Connect with us

Manchester United News

Moyes to fight Young’s old habits

ALeqM5jibpuQnKswO9Iys2SyWmMLc_Bc9wDavid Moyes has stated he’ll have a word with Ashley Young after the United winger’s embarrassing behaviour saw him getting booked for simulation against Crystal Palace on Saturday.

Young, who has developed a reputation for tumbling to the ground rather too willingly and rather too often, brought his personal pantomime to a whole new level against Palace as he stuck out his leg to make sure it made contact with Kagisho Dikgacoi’s shin, before theatrically and pathetically tumbling to the ground.

Unfortunately for Young, his attempt only earned him a yellow card and infuriated many Reds who have grown increasingly frustrated with the former Villa man’s theatrics on the pitch, particularly as Young’s reputation for being a serial diver only adds insult to his abject performances.

David Moyes, however, made clear he’ll reprimand his player and that he does not tolerate diving.

“I’ve always said I don’t like diving,” Moyes said. “Ash has put his leg into the lad’s leg. The boy definitely puts his leg out and, rightly so, he deserved to get booked. I don’t want my players diving. I don’t want anybody doing it. I’ll definitely say to Ash it’s not what I want,” Moyes said after the game.

Young, who was already reprimanded about his diving by Sir Alex Ferguson last season, was again under the spotlight as he won the penalty through which United opened their account against Palace after Dikgacoi barged into him. While the contact was a lot more genuine than in Young’s first pathetic attempt, many felt it had come outside the box and that the Palace man was unfortunate to be shown a red card.

Cristiano Ronaldo and Nani both developed a reputation for going to the ground too easily, but neither of them reached the embarrassing depths Young has plummeted to with alarming regularity. Furthermore, leaving Ronaldo’s phenomenal achievements aside, even Nani, for all his petulance and inconsistency, has proved to be an infinitely better player than Young and we can only hope that David Moyes will give the Portuguese and Wilfried Zaha a chance sooner rather than later.

Having to put up with average players is hardly exciting but has been done before and a squad player giving his best for the United cause will always be appreciated by the supporters but there should be no space for cheats in a Manchester United squad, there never has been.

Young has a long way to go to restore his reputation but, frankly, it’d be a lot better if he was sold in January.

Dan