It hasn't been the luckiest of season for Manchester United winger Ashley Young. The footballer has only made 19 league appearances this season, and was substituted off the pitch on April 4 against Manchester City after picking up an ankle injury. Today, manager Sir Alex Ferguson has ruled the winger out for the rest of the season.
Ashley Young made a great start to his Manchester United career, much to the surprise of many fans, myself included, who hadn't been able to understand why we had spent so much on only a half decent player who was in the last year of their contract.
Still, he came out with all the right stuff when he signed, talking about us being the biggest club in the world and how it was a dream come true.
Ashley Young had one of his finest games in a red shirt opposition and definition of finest considered in Manchester United's 3-2 win over Manchester City earlier this season. Good things barely repeat themselves, however, and so Monday's reverse fixture was slightly different. Indeed, it was exactly that: a reversal of all the good we saw in December, where United again, opposition considered had looked like a team worthy of all of football's best silver.
Ashley Young had one of his finest games in a red shirt opposition and definition of finest considered in Manchester United's 3-2 win over Manchester City earlier this season. Good things barely repeat themselves, however, and so Monday's reverse fixture was slightly different. Indeed, it was exactly that: a reversal of all the good we saw in December, where United again, opposition considered had looked like a team worthy of all of football's best silver.
With just 18 months remaining on his current deal, rumours have circulated that Nani will be sold this summer. Confirming the signing of Wilf Zaha last month did nothing to help the rumours.
United have offered Nani a new deal but the player doesn't believe it represents what he's worth, with Ashley Young on a bigger contract.
When, a couple of days ago, Sir Alex Ferguson described the current United crop as better and stronger than the 1999 vintage that delivered an unprecedented Treble, many eyebrows were raised. Are Danny Welbeck and Michael Carrick really a better proposition than Dwight Yorke and Roy Keane? The jury will be out for another couple [.
Manchester United v Everton English Premier League Old Trafford, Manchester Sunday 10 February, 2013 16:00 GMT
Manchester United will be looking to maintain their nine point lead at the top of the table and take one step closer to wrestling away the Premier League title from Manchester City.
In the movie Love Actually, Alan Rickman's secretary and lover addresses her boss' question as to what she'd like for Christmas with a sharp, conclusive reply: "I don't want something I need," she says, "I want something I want." If you'll excuse the excursus in the romantic-comedy branch of British cinematography, you'll find that the [.
Nemanja Vidic of Manchester United is helped off during the Barclays Premier League match between Manchester United and Liverpool (Photo by Alex Livesey/Getty Images)
Sir Alex Ferguson has been fairly adamant that he is content with his current squad make-up thus far. However, with recent injuries suffered to both Ashley Young and captain, Nemanja Vidic in Manchester United's recent 2-1 triumph over Liverpool in the Premier League, Fergie may be forced to dip into the transfer window.
Championship winning teams build their destinies onto world class players, teamwork ethic and the virtue of weather through a storm and come out unscathed, scarred and bruised perhaps but, ultimately, winning. Manchester United definitely possess all of these requirements and showed it once more today.
Antonio Valencia/Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images
Every week, Joe Tansey will take a look at how injuries to key players will affect each English Premier League club.
This week, Manchester United and Manchester Cityreceivebad news ahead of their weekend clashes, while one of Everton's top players faces a late fitness test.
Throughout December there were dozens of stories linking Nani with a move away from Manchester United. With a couple days left of 2012 Sir Alex Ferguson was asked in his media briefing if the winger had a future with the club.
Manchester United hit the ground running in 2013 with a comprehensive 4-0 win at Wigan, to maintain their seven-point lead at the top of the table as they picked up their third win in four matches over the festive period. Unlike the majority of us that spent the last few days committing to New Year's [.
Manchester United beat West Brom 2-0 to maintain their seven-point lead over second-placed Manchester City, who scraped to a 4-3 win at Norwich City.
United went ahead at Old Trafford in the ninth minute against Albion when Gareth McAuley inadvertently knocked the ball into his own goal after Ashley Young drove a low cross across the face of goal.
Manchester United waved goodbye to 2012 in style, with a hard-fought 2-0 win over West Bromwich Albion, to finish the calendar year at the top of the Premier League. It's safe to assume that 2012, or at least its first five months, will not be fondly remembered by anybody associated with the club for they [.
Old Trafford and Manchester United played host to Sunderland on Saturday in a match that saw Manchester United secure the Premier League's top spot through Christmas. It only took United 16 minutes to get on top, as Robin Van Persie cooly slotted an Ashley Young cross into the back of the net. Tom Cleverly extended the Red Devils' lead just three minutes later before Wayne Rooney made it three in the second half.
Old Trafford and Manchester United played host to Sunderland on Saturday in a match that saw Manchester United secure the Premier League's top spot through Christmas. It only took United 16 minutes to get on top, as Robin Van Persie cooly slotted an Ashley Young cross into the back of the net. Tom Cleverly extended the Red Devils' lead just three minutes later before Wayne Rooney made it three in the second half.
