I’ve always had a soft spot for former Hammer Dean Ashton – the striker I was most excited to see arrive. A brilliant career cut short by his ankle injury on England duty after that tackle by Shaun Wright Phillips. Still makes me sad just thinking about it along with the 2006 Cup final 93rd minute goal. Tragic West Ham fan me? Yep.
Ashton, now the tv pundit, often speaks ‘bluntly’ and he’s not gone down well with certain sections of Manchester United’s fan base ahead of West Ham’s crucial clash with The Red Devils at the weekend.
Good. I hope he stirs them right up! Even speaking after United had just beaten Brentford, coming from behind to win, Ashton speaking on sky sports – and reported in strettynews.com – was dismissive of Ten Hag’s tactics:
They either don’t want to or can’t understand pressing. They can’t do it, they’re pretty pathetic at it.
“Teams play through them and they find themselves totally exposed in the middle of the pitch because they don’t have the physicality of the midfield players to cope with that.
“When they do sit slightly deeper and allow the opposition to a bit more of the ball, Brentford created lots of chances, shots on target and then they get the two goals. They [Man U] are set up to be a counter-attacking team but he’s probably not allowed to be that because of the size of the club”
The Manchester United site then had a pop at Ashton claiming he was anti-Manchester United and he’d never been at big club anyway: Ashton to my mind has shown West Ham exactly the way to get at Man U this weekend if we have the ability to play through them in the middle rather than simply playing hoofball.
Ashton the Player
If Carlos Soler and Edson Alvarez can team up and actually pass the ball, Ashton’s suggestions will give us a plan to get at the opposition. My worry is that Lopetegui, according to statistics, creates no chances from his Hammers team through the middle, relying entirely on progression down the flanks. Time to check out ‘Ashton the pundit’s’ sound advice!
