SETANTA NEWS

Boss happy to tackle Young

by Setanta Staff , 13 April 2012 Boss happy to tackle Young

Aston Villa boss Alex McLeish doesn't want his players to be afraid of tackling Ashley Young and his Manchester United team-mates.


Villa will come up against their former player on Sunday when the two sides meet at Old Trafford in a game that both want to win for differing reasons.

Young was at the centre of a controversy last weekend when he earned a penalty against QPR which helped his side to a 2-0 victory and saw Rangers captain Shaun Derry sent off.

Derry appeared to make minimal contact at Old Trafford but referee Lee Mason pointed to the spot and Wayne Rooney converted the 15th-minute penalty.

Mason's call is one of a number of disputable refereeing decisions recently and McLeish has also had reason to be annoyed of late, blaming a foul in the build-up for Stoke's goal in their 1-1 draw on Monday.

But the Villa chief remains philosophical about such turning points.

"These are the things that you can't legislate for on a Saturday," he said. "You can't prepare the team for that. "

We've often said in team talks 'look, we're looking for you to be at your best performance level, to work your socks off for the team from start to finish', but sometimes even if you do that it can be out of your hands and you can lose a goal to a decision you think you've been wronged by.

Referees are going to make mistakes but last week was a tough weekend for them."

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Pos
Team P W D L +/- PTS
1.
Man Utd
38
28
5
5
43
89
2.
Man City
38
23
9
6
32
78
3.
Chelsea
38
22
9
7
36
75
4.
Arsenal
38
21
10
7
35
75
5.
Tottenham
38
21
9
8
20
72
6.
Everton
38
16
15
7
15
63
7.
Liverpool
38
16
13
9
28
61
8.
West Brom
38
14
7
17
-4
49
9.
Swansea
38
11
13
14
-4
46
10.
West Ham
38
12
10
16
-8
46
11.
Norwich
38
10
14
14
-17
44
12.
Fulham
38
11
10
17
-10
43
13.
Stoke
38
9
15
14
-11
42
14.
Southampton
38
9
14
15
-11
41
15.
Aston Villa
38
10
11
17
-22
41
16.
Newcastle
38
11
8
19
-23
41
17.
Sunderland
38
9
12
17
-13
39
18.
Wigan
38
9
9
20
-26
36
19.
Reading
38
6
10
22
-30
28
20.
QPR
38
4
13
21
-30
25

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