Dean Ashton: Brit -“You can’t miss these.....but the money they paid for him as a striker, the quality he’s got,you cant miss that opportunity" [Mail]

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Round-up: Former striker delivers verdict on Assombalonga miss plus FA Cup draw details

Middlesbrough endured a frustrating weekend after a 3-2 defeat at Huddersfield – but what else has been happening in and around the Riverside?
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[Edited]

Ex-West Ham and Norwich striker delivers verdict on Britt Assombalonga miss, FA Cup draw details plus former Middlesbrough man takes temporary charge of Sunderland​

Middlesbrough endured a frustrating weekend after a 3-2 defeat at Huddersfield – but what else has been happening in and around the Riverside?​


By Joe Nicholson
Monday, 30th November 2020, 6:00 am

Former striker on Assombalonga miss:​

Boro paid the price for not taking their chances at Huddersfield, with captain Britt Assombalonga squandering the best opportunity of the match.
With the game still goalless, the Boro forward was set up by Marvin Johnson’s low cross but scooped the ball over the crossbar from just a couple of yards out.
Brit.jpg
The chance was assessed on the EFL’s highlights show on Quest, when former West Ham and Norwich striker Dean Ashton was a studio guest.
“You can’t miss these,” said Ashton. “I’m sorry but the money they paid for him as a striker, the quality he’s got, you can’t miss that opportunity.
“You saw the manager Neil Warnock, he was vexed at even the thought of him missing that opportunity.
“It makes such a difference in a game of that magnitude.”

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​
Ashton is right: a goal at that stage would have been a game changer - Boro were fighting for the ball and looked dangerous. After missing that golden opportunity, the lads heads dropped and Huddersfield stepped up a gear. Theres no excuses about "poor service" or slippy pitches. Huddersfield played on the same pitch as us.

For me - Brit has never cut it: he is consistently inconsistent and lacks ability to perform at Championship level. Some fans at Forest warned us of the same problems when we chucked 15M at them. Marvin Johnson at the moment is showing the team how to score. We need others to step up to the plate. I hope we hold our own until January - and I think we will, because Neil is a miracle worker and the lads collectively [Huddersfield aside] are proving we have quality and determination in the squad.

I get the impression Neil Warnock was holding back on Saturday after the game - he knows he has very few options up front with the paper thin squad. So he has to play him.
Making Brit Captain has had no impact from where I sit - others are more deserving. Whether they have the desire or ability to take the arm-band is up to Neil.

We have the best Manager in the league - the evidence is clear. But a team cant work to its optimum when one of its components consistently fails to deliver.
 
Corcaigh_the_Cat said:
Assombalongs's scored more goals already than Ashton scored in his career. He never missed a sitter though, did he?
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To be fair Ashton had to retire at 26 and spent some time struggling with injuries before that. Different level of striker, Ashton was looking very good in the PL.
 
Ashton was class👍. He was a real good target man and decent on the deck. I'm we sure we were linked plenty when he was young at Crewe?

Anyhow every forward will have awful misses from Shearer to Fowler... Everyone.

The issue is highlighted with us because we don't score many. He also won't get many clear cut chances so when he does he really has to put them in. You can defend all you like but that was the very definition of the word 'sitter'.

That said once again my bigger gripe is his all round game and woeful decision making (or better put yesterday by someone 'situational awerness'). He just doesn't see the better option.

Twice he shot (used loosely) when he had better options. Then passed when he could have shot😕. He could have laid one on for Watmore against Derby. The fact he has 3 assists in nearly 3 and a half years says it all.

He improved last seadon under Warnock. I genuinely think he's missing Fletcher as they linked up well last season. That said Fletcher or not you have to put them away.

I Really hope we ain't busting a gut or finances to get him a new deal.
 
The problem of course isn't that he missed one chance. I've seen the best in the world miss chances like that (Ronaldo springs to mind), it can happen to anyone. It's that he consistently misses good chances and seems to be getting worse.

Surprised he scored the pen to be honest because his confidence looks shot. Wouldn't be surprised to see him go the way of Jordan Rhodes after leaving us.

