The Scouting Report - Ashley Young

Assessment of technical aspects during the games against The New England Revolution and The Seattle Sounders.

By Magnus Nordman

I wanted to assess the technical aspects of Ashley Young's game and did so during the first two pre-season games of the 2011-2012 season. Young played left winger in both games and played a total of 67 minutes against The New England Revolution and 63 minutes against The Seattle Sounders. The stat-zones are based on the following scheme:

Defensive halfAttacking half

Offensive principles

A) Offence

Ashley Young gave support to the player on the ball in a variety of ways. Either by moving inwards behind the midfield, staying wide or running deep.

• Against Seattle, Young did a lot of running in behind the midfield of the opposition. Although he didn't always get the ball, he also created space for others. This can be seen from the passing % zone chart below. Young performed 7% of his ball touches in zone 5 and a staggering 31 % in zone 8 against Seattle. I compared these stats against the ones that Nani produced. I found out that also Nani tends to drift inside, while at the same time getting a lot of touches in the flank zones. 

• Against New England Young played a lot wider which can be seen from the % of ball touches in zones 7 and 10. When comparing the two matches, Young seemed to play a lot higher up the pitch against New England. This was possibly the result of Seattle's high pressing game.

• Young did meet the ball in a variety of ways to create space for turns, flicks, crosses and shots. He was pushing up to the defender to create space in front of him on several occasions and when moving without the ball, he is often either: 

a) Coming to collect and changing direction to run deep.

b) Going deep and changing direction to come to collect.

Young's combination work with both Patrice Evra and Fabio got off to a fine start. He created space by co-operating with them both in United's own and the opponents half. Young seems a player who makes frequent moves without the ball and especially against Seattle he moved behind the midfield on several occasions. In addition, he made a couple of runs behind the defence. Looking at the pictures below I've tried to highlight Young's movement without the ball.

First picture above to the left: Here you can see Young moving out of the passing shadow to give Evra a better passing option. In the second picture above to the right, Young has created space before receiving the pass by moving away from the ball and then coming to collect.

First picture below to the left: Young runs with the ball up field and creates a 2v1 with a simple overlapping run from Evra. Second picture below to the right: Young creates space by challenging the wingback and playing it to - again - an overlapping Evra.

Other noticeable observations were as he was playing on the left side of the midfield, Young did a lot of his crossing with the right foot. Below a picture from the New England game of him crossing the ball. By turning inside, Young at the same time opens up more passing options.

From the diagrams above it is noticeable that Young - against New England - did hit a lot more crosses with his right foot and that he only managed two of them against Seattle .

B) Offensive transition

This has really become a trademark for United, and especially so against the challenging teams both in England and in Europe. Looking at how Ashley Young could contribute to this phase of attack, one could anticipate that he will become a really good addition. When looking at Young's playing in the pre-season matches, it is noticeable  that he contributed by either moving out wide, going deep and/or asking for the ball behind the opponents midfield.

First picture below to the left: Young moves inwards to create a second passing option for Anderson. When moving from defence to offensive transition, an important factor in gaining an advantage is to control the space behind/or in between the part of the opposition team pressing the ball carrier. Second picture below to the right: Young gives Evra a decent passing option by moving behind the midfielder. After receiving the pass he is able to turn towards the opponent goal to create a scoring chance.

First picture below to the left. Young shows the player on the ball a passing alternative by running deep. Second picture below to the right: after winning the ball in midfield, United attack and Young makes a penetrative run behind the midfield. Notice the space in the zone between the opponents midfield and defensive line. This is a zone that players like Young could make good use of, keeping in mind that he can also play as a central attacking midfielder.

The pictures below from the Seattle game give a good indication of his movement without the ball when moving wide.

First picture above to the left: Even though the ball is on right side, Young already has created space for himself and attacker on the weak side by staying wide. Second picture above to the right: As Giggs is changing the direction of play and driving over to the weak side, Young gives him a passing option by playing wide. As the defensive line is moving upwards, Young is also in line to receive the pass behind the defence.

Defensive principles

A) Defence

As defence is a naturally important part of Sir Alex's game plan, Young really needs show quality defensive abilities. When judging his abilities to press & support the player pressuring the player on the ball, one can see that Young:

• Did have good support when pressing in the defensive half and there were bigger distances when pressing in the offensive half. This was naturally a result of the game being a pre-season contest and also due to the fact that United didn't press high up the pitch. 

• When functioning as: 

a) First defender. Aggressive in own half and patient in offensive half.

b) Second defender. Covered space and held good distance to the first defender. Moved into pressing distance and pressured player on the ball when needed.

c) Third defender. Covered space and communicated with second and third defenders

First picture above to the left: Young doesn't have to be as aggressive in the opposition half when pressing the player on the ball. Distance between players is also a lot bigger than in United's own half. Second picture above to the right gives us an indication on Young pressing in the own half. Has better support from the second and third defenders, and is therefore more likely to commit into pressing the opponent.

First picture above to the left shows Ashley defending the area in front of the back four. Special notice could be directed towards the distance between him and Evra and the fast that he is T-marking the opposition's right wingback. Second picture above to the right shows him dropping back as the left defender, while still T-marking the player out wide.

First picture below to the left shows Young acting as the second defender in this particular situation. Second picture below to the right shows him tracking back, covering up for Evra who has moved more centrally because of opponents counter-attack. Young did in fact - as previously mentioned - act left back when Seattle were moving players high up the pitch.

B) Defensive transition

For both New England and Seattle a vital aspect of their transition play was to play the ball past United's midfield as quickly as possible. Therefore United's midfielders had to be extra alert in these kinds of situations. As Young often finds - and will find himself during the season - he will have to do a lot of running in the defensive transition phase. It will certainly be interesting to see how he will cope in this phase against Premier League or Champions League teams.

First picture below to the left. Young works his way back in United's own half. Second picture below to the right shows Young getting back below the height of the ball.

Other observations:

• Right footed, but is also comfortable with his left foot 
• A player who can challenge defenders by dribbling
• Likes to both cross and shoot the ball
• Versatile player
• Seems to have good stamina and focus
• Will be challenged to improve passing play, tackling and defensive work rate

What did you think of Ashley Young's contribution in the first two pre-season games? What part do you think he will play for Manchester United in the coming seasons?

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