Ashley Young: Staying or going?

[eamonn]

Hmm... a lot of people turning against him. I think his positives still far outweigh the bad stuff he brings. For every bit of petulance, over-hitting free kicks, taking on three or four defenders at once rather than looking up etc. he remains the one player we have who when he has the ball is capable of brilliance. He still spots a through ball better than anyone else we have (Ireland and Bannon may do so in time), turns us from defending to attacking with his pace and is a bloody nuisance to defend against. Keep at all costs until we have a player who can do what he does because we would miss him badly if we sold him in January.

[Dante Lavelli]

Hmm... a lot of people turning against him. I think his positives still far outweigh the bad stuff he brings.

If he signed a contract I am pretty sure all the detractors on here (incl me) would become big fans again.  He just needs a bit of fine tuning to his noggin.  Like many footballers he seems to have forgotten that football is essentially good fun and that the game should be enjoyed. 

[luke25]

He also seems to think he has the best free-kick taking ability of the team but I'd rather ANYONE but him take them...and that includes Carlos - even an injured Carlos!

the image i've got in my head of Carlos whipping in our free kicks is making me laugh like a dipsy school girl, your completely rite though, his deliveries are terrible, every game without fail he'll take a free kick from the left and balloon it over everybodies head, it drives me crazy, especially when we have Downing and Bannan who can produce much better

[Legion]

I'd be most interested in seeing if there's a stats page that tells us who Ash passes to. Maybe I'm going a bit nuts but i'm sure he's avoiding passing to Bananaman! There were many times that he was in acres of space and was ignored by Young who chose instead to take on the entire Blackburn team single handedly.

And his bollocking of the wee man was well out of order.

He also seems to think he has the best free-kick taking ability of the team but I'd rather ANYONE but him take them...and that includes Carlos - even an injured Carlos! 
 

You're not alone in thinking that.

[supertom]

Not sure whether Ash ignoring players is anything personal. He's often got a tendancy to ignore the simple pass when it's a better option, in favour of being a fancy Dan.

Clearly though, he's struggling for any kind of consistency. It's all kind of petered out for him slightly since getting Martin O Neills world class tag. His consistency dropped over the next year, and has dropped even more in the past year too.

I also wonder whether or not giving him the captaincy might be the making of him. He might not fanny about quite as much with the diving or the show ponying. With something else to think about during a game he might not overthink what he's doing with the ball too. There's a real tendency sometimes for Ash to try too hard, and to overcook, and it gets a bit desperate sometimes in the final third.

I'm still torn really. If we sell him, nows the time to do it. If we keep him, he's got to up his game. If he could play the way Downing seems to be, with his head right, confident and relaxed, he'd be back to brilliant again with his superior talent.

[pedro25]

To be fair v Blackpool his cross for Fonz's disallowed effort and through ball for Fonz's goal were fantastic but go pretty much unnoticed because we expect so much from him in each game.  He scored 1 and set up 1 v Man U as well, so even though he's not in great form and makes the wrong decisions too frequently he's still very important for us and is involved in the best of what we do.

[Brend'Watkins]

I'd be most interested in seeing if there's a stats page that tells us who Ash passes to. Maybe I'm going a bit nuts but i'm sure he's avoiding passing to Bananaman! There were many times that he was in acres of space and was ignored by Young who chose instead to take on the entire Blackburn team single handedly.
 

It wasn't just Bannan, he also had opportunities to play in Ireland when in a good position. 

If GH as per his Daily Mail article last week where he was preaching that players should always think for the good of the team before self  then he too should be well aware of Young's contibution.

[Mr Diggles]

To be fair v Blackpool his cross for Fonz's disallowed effort and through ball for Fonz's goal were fantastic but go pretty much unnoticed because we expect so much from him in each game.  He scored 1 and set up 1 v Man U as well, so even though he's not in great form and makes the wrong decisions too frequently he's still very important for us and is involved in the best of what we do.