If Warnock can't get his head right, no-one can.

He was better for Forest. We've obviously massively overpaid but their fans were hacked off that he left. Don't think they'd have cared so much if was an absolute donkey and they knew they'd had our eyes out, but they hate him. You don't get that feeling of betrayal from a player you didn't really like anyway.
 
No defence of Assombalonga, but everyone misses sitters from time to time, and that alone shouldn't be a stick to beat him with.

His overall performance, that's a different matter.
 
S7DiscoDown said:
Ashton was class👍. He was a real good target man and decent on the deck. I'm we sure we were linked plenty when he was young at Crewe?

Anyhow every forward will have awful misses from Shearer to Fowler... Everyone.

The issue is highlighted with us because we don't score many. He also won't get many clear cut chances so when he does he really has to put them in. You can defend all you like but that was the very definition of the word 'sitter'.

That said once again my bigger gripe is his all round game and woeful decision making (or better put yesterday by someone 'situational awerness'). He just doesn't see the better option.

Twice he shot (used loosely) when he had better options. Then passed when he could have shot😕. He could have laid one on for Watmore against Derby. The fact he has 3 assists in nearly 3 and a half years says it all.

He improved last seadon under Warnock. I genuinely think he's missing Fletcher as they linked up well last season. That said Fletcher or not you have to put them away.

I Really hope we ain't busting a gut or finances to get him a new deal.
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No chance. He'll have to take a massive hit if he wants to stay here. Can't imagine there are too many clubs looking to break the bank for him either, he's not good enough for the PL or a club looking for automatic promotion.
 
Laughing said:
No defence of Assombalonga, but everyone misses sitters from time to time, and that alone shouldn't be a stick to beat him with.

His overall performance, that's a different matter.
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Its actually not the sitter I have a huge problem with. It’s his greediness in situations where there is players in better positions. I can cope with strikers missing sitters and easy chances if happens but I can’t cope with a lack of appreciation of players in better positions and Britts **** up to often in that aspect. He doesn’t score enough goals either for it not to be a distraction so basically he’s a fairly poor player but no point going overboard in the criticism as he’s here and he is going to play.
 
Laughing said:
No defence of Assombalonga, but everyone misses sitters from time to time, and that alone shouldn't be a stick to beat him with.

His overall performance, that's a different matter.
Click to expand...

Whilst I do agree with the last paragraph, the outrage on here has been way over the top.

We went away and scored two. We conceded three goals without Huddersfield having to be overly creative, yet the striker gets the bullets for it.

The midfield and particularly the centre of defence were woeful. They cost us the points, not one of the goalscorers.
 
festa5 said:
The problem of course isn't that he missed one chance. I've seen the best in the world miss chances like that (Ronaldo springs to mind), it can happen to anyone. It's that he consistently misses good chances and seems to be getting worse.

Surprised he scored the pen to be honest because his confidence looks shot. Wouldn't be surprised to see him go the way of Jordan Rhodes after leaving us.

If Warnock can't get his head right, no-one can.

He was better for Forest. We've obviously massively overpaid but their fans were hacked off that he left. Don't think they'd have cared so much if was an absolute donkey and they knew they'd had our eyes out, but they hate him. You don't get that feeling of betrayal from a player you didn't really like anyway.
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Generally, Forest fans dont "hate" Brit - but they were well aware of his weaknesses and inconsistencies.
too often he missed the simple pass.
Too often he would fall over the ball.
Consistently he would back into players and claim he was fouled as he fell over.
Things havent changed.

Having a go at Dean Ashton is to miss the point entirely. Its Assombalonga who is under the spotlight.
Equally - comments that everyone "slips over" is fine in a limited number of matches - but his weaknesses and inconsistances form part of a pattern of play which we have seen for getting on for three and a half years! A miss here, a duff penalty there,........but not every other week.
Hes not good enough - and even if he scores 4 goals in the next 4 that will prove his inconsistency and lack of quality.
Hes a grown man and I cant blame him for taking the dollars.
But hes not the way forward.