Among the many talking points offered by the 164th Manchester derby that were unfortunately overshadowed by the melee that followed Robin Van Persie's dramatic late winner, there was the sensation that United might have taken a much-needed step towards the future. Sir Alex Ferguson has recently often been criticised for what some consider an unneccessary [.
Gareth Barry was charged by the FA yesterday for verbally abusing fourth official Mark Clattenburg following City's 3-2 defeat against Manchester United. The result could have been a lot worse for the blues if the linesman didn't incorrectly rule out Ashley Young's goal, which would have put us 3-0, and if the referee didn't miss Kolo Toure fouling Patrice Evra in the box.
All eyes were on the Etihad Stadium on Sunday as Manchester City hosted cross-town rivals Manchester United in a hugely anticipated top of the table clash. Both sides put out extremely strong squads, though it was the red side of Manchester that managed to come out on top.
Manchester United jumped out to an early lead through Wayne Rooney but City fought their way back into the game deep into the second half.
Manchester United and Reading produced some of the craziest 45 minutes in Premier League history, as the Reds opened a three-point gap at the top of the table, after emerging winners of a seven-goal thriller. While the result might suggest otherwise, this was not an encounter that will be talked about for years not [.
Manchester United produced yet another comeback as they defeated QPR 3-1 at Old Trafford, courtesy of goals from Jonny Evans, Darren Fletcher and Javier Hernandez, momentarily regaining top spot on the Premier League table. If yesterday had been an historic occasion with the unveiling of Sir Alex Ferguson's statue outside the stand named after him, [.
When Manchester United traveled to Istanbul to play Galatasaray in 1993, they were greeted at the airport by a mob holding "welcome to hell" signs that Sir Alex Ferguson describes as "quite frightening." On Monday, they avoided the terminal packed with flare-wielding fans and riot police (videos below) by taking an alternate, underground exit, but they didn't avoid the pre-matchharassmentof Gala supporters entirely.
James Rodriguez of FC Porto (Photo by David Ramos/Getty Images)
January is coming ever more closely and for me, that means the dreaded finals week, but for the soccer world, it marks the start of the January transfer window, where clubs across the world are able to add talent in the middle of their season.
This season has been a disappointing one for our wingers with Nani, Antonio Valencia and Ashley Young all struggling for fitness and good form. Last season Valencia was voted player of the season by his team mates and the fans, whilst Nani was voted player of the season by his team mates the year before, yet neither have set the world alight this season.
Sir Alex Ferguson has revealed that there were plenty of disappointed players on Wednesday night when they learned they would not be playing against Real Madrid at the Bernabeu.
Ashley Young and Nani were particularly upset as neither of them made the bench, with Ryan Giggs the preferred substitute winger.
In the first half, United covered 30.63 miles but in the second half upped this to 31.18. Michael Carrick covered 6.54 miles over 90 minutes which was more than any player on either side.
Average speed
Our average speed in the second half increased to 3.
1. United played some fantastic football at times on Saturday, displaying exquisite one touch passing and lightening fast attacks, in a game that deservedly saw us pick up all three points. Like so many games before though, we just didn't kill it off, despite creating so many clear cut chances. It would be wrong to say we had a nerve-racking finish but it was nowhere near as comfortable as it should have been.
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Looking ahead to matches is becoming fairly predictable now, in the sense that we have no idea what will happen, so we just aimlessly speculate one way or another, discuss our preferences, then experience one surprise or another. One thing that we can bet on is that United will play 433 again, thanks to the lack of wingers.
Danny Welbeck, Tom Cleverley and Ashley Young were all at the MEN last night to watch Ricky Hatton take on Vyacheslav Senchenko.
Hatton, who walks out to City's anthem "Blue Moon" and who was wearing sky blue shorts with City's badge on, was confronted by his opponent, Vyacheslav Senchenko, wearing a United shirt.
In a webchat with Ashley Young and Danny Welbeck on the official site, they both confirmed that Patrice Evra was past his best when it came to choosing the music to listen to in the dressing room ahead of kick-off.
DW: I think I can speak for both of us here. We've had discussions recently and as for Patrice's skills.
Following Gareth Bale's latest booking for diving against Inter Milan this week, Brendan Rodgers has taken the opportunity to defend Luis Suarez, who has been on the receiving end of criticism for his numerous dives this season.
"I know if that had been Luis, I would have been sat there answering questions for about half an hour," he said.
Aston Villa fear that a selection of the top Premier League clubs want to sign their prized asset Christian Benteke. The Belgian has already scored 11 goals for a struggling Aston Villa side and the Daily Mail believe that Champions Manchester City, Tottenham, Liverpool and Arsenal have all expressed their interest in signing him.
