[Sandikan]

what the hell is it with us and defenders.
Even players who aren't proper defenders who go back there seem to get injured for ages.

We're squeezing by on Darmian-Blind-Smalling-BJ at the moment, with just Varela as backup?!

I presume Jonesy is close, but the rest seem miles off.

 

[Successful]

This dodgy post has only gone and jinxed him

I don't think now is the time to look for scapegoats. We are Manchester United and we will never die

 

[Successful]

what the hell is it with us and defenders.
Even players who aren't proper defenders who go back there seem to get injured for ages.

We're squeezing by on Darmian-Blind-Smalling-BJ at the moment, with just Varela as backup?!

I presume Jonesy is close, but the rest seem miles off.

Don't forget Carrick could do a job in the middle. A potential back four could be Valencia - Carrick - Smalling - Blind

And we could even optimize by going down to a back 3 which would leave us with 3 back-ups. So we're not really in trouble just yet.

In case of serious problems we could even add a guy like Rooney on the wings. He's done a great job in Europe like when we were playing Barcelona he practically played as a fullback all game with Ronaldo as the striker up top. A real long shot could be adding Giggs as a fullback. If he's still taking care of himself he could add a little bit of quality to the team. Always though he had amazing sliding tackles. So potential nightmare scenario 3 in the back line-up would be: Rooney - Carrick - Giggs

 

[Sandikan]

Don't forget Carrick could do a job in the middle. A potential back four could be Valencia - Carrick - Smalling - Blind

And we could even optimize by going down to a back 3 which would leave us with 3 back-ups. So we're not really in trouble just yet.

In case of serious problems we could even add a guy like Rooney on the wings. He's done a great job in Europe like when we were playing Barcelona he practically played as a fullback all game with Ronaldo as the striker up top. A real long shot could be adding Giggs as a fullback. If he's still taking care of himself he could add a little bit of quality to the team. Always though he had amazing sliding tackles. So potential nightmare scenario 3 in the back line-up would be: Rooney - Carrick - Giggs

riiiighhttt

 

[AttackingFlair]

Never thought I'd say this, but I miss this guy.

 

[bosnian_red]

Any idea when he's supposed to be back? Would be useful to have him out on the left/right with Martial up top, to get some consistent width and work rate and pace out wide

 

[Snow]

The left spot is filled and he shouldn't be playing there. I'd have Depay or Martial (if Rashford is playing which he should) ahead of him. The right spot is up for grabs but Young is just so poor on the right. He can't do his favorite move which is to stop the ball, cut back and put a high ball to the far post.

 

[Mike09]

The left spot is filled and he shouldn't be playing there. I'd have Depay or Martial (if Rashford is playing which he should) ahead of him. The right spot is up for grabs but Young is just so poor on the right. He can't do his favorite move which is to stop the ball, cut back and put a high ball to the far post.

He looked very good against Stoke, Swansea and Chelsea on the right side I thought. He probably just need to adapt in that position since he's been playing most of his games last season on the left and when he had the hang on it he got injured because LVG decided to play him as a right back. I heard his injury will keep him until end of season hopefully not I really can't wait to see him back, he offers more than Lingard or Depay or even Rashford as a right winger.

 

[Snow]

He looked very good against Stoke, Swansea and Chelsea on the right side I thought. He probably just need to adapt in that position since he's been playing most of his games last season on the left and when he had the hang on it he got injured because LVG decided to play him as a right back. I heard his injury will keep him until end of season hopefully not I really can't wait to see him back, he offers more than Lingard or Depay or even Rashford as a right winger.

His Swansea game was one of his better games but he wasn't good against Chelsea or Stoke and he played as right back in all of them. He's been a left winger all his life. He doesn't offer us more than Lingard. Lingard has already scored half of Young's career total with us. If you look at the games Young has played in this season they weren't any better. Young or Lingard, it doesn't matter all that much.

 

[Mike09]

His Swansea game was one of his better games but he wasn't good against Chelsea or Stoke and he played as right back in all of them. He's been a left winger all his life. He doesn't offer us more than Lingard. Lingard has already scored half of Young's career total with us. If you look at the games Young has played in this season they weren't any better. Young or Lingard, it doesn't matter all that much.

