Ashley Young - tell it how you see it

[Moorski]

Ashley should be played in a position that benefits the team, Not where he wants to simply play.

 It is obvious that he will leave in the summer so in the meantime put him out on the wing and get some decent service into Bent.
Gabby or Heskey need to play up front in a 4-4-2 imo.

[spangley1812]

Ashley should be played in a position that benefits the team, Not where he wants to simply play.

 It is obvious that he will leave in the summer so in the meantime put him out on the wing and get some decent service into Bent.
Gabby or Heskey need to play up front in a 4-4-2 imo.

Seconded

[Hadley83]

Ashley is the one player that gets the crowd going when he gets the ball and runs at peope. I think its due to his talent that he has been moved inside to put some creativity in the middle, which we have lacked for the last couple of seasons.

 He can be frustrating when he falls over or doesn't go for the simple option or moans to much, but then he sometimes he looks a different class.

The other thing I like is his attitude and work rate. Have you ever watched him during the warm up? he spends time talking with all the young players, looks relaxed and looks like he genuinly is enjoying himself, and although he does moan alot during a game, I have seen him show encouragement and offer advice to others. I think he has the potential to be a good captain (Although do tend to prefer a centre half)

[Phil from the upper holte]

Aston Villa should be playing 4-4 fucking 2

Ash left side midfield and Bent + another up front is how I see it

My God you're actually quoting Mike Bassett. Do you want defensive, counter-attack to 1-0 football? Do you want to never be able to break teams down at home? Do you think we can somehow be creative and stop other teams slicing through us with two in the midfield miles away from two out-and-out strikers? Do you want us to be so reliant on the wings and on crosses again that we become the easiest to play against team in the league? If you have circled "yes" to all the above, then by all means, play 4-4-2.

It was meant more as a joke monty, I don't mean a rigid 4-4-2 but I would like to see players in the right positions!

I don't want it to be totally like before I agree I would not like to see the return on the constant passing to Ash on the wing but you have to see that Young behind Bent with Downing on the right isnt as effective as say Downing on the left

[Ads]

His crossing has fallen away drastically. He’s a total waste from set pieces of late.

[Chris Smith]

Thirdly....... look at the league table how many points are Man Utd ahead

They played 4-5-1 yesterday.

[Chris Smith]

Just watched MOTD highlights and they didn't show a chance he had in the dying seconds yesterday. But I can't help thinking the Ashley Young of 2 or 3 seasons ago would have buried it.

Possibly, I think it was the effort of a man who had run his bollocks off for 95 minutes.

[Monty]

Aston Villa should be playing 4-4 fucking 2

Ash left side midfield and Bent + another up front is how I see it

My God you're actually quoting Mike Bassett. Do you want defensive, counter-attack to 1-0 football? Do you want to never be able to break teams down at home? Do you think we can somehow be creative and stop other teams slicing through us with two in the midfield miles away from two out-and-out strikers? Do you want us to be so reliant on the wings and on crosses again that we become the easiest to play against team in the league? If you have circled "yes" to all the above, then by all means, play 4-4-2.

It was meant more as a joke monty, I don't mean a rigid 4-4-2 but I would like to see players in the right positions!

I don't want it to be totally like before I agree I would not like to see the return on the constant passing to Ash on the wing but you have to see that Young behind Bent with Downing on the right isnt as effective as say Downing on the left

Phew Phil, I was worrying you'd lost it! No I completely agree, Ash in this role isn't working, though Downing on either wing has been our best player this season. I'd like to see a proper midfield 3 of Bannan and two from Makoun/Bradley/Delph. I think that's got the defensive balance, the attacking fluidity and a bit of interchange in there - no specialist 'holder', just players who complement each other well.

[Ads]

Aston Villa should be playing 4-4 fucking 2

Ash left side midfield and Bent + another up front is how I see it

My God you're actually quoting Mike Bassett. Do you want defensive, counter-attack to 1-0 football? Do you want to never be able to break teams down at home? Do you think we can somehow be creative and stop other teams slicing through us with two in the midfield miles away from two out-and-out strikers? Do you want us to be so reliant on the wings and on crosses again that we become the easiest to play against team in the league? If you have circled "yes" to all the above, then by all means, play 4-4-2.

It was meant more as a joke monty, I don't mean a rigid 4-4-2 but I would like to see players in the right positions!

I don't want it to be totally like before I agree I would not like to see the return on the constant passing to Ash on the wing but you have to see that Young behind Bent with Downing on the right isnt as effective as say Downing on the left

Phew Phil, I was worrying you'd lost it! No I completely agree, Ash in this role isn't working, though Downing on either wing has been our best player this season. I'd like to see a proper midfield 3 of Bannan and two from Makoun/Bradley/Delph. I think that's got the defensive balance, the attacking fluidity and a bit of interchange in there - no specialist 'holder', just players who complement each other well.

I think there is something in that though. I'm not questioning his work ethic, but he doesn't have what he had two or three years ago. That finish at Goodison in the 94th minute was outstanding.

[spangley1812]

Thirdly....... look at the league table how many points are Man Utd ahead

They played 4-5-1 yesterday.

That was one game out of 30+ this season

[Chris Smith]

Thirdly....... look at the league table how many points are Man Utd ahead

They played 4-5-1 yesterday.

That was one game out of 30+ this season

No it wasn't, they've played it regularly.

[TheSandman]

Thirdly....... look at the league table how many points are Man Utd ahead

They played 4-5-1 yesterday.

That was one game out of 30+ this season

One which they desperately wanted to win.

Man U can play 4-4-2 because they have two excellent strikers who work hard and can drop deep. Rooney and Berbatov have so much more ability and intelligence to play the game than Bent or especially Gabby that it is frightening.

I like 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3 personally and think it is a considerably better formation than 4-4-2. Though I would like to see Bannan in midfield rather than three wide players accomodated poorly.

[Salsa Party Animal]

I would love to someone to Aston Villa and lock Ashley Young in a room with a TV and DVD of several his best performance and recent performance and make him listen and stop him believing his hype. He is capable of doing a lot more and is extremely wasteful and uneffective. I want him to play in similar role to Tony Morley with better set pieces. I would love to see a young Ron Saunders having a word

[oldtimernow]

Ashley should be played in a position that benefits the team, Not where he wants to simply play.

/quote]

Thirded, he'll go in the summer so perhaps get Downing playing on the left but that means we will need an excellent left back because he will offer little or no cover.

[Monty]

Thirdly....... look at the league table how many points are Man Utd ahead

They played 4-5-1 yesterday.

That was one game out of 30+ this season

One which they desperately wanted to win.

Man U can play 4-4-2 because they have two excellent strikers who work hard and can drop deep. Rooney and Berbatov have so much more ability and intelligence to play the game than Bent or especially Gabby that it is frightening.

I like 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3 personally and think it is a considerably better formation than 4-4-2. Though I would like to see Bannan in midfield rather than three wide players accomodated poorly.

I agree with everything there, Bentman.