Ashley Young.

Young: It's time for us to look ahead

Saturday 22 December 2018 07:49

Ashley Young is excited to be working under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer as Manchester United gear up to face Cardiff City today.

The defender was speaking during a week of change at the Aon Training Complex, with the appointment of Solskjaer on Wednesday morning following the departure of Jose Mourinho 24 hours earlier. However, despite the developments off the pitch, Young insists the players have still been preparing as normal for the busy fixture list ahead.

“It's been a tough week," admitted Ashley, "but we’ve got to move on now, move forward and concentrate on this weekend's game. We need to get ourselves back to winning ways.”

Young has captained the Reds in recent games.

"You go out there as a player and you want to win, play for the badge, play for this fantastic club, the best club in the world and for us now it’s about looking ahead and looking at the next couple of games we’ve got coming up.

"It’s a busy Christmas period and we want to get points on the board and start getting ourselves back up the table.”

Reds legend Solskjaer was not the only familiar face back at the club this week; former assistant manager Mike Phelan has also returned, to work alongside Michael Carrick, Kieran McKenna and goalkeeping coach Emilio Alvarez.

"I’m sure Ole is excited to be back, Mike Phelan as well," said Young. “For Ole to walk back in here must feel unbelievable. The fans love him, he loves the club and it can only be a good thing for us.

"With me being one of the older heads, I [previously] worked under Mike and it’s nice to see him back on the training pitch again."

Young was keen to cite the work that existing coaches Carrick, McKenna and Alvarez have done at the Aon Training Complex so far this season, not least this week when it was imperative for the players to keep a business-as-usual approach in the build-up to the Cardiff game.

“Carras, Kieran and Emilio have been fantastic,” he said. “The training sessions they’ve put on have been fantastic, top notch.

"I can definitely see Carras being a manager one day and Kieran has been brilliant stepping up to the first team [from the Under-18s]. He’s taken to it like a duck to water and Emilio is a fantastic goalkeeping coach. It’s nice for them to be here and work under Mick and Ole as well.”

“The main thing for us has been not to be caught up in everything and instead just concentrate on our work on the pitch and get ourselves fully prepared for this weekend’s game. That’s all you can do as players; be prepared and be ready for the game that we’ve got coming up.”

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