It wasn't just Swansea game, I thought he looked very good against Stoke and Chelsea. The only one who offer something when going forward against Stoke and even against Chelsea he was even better. I'm sure if he was given more chance to play as a winger instead of full back this season he would looked much better and effective than Lingard. I guess it's probably just me but I feel that Young is always offer something dangerous for the opposition team while Lingard did nothing effective when going forward.

 

[Snow]

It wasn't just Swansea game, I thought he looked very good against Stoke and Chelsea. The only one who offer something when going forward against Stoke and even against Chelsea he was even better. I'm sure if he was given more chance to play as a winger instead of full back this season he would looked much better and effective than Lingard. I guess it's probably just me but I feel that Young is always offer something dangerous for the opposition team while Lingard did nothing effective when going forward.

Young looks like he offers something but in all honesty he doesn't. He pretty much does the same thing in the final third and it's usually a high ball to the far post which is easy to clear. It's why everyone was on his back until last season when everyone around him came down to his level. He's a squad player that's nice to have when there are injuries because he can cover a whole range of positions.

 

[Bwuk]

He's better than Lingard on the right.

 

[Silverman]

We've missed Young on the wing and the same for Valencia. We would be a lot more threatening if we had Young on the left and Valencia on the right, feeding Martial.

 

[caisenma]

We've missed Young on the wing and the same for Valencia. We would be a lot more threatening if we had Young on the left and Valencia on the right, feeding Martial.

Said absolutely nobody ever. You have to be kidding me... have you forgotten how gash those two were whenever they played together on the wing? Valencia in particular offers less than nothing. He is a collapsed star, a black hole, suckling all the life and creativity out of everyone around him. He's literally a scientific phenomenon of extraordinary uselessness. Young over the years has only been somewhat better.

 

[Silverman]

Said absolutely nobody ever. You have to be kidding me... have you forgotten how gash those two were whenever they played together on the wing? Valencia in particular offers less than nothing. He is a collapsed star, a black hole, suckling all the life and creativity out of everyone around him. He's literally a scientific phenomenon of extraordinary uselessness. Young over the years has only been somewhat better.

It's not ideal but have ya seen how we've been playing recently. Valencia has struggled but he can get us up the pitch. That's bullshit what you are saying about Young. He has been brilliant when he plays. He is able to beat a man and deliver some good crosses/cross shots.

 

[m1y2]

We've missed Young on the wing and the same for Valencia. We would be a lot more threatening if we had Young on the left and Valencia on the right, feeding Martial.

 

[shaggy]

He's better than Lingard on the right.

yeah I agree.

Valencia on the other hand has been dreadful going forward for a few years now. All he does when he attacks is smash the ball on opponents shins. Thats not an exagerration either. Hes OK defensively, but so is Darmian and he's crap too. Should be used as back up to Varela.

 

[RedDevil@84]

We've missed Young on the wing and the same for Valencia. We would be a lot more threatening if we had Young on the left and Valencia on the right, feeding Martial.

Young could be useful. Valenica on the wings will be useless. He doesnt get the correct pass or make the correct cross nowadays. Would rather see him at RB, if he beats Varela and Darmian in training of course.

 

[YouOnlyLiveTwice]

I said before that Young is a player who gets most out of his averageness, he always give his all on the pitch.
The truth is i probably said in the past that the Club should sell him at some point.

Now i'm not so sure. He seems to be a great person to have in the dressing room, he is a joker and friend of all the lads.
Also, he plays any position without kicking up a fuss, a real team player.

Should that be enough to keep him here? In his case i'm beginning to think so.

 

[Devil may care]

I said before that Young is a player who gets most out of his averageness, he always give his all on the pitch.
The truth is i probably said in the past that the Club should sell him at some point.

Now i'm not so sure. He seems to be a great person to have in the dressing room, he is a joker and friend of all the lads.
Also, he plays any position without kicking up a fuss, a real team player.

Should that be enough to keep him here? In his case i'm beginning to think so.

The thing for me is that the 2 positions he covers best are already covered with CBJ, Fosu-Mensah, Darmian and even Riley covering Valencia and Shaw. I personally hope we wont need to use him as a winger after the summer.

 

[Mike09]

I said before that Young is a player who gets most out of his averageness, he always give his all on the pitch.
The truth is i probably said in the past that the Club should sell him at some point.

