Ashley Young

Ashley Young is a good player. Last season he scored and made many goals for his club and he has also scored goals for England, but not yesterday. Yesterday, against Sweden, he played the worst international game of his career. A bold claim, as his international career isn’t necessarily over. I justify it by flatly refusing to believe that a player of his quality could have a more abject 94 minutes on a football field.

In attack he was inept. His one clear chance spurned with a screwed shot past the post. True, the Swedish defenders gave him no room, but Carroll and Walcott found some. Wellbeck even scored with his back to goal and a Swedish defender closer to him than Dean ever got to Torvill.

In midfield he displayed the full range of passes – sideways, back and giveitaway. Indeed he managed a giveitaway in the last minute of extra time along the left touchline allowing Sweden to mount a final, fortunately ineffective, attack.

In defence he was invisible. When the two Swedish goals whistled into the net he was not to be seen. Granted, he wasn’t apparently tasked with playing as a left-winger, tucking in and wandering hither and yon, but it still might have been helpful to provide some support on the left for the other Ashley.

So if he played that badly, and he did, why didn’t RH put him out of his misery and take him off? Probably because, although he will never be a great player, he is always capable of a moment of magic and can win you a game. But not yesterday.