Ashley Young blames Manchester United's lack of intensity for shock Derby defeat
Young echoed Jose Mourinho's complaints after their defeat to Frank Lampard's side
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Your support makes all the difference.Ashley Young echoed Jose Mourinho on Tuesday night by admitting that Manchester United failed to match Derby County’s level of intensity in their shock EFL Cup defeat at Old Trafford.
United suffered an 8-7 penalty shoot-out defeat to Frank Lampard’s Championship promotion contenders, having required a late Marouane Fellaini goal to level the tie at 2-2 after 90 minutes.
The defeat came just three days on from a drab home draw with Wolverhampton Wanderers, which led Mourinho to question the attitude of his players.
The United manager was not as forthright in his criticism on Tuesday but bemoaned how his side only “went for it” following Harry Wilson’s spectacular free-kick equaliser for Derby at 1-1.
Young agreed with Mourinho’s assessment of the game, claiming that United had failed to match their opponents’ will to win.
“I think we said that when you play against teams from lower divisions it’s going to be tough,” Young told MUTV after the final whistle.
“I think they had more intensity than what we did. When you play these games you have to show that intensity and go further than the opposition. We didn’t do that and I think we got punished. They won the game.”
The night started well for United when Juan Mata established a third-minute lead. However, the evening turned following Wilson’s leveller and goalkeeper Sergio Romero’s red card in the second half.
Jack Marriott believed he had secured a famous win for Derby after nodding past substitute ‘keeper Lee Grant late on, only for Fellaini to force a penalty shoot-out.
After 15 perfect spot-kicks, United’s Phil Jones saw his effort tamely saved by Scott Carson and United were eliminated.
On the mood in the United dressing room post-match, Young admitted he and his team-mates were taken aback by the result but suggested that ultimately, United had not played well enough to deserve to win.
“There’s disappointment in there, as you can tell,” he said. “Obviously going down to 10 men is not easy. We got ourselves back in the game but then it’s a lottery on penalties really.
“I’m not sure what the score was but when you score that many you think you can win the game. I’m not too sure whether we did enough in 90 minutes to win the game but we managed to dig deep, show character and take it to penalties. But it wasn’t enough to win the game.
“When you don’t take your chances you can get punished. Derby are a good footballing team, they showed that tonight. Like I said we showed character to take the game to penalties and it’s a lottery from there.
“When you score penalty after penalty you expect one of them to miss. Unfortunately, it was us. We have to dust ourselves down, pick ourselves back up and go again on Saturday.”
United return to Premier League action this weekend, travelling to play West Ham United at the London Stadium in Saturday’s lunchtime kick-off.
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