Now i'm not so sure. He seems to be a great person to have in the dressing room, he is a joker and friend of all the lads.
Also, he plays any position without kicking up a fuss, a real team player.

Should that be enough to keep him here? In his case i'm beginning to think so.

Fans here are underestimating what Ashley Young capable on the pitch. He was the one who kicked ADM from starting eleven. The quality of his crossing is indeed not consistent enough and he will be 31 next season. But he has the skills consistently beat players and giving trouble to opposition full back, his touch and ball control are also very good. To be fair, currently he is still a better player than Memphis IMO. With his work rate and being versatility, he will still be very useful for our squad next season.

Haven't we learn from last summer? Selling so many our players isn't a good idea as it will change the whole atmosphere of the club. And from all the players we have why has to be Young? there are more players out there deserve to be sold. And also it's not like we have tons of winger who is better than Young. Martial is the only player who can play as a winger that we have who is currently better than Young and it's difficult to sign more than 1 quality wingers in the summer as there is not much option left.

 

[limerickcitykid]

I'd say his crosses are as consistent as they get. Cutting in from the left he puts those back post curlers within inches of the same spot every single time.

 

[RedDevil@84]

I think his crosses are not so wayward as they were in 2013-14. Earlier he never used to lookup and concentrate on the feet and the ball and make a snap cross regardless of whether there was anyone there at all.
But in 2014-15, he started looking a bit up and went in some good form consistently. Though LvG tried his best to ruin it by playing him RW and RB in some matches here and there.

 

[The Mitcher]

I'd say his crosses are as consistent as they get. Cutting in from the left he puts those back post curlers within inches of the same spot every single time.

I think his crosses are not so wayward as they were in 2013-14. Earlier he never used to lookup and concentrate on the feet and the ball and make a snap cross regardless of whether there was anyone there at all.
But in 2014-15, he started looking a bit up and went in some good form consistently. Though LvG tried his best to ruin it by playing him RW and RB in some matches here and there.

I noticed a lot of the time no one is there in the box to actually take advantage of his crosses, so its usually for nothing, and people think he's terrible at it.

 

[Devil may care]

He must have played more positions at United than any other player at this point, I guess one decent run out in the U21's was all loony needed to not put him in his natural role and move Martial to the striker position.

 

[caisenma]

He was absolutely awful today.

 

[Earthquake]

He must have played more positions at United than any other player at this point, I guess one decent run out in the U21's was all loony needed to not put him in his natural role and move Martial to the striker position.

Second to John O' Shea, who's somehow played every position on the pitch for us.

 

[acnumber9]

He was absolutely awful today.

What do you expect from a winger who's played full back all season being asked to play up front for the first time in his career? All this when he's just back from injury too. The manager is completely at fault there.

 

[caisenma]

What do you expect from a winger who's played full back all season being asked to play up front for the first time in his career? All this when he's just back from injury too. The manager is completely at fault there.

Yeah, this is true.

 

[Nighteyes]

Nice to have him back. Stick him on the left or right, Martial up top and use random.org for the 3rd player.

 

[JON.B]

Just needs to go, doesn't offer us anything that one of the younger players can't do. He'll be 31 in a few months and I don't see him as a first team starter or someone who can really make a difference in a game.

 

[Mike09]

Weird subs. Young is clearly need more match fitness. 45 mins against this current Spurs is obviously going to be tough for him. And what makes it worse is why he played as a striker when he's a winger.

 

[Borys]

What has been happening to him all season?

 

[Cassidy]

What has been happening to him all season?

LVG

 

[RedDevilCanuck]

Returns from injury and comes on as striker. Then he doesn't get anything while Rojo costs us games at LB.

Young is also better than Lingard. He's either still not fit or LVG is done with him

 

[caisenma]

Returns from injury and comes on as striker. Then he doesn't get anything while Rojo costs us games at LB.

Young is also better than Lingard. He's either still not fit or LVG is done with him

Yeah... Ive never been a big fan of Young and think it would be best to see him go this summer but he's been treated terribly by LvG.. Not the first player to be treated that way, though.

 

[Kag]

What has been happening to him all season?

Still managing to steal a living on the basis of six good games in about four years.

