not? Apologies but I don''t like people making unsubstantiated claims against players especially when it''s aimed at harming fans opinions of one of our players. Davo[/quote]

Hi Davo,

I met the ex-Blackburn player last year when he attended a 2-day training course I provided in Birmingham. Chatting over lunch I asked if he''d played against any big names when he was younger? He mentioned his experiences playing against Wayne Rooney & one or two others. Said his professional career was finished by a Liverpool youth player called Zak Whitbread; saying ''you''ve probably never heard of him?''. Actually I had, and he added ''I think he plays for Millwall now'' (the player hadn''t signed for Norwich then). He described the incident (I won''t go through the detail here) - and showed me the scars from his shattered ankle and lower leg break after being ''done''.  He claimed Whitbread was red carded and subsequently banned for 6 months as a result. His words - not mine.

I have the individual''s telephone number (he''s a semi-pro in the North West these days) and he''s part of my social network on LinkedIn, so I can substantiate if required.

On reflection, maybe I shouldn''t have mentioned it on a forum like this. Lesson learned there I think!

[Jacko 0]

[quote user="Oli Oli Oli Oli"]

although nelson probobly had the better game friday, yet there is an obvious reason why nelson has been in leagues 1 and 2 all his career, he has NO pace. Ward cost coventry a million, paid for by the fans. This shows the lad clearly has quality, youll see during the season how nelson is consistantly average whereas i think that ward may star in many games.

looking on the coventry forum after we signed him, they all said they were sad to see him go and wanted him to stay, and that it was just the fact aidy didnt like him because he didnt smack every ball and he liked to play real football, so he was dropped.

it always has to be a case of finding a partner for ward, and not for nelson. :)

[/quote]

Hang on Oli what you have said is actually impossible. When Ward was at Coventry last season he was managed by Chris Coleman for the whole season. It was Chris Coleman''s decision to drop him and subsequently send him out on loan. Boothroyd was appointed at the end of the season after Ward had elected to leave Coventry on a free. So Boothroyd had absolutely no bearing on Ward''s decision to leave.

The lad clearly has some potential if he has a play victory under his belt and if someone was willingly to pay £1 million for him. But if performances like Everton and Watford have been the norm for the last couple of seasons then I can see why he hasnt been getting games. However we must show patience with him because he our only centre back with championship experience and for this reason alone he must be viewed by Lambert as a key player for the season ahead.

[Divs crew! 0]

[quote user="Brendo "]

[quote user="NCFC man"]although his deflections cost us 2goals, he looked more the comfortable defender.
[/quote]errr no.

Nelson was rock solid against Everton, and looked ok on Friday. For me, if he can work on his passing and distribution, he could be very good.

[/quote]

 

Agreed, much more of a threat in the oppositions box as well