The amount of criticism he gets is fair, it's not his fault, but it's fair, he keeps getting it because he keeps being put into a position to get it, namely, in the First Team, where he shouldn't be. To say he's been a good player for us is stretching it a bit, he's been ok, he's an average player who has whipped in a few good crosses and has scored some worldies, but i'm sick of this club and these kinds of players, we need consistent great performers. Why does everyone love players that aren't very good at all but they work hard and "do a job", people seem to like languishing in mediocrity whilst other clubs are ruthless and realise when it's time to actually let go of a player and bring better ones in.
We're still hanging onto Young, Valencia, Jones, Smalling, Darmian, Rojo etc. If we are to return to the top, players like this need to be chucked out, it's as simple as that, none of these players would be considered as first teamers for any top team, picture Barcelona or Bayern Munich with Ashley Young as a squad player, or Phil Jones as a squad player. Just chuck them out and replace them with a youth player or bring in someone else, it's that simple. Of course I respect the fact that he's played for United, the team and the club, and played for the fans, on a ridiculously higher wage packet than he's actually worth as a player by the way, but when it's time to cut your losses, you gotta do it, he's 33, either offer him vastly reduced sums or let him go.
I fully agree with this, especially the bolded part, we've let standards drop over the last 5 years where "Putting in a shift" is deemed enough to be worthy of wearing the United shirt.
Ok where to start...
First of all, even under SAF we had squad players. Every team has squad players. You cannot realistically expect us to fill our squad with world class players in every position, nor do you need to in order to be successful.
Examples of a few similar players who weren't the best, but were good solid squad options who added value to our team, won a lot, and are similar to Young in that regard (IMO):
- O'Shea
- Fletcher
- Park
- Evans
- Brown
- Smalling
- Smith
You may not agree with the list above in its entirety, but surely you get the point.
This absolutely has nothing at all to do with me (and other United fans) dropping their standards. It's just the reality that you need a squad of players with the right mentality who are capable of filling in where needed. Again, Young fits this description perfectly. To say all he has done is 'whipped in a few good crosses', quite frankly, is absurd and a huge injustice to a good servant to our club.
Also, by keeping players like Young around who can realistically fill in various positions (LB, RB, LW, RW) provides our manager(s) with the flexibility they need to make in-game changes, and also allows us to focus on more important areas where we need to improve in the transfer market. Even though we are a rich club, we are not going to replace every squad player with a world class talent, it's just not realistic.
Nobody is saying Young should necessarily be a first-teamer for us, but I think you are both showing him a lack of respect which he doesn't deserve.
However, I do agree that we shouldn't hang on to all of Young, Valencia, Jones, Smalling, Darmian, Rojo. Me personally, I'd only keep Young and Smalling.
Also, I don't know why you are comparing us to Barcelona or Bayern. Why not take a look closer to home, at City and Liverpool for example?
They also have squad players like:
- Moreno
- Clyne
- Milner
- Delph
- Danilo
- Zinchenko
- Lallana
- Matip
Do you think these players are world class? Obviously not. But they are kept around because they still add value to the club and the manager by giving them options, and won't kick up a fuss if they are benched.