Young is the perennial big club time-waster. He barely plays and won't kick up a fuss regarding game time. He'll just loiter around in the background, neither hindering or really contributing. It should tell you all you need to know.

 

[facund]

Still managing to steal a living on the basis of six good games in about four years.

Young is the perennial big club time-waster. He barely plays and won't kick up a fuss regarding game time. He'll just loiter around in the background, neither hindering or really contributing. It should tell you all you need to know.

Christ that is vitriolic even by Caf standards.
Young has played wherever he has been asked to by LVG and given it his all. While there may be valid questions as to whether his best is good enough, his attitude and application has been exemplary in the last two seasons and for a stretch of last season he was the only one willing to take on the responsibility of having and trying to do something with the ball.

"He barely plays" because the manager makes those decisions. I'm sure if given the power, Young would put himself in the team every week.
Not kicking up fuss about game time is a bad trait? I thought that was commonly called professionalism. Maybe it would be preferable if he was mouthing off to the press and undermining the club and manager?
"He'll just loiter in the background..." what is this drivel even based on? Should he be on his soapbox leading press conferences, on the sidelines issuing tactical adjustments, starting e-petitions?

Young is one of the few players that has endured the LVG and come out of it looking better than they did before. His career was on the uppers yet he still put in a shift whenever asked and managed to displace our record signing on the merit of his performances. He has since played enthusiastically in both FB roles only to be rewarded with being frozen out of the team instead of getting game time in his more accustomed position. Knock his ability all day long but a character assassination is unjustifiable when he is one of the select few to display any redeemable character whatsoever.

 

[Kag]

Christ that is vitriolic even by Caf standards.
Young has played wherever he has been asked to by LVG and given it his all. While there may be valid questions as to whether his best is good enough, his attitude and application has been exemplary in the last two seasons and for a stretch of last season he was the only one willing to take on the responsibility of having and trying to do something with the ball.

"He barely plays" because the manager makes those decisions. I'm sure if given the power, Young would put himself in the team every week.
Not kicking up fuss about game time is a bad trait? I thought that was commonly called professionalism. Maybe it would be preferable if he was mouthing off to the press and undermining the club and manager?
"He'll just loiter in the background..." what is this drivel even based on? Should he be on his soapbox leading press conferences, on the sidelines issuing tactical adjustments, starting e-petitions?

Young is one of the few players that has endured the LVG and come out of it looking better than they did before. His career was on the uppers yet he still put in a shift whenever asked and managed to displace our record signing on the merit of his performances. He has since played enthusiastically in both FB roles only to be rewarded with being frozen out of the team instead of getting game time in his more accustomed position. Knock his ability all day long but a character assassination is unjustifiable when he is one of the select few to display any redeemable character whatsoever.

All you've done there is, essentially, praise him for being a good guy with an enthusiastic attitude. That's probably a fair assessment, but it would also be a fair assessment of you or I.

Young is paid handsomely to sit on our bench. He isn't demonstrating any real loyalty or anything, he's just clinging on to the club by his fingernails for as long as he possibly can. In truth, I'm sick of having these players at the club and we need to be doing more to weed them out.

Young deserved praise for his little resurgence last season and he was awarded that. This season has just been an injury-hit return to normality.

 

[facund]

All you've done there is, essentially, praise him for being a good guy with an enthusiastic attitude. That's probably a fair assessment, but it would also be a fair assessment of you or I.

Young is paid handsomely to sit on our bench. He isn't demonstrating any real loyalty or anything, he's just clinging on to the club by his fingernails for as long as he possibly can. In truth, I'm sick of having these players at the club and we need to be doing more to weed them out.

Young deserved praise for his little resurgence last season and he was awarded that. This season has just been an injury-hit return to normality.

I probably wouldn't have responded had you written that first time, not much to take exception with as it doesn't infer he is some malignant presence at the club. He is not much different to a lot of our squad, a decent player, not good enough to take us where we all want to be, just going about his job as instructed whilst somewhat relying on past glory. Him being here is not his fault, him not being good enough is not even his fault as long as he is trying his best. No matter what someone decides to pay you, one can only perform to the level of ability one possess and Young has largely done that these last two seasons IMO.

I think my the main point I tried to convey is that there is ample scope to criticise Ashley Young as a player and his suitability for a club of this stature but that shouldn't extend to criticising him as a person.