Wednesday 22 October 2014 15:47, UK
Ashley Young will not be backing down from the challenge of scrapping for a regular role at Manchester United.
The England international has seen United once again invest heavily in the acquisition of creative forward-thinking talent.
Angel di Maria was snapped up over the summer for a British record fee, and provides direct competition for Young on the left of midfield.
The Argentine has settled quickly at Old Trafford, offering an immediate return on the investment made in him, and is starting to gel with the likes of Juan Mata, Wayne Rooney and Robin van Persie.
His form has provided another obstacle for Young to overcome, as he works his way back from a groin injury, but the former Aston Villa man is determined to prove his worth after replacing Di Maria during the second-half of Monday’s 2-2 draw at West Bromwich Albion.
He said in the Manchester Evening News: “I just want to play the best I can. The manager has shown faith in me and I want to go out there and play well.
“The injury was a setback. It’s disappointing for any player to get injured but I’m back fit now and I’m only looking ahead. I’m not looking back.
“The new manager has his methods and philosophy and everyone has bought into it. We’ve shown we can go into games and play different formations. We showed that again at West Brom.
“It wasn’t any different for me. It was new things in the role I was playing but, like I said, the manager changed the system and we’re capable of changing the system against different teams.”
Young is hoping that he can now cement his place in Van Gaal’s plans as United ready themselves for testing fixtures against Chelsea and Manchester City.
He added: “We’ve got tough games coming up with Chelsea and City. We wanted to get the three points against West Brom but we’ll still go into the games with confidence as high as it always is and we’ll be looking to get some points from those matches.
“You have to look at the positives from the Hawthorns. Obviously they went ahead when we were on top but we came out in the second half and you do take the positives of getting back into the game.
"We take the positives of the possession we had and attempts at goal. But unfortunately we couldn’t get the three points.
“We said we wanted to start the second half brightly and get ourselves back into the game which we did with Marouane Fellaini’s goal which was fantastic.
“We wanted to kick on from there and it looked like there was only going to be one team who were going to get the three points.
“It looked like us and that’s why you see a lot of disappointed faces after the game. You have to take the positives of getting ourselves back in the game and getting a point on the road is important.”
