Ashley Young says ‘confidence is sky high’ at Man Utd
Manchester United winger Ashley Young has revealed that the sides confidence is ‘sky high’ after the Red Devils overcome arch rivals Manchester City in a brilliant derby at Old Trafford.
With both sides desperate for the three points with a lot at stake, including the chance for United to extend their gap over the Citizens, the game got off to an electric start with both sides attacking within the first minute.
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However, it was the visitors who broke the deadlock when David Silva found space inside the United box before squaring for leading number nine Sergio Aguero who could not miss from a yard out. But that was a blessing in disguise for United who turned on the gas after City’s tremendous start.
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The line-up which saw United beat Liverpool and Spurs was basically the same with Chris Smalling replacing Marcos Rojo in defence. And his inclusion was merited with a dominant display alongside Phil Jones. That gave the rest of the squad confidence and the Red Devils hit back through Ashley Young – who has been a monstrous team player since returning to form.
The ever improving Marouane Fellaini then put Louis van Gaal’s side ahead before Juan Mata and Smalling rounded off proceedings.
United have now won their last six games and look destined to return to the Champions League next season under Van Gaal. And that means a host of new signings should arrive along with some players earning new contracts for their efforts this season.
And Young, 29, could be one of them, and after the win yesterday the former England international admitted that United are full of confidence and feel like they can beat anyone.
"“We feel we can beat anyone on our day,” he told MUTV. “Confidence has been sky high for a long time and we want to keep the momentum going now.“The fans were magnificent, even from the time we came out for the warm-up. I think that’s the loudest I’ve heard them. We wanted to keep our noisy neighbours quiet [laughs] and we quietened them down straight away [after their goal].“When you go 3-1 and 4-1 up, it’s then about trying to keep the ball and we did that. Carras (Michael Carrick) went off injured and we were down to 10 men and they scored, but the game was over by then. I think it was over when it went to 3-1.”"
United were expected to overcome City but with the champions always a threat with the talent they have it was never going to be easy.
That was proven with the first 15 minutes literally an end-to-end battle but the class and form of United paid off after the first half.
And with that being United’s first derby victory in five games, Young added that the dressing room was rocking after the final whistle blew.
"“As you can imagine the atmosphere in the dressing room was electric [after the game],” he continued. “A win in the derby, especially in the way we did it, meant there were fantastic celebrations.“The equaliser was very important. When you go a goal down, you want to get yourselves back into the game as soon as possible. We managed to do that and we wanted to kick on from there.“The first 10 minutes weren’t good enough but, after that, it was all us. I don’t think City knew what had hit them. When we came out in the second half, we said that the next goal was going to be vitally important. We made it 3-1 with a great goal from Juan [Mata] and getting the fourth meant the game was over.”"