How do you think other players, busting a gut, feel when they see their hard work rewarded by failure in the final third - more often than not?
It may not be Assombalonga`s "fault", but hes been here over three years ....
 
Whilst I expected Britt to score that chance and I do believe that he is frustrating as a centre forward, we made it 1-0 anyway just a few minutes later. The main game changer seemed to be their centre back (Stearman) getting injured and them bringing someone on with a bit of pace so that we could no longer just knock the ball in behind their defence and then build from high ujp the pitch. We seem to struggle to play passes through a tight defence.

I believe that part of our problem is that our players need a couple of touches to control and then pass the ball, rather than being able to do it quickly - their first touch (control) is just not good enough.
 
Corcaigh_the_Cat said:
Whilst I do agree with the last paragraph, the outrage on here has been way over the top.

We went away and scored two. We conceded three goals without Huddersfield having to be overly creative, yet the striker gets the bullets for it.

The midfield and particularly the centre of defence were woeful. They cost us the points, not one of the goalscorers.
Click to expand...
Its frustration CtC, not outrage.
Its not about one match.
Its about three years....and an honest and frank appraisal.
 
Corcaigh_the_Cat said:
Whilst I do agree with the last paragraph, the outrage on here has been way over the top.

We went away and scored two. We conceded three goals without Huddersfield having to be overly creative, yet the striker gets the bullets for it.

The midfield and particularly the centre of defence were woeful. They cost us the points, not one of the goalscorers.
Click to expand...
We could have been out of sight after 30 mins. That's down to missed chances and bad decision making.

That said I agree about a really out of sorts defensive display. I would say 3-4 looked absolutely knackered in that final 15 mins (Mcnair and Dijksteel especially). I think it's safe to say Paddy deserves a rest as he's effectively played 3 more games than anyone else last month.

Saville was directly at fault for the 2nd goal and the keeper has to do better with the first. So it's definitely a mixture of things and not just Britt. The fact is it's hardly worth ruining him on here as we don't have anyone else. I think he's 'better' than Akpom who for me can't play as a CF up top on his own.

Despite all the failings and missed chances you shouldn't lose after equalising in the 83rd min. The very least we should come away with is 2-2 and you'd take that.

Let's hope it's a bad day at the office. I would also say Huddersfield suprised me as they've come a longway after 2 defensive managers. They were pretty free flowing going forward.
 
Block21 said:
Its actually not the sitter I have a huge problem with. It’s his greediness in situations where there is players in better positions. I can cope with strikers missing sitters and easy chances if happens but I can’t cope with a lack of appreciation of players in better positions and Britts ***** up to often in that aspect. He doesn’t score enough goals either for it not to be a distraction so basically he’s a fairly poor player but no point going overboard in the criticism as he’s here and he is going to play.
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Completely agree with this. There were 2 other scenarios on Saturday where Britt could have played in someone else who were in much better positions, instead he chose to shoot on his weaker foot and scuffed both chances.

Collectively as a team, we vastly need to improve in the oppositions box. We seem to become snappy and look to get the ball away at goal when on occasion what we need to do is get our heads up and look for other options.
 
Corcaigh_the_Cat said:
Whilst I do agree with the last paragraph, the outrage on here has been way over the top.

We went away and scored two. We conceded three goals without Huddersfield having to be overly creative, yet the striker gets the bullets for it.

The midfield and particularly the centre of defence were woeful. They cost us the points, not one of the goalscorers.
Click to expand...
I agree CtC, whilst Britt wasn't value for the money paid nor the wages, neither of these things are his fault. Criticism should be laid at, and only at, MFC's door for sanctioning the spending. All too often, and I suspect this is with all clubs, a player becomes a target for some quite unsavoury commentry from fans.

I really don't like to see this, and I would hazard a guess that the people calling a player on a message board would quickly shut up if the player was in ear shot.

Balanced criticism of effort, or lack thereof is fine, getting personal with a player for lack of ability or salary is another thing altogether.

And before anyone chips in with the usual, "It's a message board, a game of opinions, we pays our money and are entitled to moan" it's the personal attacks and insults that are uncalled for.
 
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