He scored a penalty and Downing provided the cross for Albrighton's goal. He wasn't even man of the match.

[Shrek]

The problem we have is, because he runs around alot with loads of energy people get fooled. The problem with Ash is he is basically playing up front but not scoring.

Take away his penalty And 2 goals against a weak balckburn in the cup And he has only scored 1 goal. We need more goals from him.

Im just interested as to where we are going to play Gabby when he and Heskey are fit.

[Bosco81]

The problem we have is, because he runs around alot with loads of energy people get fooled. The problem with Ash is he is basically playing up front but not scoring.

Take away his penalty And 2 goals against a weak balckburn in the cup And he has only scored 1 goal. We need more goals from him.

Im just interested as to where we are going to play Gabby when he and Heskey are fit.

Why not take the other goal off him as well and then he's not scored all season.

[Merv]

And yet, he was the only player who looked remotely like doing anything against Blackburn; brought two good saves out of Robinson, hit the bar with a header.

Careful what you wish for, guys. He will be very difficult to replace.

[pablopicasso_10]

he really is a frustrating player to watch...

[Bosco81]

And yet, he was the only player who looked remotely like doing anything against Blackburn; brought two good saves out of Robinson, hit the bar with a header.

Careful what you wish for, guys. He will be very difficult to replace.

My thoughts exactly, players like Young only come around once in a while, he can be a world beater on his day which naturally makes it disappointing if he does have an off day.

Not sure how productive this free role is though, it's not like he is tied to the wing when he plays there.

[Shrek]

Don't get me wrong I want him too stay.

But he hasn't scored a single league goal in open play. One free kick and one penalty.

We as a team are not scoring enough goals coupled with conceding too many, all equaiting too bad results.

I'm just pointing out that ash has played upfront all season and is not scoring. Everyone is quick to slate Heskey for not scoring, then when he doesn't we were all slamming him saying he wasnt trying.

Villa have a problem that is Ash plays the free role really well, but it is only effective if he starts scoring or our main front man is scoring.

[TheSandman]

I'd be most interested in seeing if there's a stats page that tells us who Ash passes to. Maybe I'm going a bit nuts but i'm sure he's avoiding passing to Bananaman! There were many times that he was in acres of space and was ignored by Young who chose instead to take on the entire Blackburn team single handedly.

And his bollocking of the wee man was well out of order.

He also seems to think he has the best free-kick taking ability of the team but I'd rather ANYONE but him take them...and that includes Carlos - even an injured Carlos! 
 

You're not alone in thinking that.

It's not Bannan or Ireland he doesn't pass to. It's everyone else on the team. He always tries to shoot even when there's little on and even if he attempts to cross to a team mate they don't get the ball either.

As a detractor my detraction of what he does is not based on the fact I think he's a bad player. Far from it, I think he is our most complete player at the club (though others like Downing are in form and further others such as Delph, Albrighton and Bannan have the potential to be much better). It is also not particular based broadly on his attitude (though this does seem to stink, bossing players around, moaning at young players for his own deficiencies and generally prancing around like cock of the walk). My issue is more the rationalisation of our team. We need a more defensive player to come in and we have some great players, proper midfielders with huge potential like Bannan and Delph coming through. The main hindrance to this is having to accommodate three wingers. If we had a three of Delph, Bannan and a proper DM that is a great midfield but to accommodate three wingers we either need to sacrifice one of our footballers or our defender which I think is for the potential worse.

Do Downing or Albrighton deserve to be dropped more than Ashley Young?  Does Ashley Young actually wish to commit to the club long term? I think the answer to the first question is no and as for the second I have no idea but guess it might be no too.

I think a big problem that might be at play is that he's played regularly this season. We've not had a game without him like we have for Downing or Albrighton. Against Blackburn yesterday and Blues a few weeks back we lacked an incisive wing player due to Albrighton's absence. Against Burnley in the cup Downing was as much of a miss as the absence of a striker until we rectified both of those things. We have not seen what things are like without Ashley Young.