Can Young and Rooney use their club partnership to fire England to glory?

By Steve Stammers in Mirror Football Blog

Published 22:40 03/09/11

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Not for the first time, Sir Alex Ferguson has been proved right both in judgement and opinion.

The Manchester United manager saw enough in Ashley Young to invest £20million and bring him to Old Trafford from Aston Villa.

It is already proving to be one of the shrewdest investments of the summer.

And at the start of the ­season, Sir Alex gave a not-so subtle reminder to the Football Association about the debt England owes to his club for the players it has provided for the national team over the years.

He is right, it now appears, on both counts.

Amendments may quickly be needed for Young’s ­Wikipedia entry which ­describes him as a winger.

He is much more than that – as United have proved and as Young showed on Friday night in Sofia when he was part of Fabio Capello’s new, flexible England set-up that eased to an emphatic 3-0 win against Bulgaria.

Capello released Young from his wide role and gave him freedom to strengthen his link with clubmate Wayne Rooney.

Young made full use of the tactic. His understanding with Rooney is close to telepathic.

The England manager gave the pairing 61 minutes to prove their point before Young was withdrawn with his job well done.

By then, England were three goals to the good and the third strike showed just how well Young and Rooney combine. Young was released by Theo Walcott and crossed low, with perfect weight, to leave ­Rooney with a simple tap in.

True, the right flank of the Bulgarian defence had been drawn by Walcott’s ­superb run and that helped Rooney’s cause immensely. But the move was sublime.

As former England manager Glenn Hoddle pointed out, Young had adapted to his new responsibilities quickly.

On a less than helpful pitch, he showed his speed through the middle when England ­attacked and was not afraid to ‘put in a shift’ to cover for ­Ashley Cole and also help out Chris Smalling on the right when needed.

It is maybe premature to talk of the Rooney-Young tandem as the new dream ticket for England.

That has the same kiss-of-death ring to it as the ill-advised ‘Golden Generation’ tag bestowed on the Gerrard-Beckham-Lampard–Scholes– Owen era that failed to deliver a major honour.

But it has potential – no question about that. The ­single, muscular target man tactic in a strict 4-4-2 formation favoured by Capello has its use…especially against football’s lesser lights, vulnerable to an aerial assault.

They tremor at the sight of Andy Carroll and are nonplussed when it comes to dealing with the likes of Peter Crouch.

More subtlety is needed against the better class of opposition and that is where the fluidity of Rooney and Young can be so deadly.

Rooney’s close control and pure strength make him a menace while Young in a roving role is a nightmare for any defender.

On a more helpful pitch than the one in Sofia, the pairing, assisted by the likes of Walcott, Stewart Downing and Adam ­Johnson, will pose problems a-plenty.

Of course there is room for adjustment depending on the course of the match and the scoreline.

Until now Capello has used Young as an impact player – and he certainly showed that quality when he came on against Switzerland at Wembley in June, helping to rescue a point in a 2-2 draw.

Now he has surely earned the right to make his impact from the start.

And as he develops alongside Rooney at Old Trafford, so England will surely reap the benefits.

Just as they did in Sofia.

England still a work in progress despite convincing win over Bulgaria  

Which England players put in performances worthy of a place against Wales?

Did Capello's decision to put faith in Gary Cahill pay off in Bulgaria?  

Wayne Rooney back to his best for England  

Chris Smalling insists his future is in the centre  

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