Ashley Young, Diver ?

[Mr Diggles]

In all fairness, at that speed, you only have to be clipped slightly and you'll go flying.

Yes, but that is some 'clip' when he starts going horizontal a foot in front of the player before contact!

[Olneythelonely]

In all fairness, at that speed, you only have to be clipped slightly and you'll go flying.

I agree and he was clipped. Was there another occasion that seems to be making everyone cringe? He pisses me off as much as anyone with his antics for us, but I don't see what he's done wrong on this occasion. Seems to me that he is getting a lot of stick (in the press) due to the overall performance of the team.

[Somniloquism]

In all fairness, at that speed, you only have to be clipped slightly and you'll go flying.

I agree and he was clipped. Was there another occasion that seems to be making everyone cringe? He pisses me off as much as anyone with his antics for us, but I don't see what he's done wrong on this occasion. Seems to me that he is getting a lot of stick (in the press) due to the overall performance of the team.

Yes he was, but as others have pointed out he was clipped a second after he started to head to the floor. It was very similar to Arsenal away last year. He was going to be fouled but starts to react to the foul before it happens and the ref sees it rightly(?) as exaggeration and a dive.

[richard moore]

I don't think it was a dive at all, He was trying to keep hold of the ball, Even Townsend said decision to book him was outragous

Nice to have it definitely confirmed then that it was a dive. Townsend talks a load of drivel, much as I loved him down the Villa...

[Ad@m]

It's no surprise fans of other teams hate him.  When he's diving around like that I find it difficult not to hate him.

If he played for someone else...

[Olneythelonely]

So were there more than one occasion when he "dived"? People are talking like he rolled around the floor for 90 minutes.

[Namaste]

For England Young played for the penalty and was rightly booked for it.

If he played for any other team he would be a Ronaldoesque hate figure for me.

Question: has Young ever performed consistently well against the top teams?

[not3bad]

He definitely started the dive before he was touched.  I swear I even caught a cheeky grin on his face as he started his tripple sulko.

[TheSandman]

I agree he is a diver.

I'd like him to cut it out of his game but I doubt that he will.

[VillaAlways]

Just watch how few free kicks we get awarded now when Ash gets scythed to the ground in the future.Although I agree he's a bit of a diver

[PaulTheVillan]

He is a diver.

He is always on the way down before the tackle is made.

[pedro25]

He is a diver and therefore a cheat.  He dives so high and elaborately I fear he will injure himself on landing.  I know they talk about kicking players in the air, but nobody will naturally move through the air like our Ash just from being kicked in the leg.  It is a real gripe of mine about modern wingers as well, they look to draw a foul, whereas you would never see Morley or those type of guys do that, they wanted to beat the man and deliver.  It wasn't so bad when Ash was pinging in great deliveries and we were scoring lots from set plays, but that is no longer really the case.  I also get wound up when he lets the ball go out for a throw, how is that of more benefit to us than our best player with the ball at his feet on the touchline.  Other general gripes are blatant obstruction not being penalised when a player shepherds the ball out of play and our defenders knocking it back to Friedel, how can he be more accurate from 30 yards further back?  I can understand when Dunney and co. are under pressure but sometimes they can't see an obvious pass on so casually knock it back. 

[ktvillan]

In all fairness, at that speed, you only have to be clipped slightly and you'll go flying.

I agree and he was clipped. Was there another occasion that seems to be making everyone cringe? He pisses me off as much as anyone with his antics for us, but I don't see what he's done wrong on this occasion. Seems to me that he is getting a lot of stick (in the press) due to the overall performance of the team.

It was only really the one time, but he was still wrong since it cost England a potential penalty from the challenge that happened after he'd started diving, or, if he hadn't been clipped, he may have retained possession in a dangerous area.  "Anticipating" the foul like that was unnecessary and self defeating.

Agree with Pedro25, it does seem to happen a lot these days that players prefer to buy a foul than try to do something with the ball.  I blame the authorities and refs for penalising almost any bit of contact, however innocuous, especially if someone goes down from it.

[Chris Smith]

Ashley Young, modern footballer.

It's part of the game and singling him out is like singling out a pigeon for shitting on the floor. Players try to gain advantage by cheating where they can; defenders by kicking and pulling the opposition and attackers by trying to take the most of any contact. For some reason in this country kicking an opponent is considered less bad cheating than diving.

[pedro25]

At least kicking is a natural action associated to the game, it's usually hard to argue if a defender claims he went to kick the ball but mis timed it.  L Young on the OS states that it is difficult to make the perfect tackle when a winger who can do the 100 metres in 11 seconds is bombing past you.  I think it's harsh to say defenders kicking forwards is cheating, as the guys move so quickly these days.  I agree holding shirts in the penalty area is cheating and should be penalised more often by refs, also swearing, I can't believe Rooney still gets away with saying f' off you n0b to a ref, what a great example to kids.  I also hate the pundits standard reaction to penalty claims, "it must be a pen, there was contact".  So? It's a contact sport, there is contact all across the pitch, it's only if that contact is enough to be deemed foul play should a pen be awarded, not just any mere touch.