Source: Daily_Mail
Aston Villa's Robert Pries and Marc Albrighton praise Ashley Young
Aston Villa midfield pair Robert Pires and Marc Albrighton have stressed the importance of Ashley Young remaining with the Midlands club.[LNB]England head coach Fabio Capello watched Young turn in a star performance during yesterday's 4-1 demolition of Blackburn at Villa Park.[LNB]Young is revelling in the second striker role and scored twice as Villa climbed five points clear of the bottom three.[LNB] On the spot: Young slams home a penalty in Villa's 4-1 win over Blackburn[LNB]He is out of contract in the summer of 2012 and talks over his future have been put on hold until the end of this season.[LNB]But Pires and Albrighton believe it is vital Gerard Houllier can hold on to his services.[LNB]Pires said: 'When you see Ashley play like that, it shows how important it is for Villa to keep him.[LNB]'Ashley is a very good player who plays for the national team.[LNB]'He is very important here, the fans love him, but you know what football is like.[LNB]' don't know what is happening with Ashley but for me, he should stay at Villa.'[LNB]Albrighton said: 'Ashley was unplayable against Blackburn. I thought Stewart Downing was just as good but probably just got overshadowed by Ashley because he was so good.[LNB]'To have players like that, playing to their full capacity is brilliant.[LNB] 'To keep Ashley would be brilliant for Villa. It would show we are going forward as a team.[LNB]'I think the manager has said he would like to build a team around him, which would be great for the club because he is such a good player.[LNB] Viva La Villa: Pires congratulates Downing on his strike against Rovers[LNB]'I know Ashley is enjoying his football here so hopefully we can keep him and we can go on and have a good future.'[LNB]Albrighton believes Young is also pushing strongly for a regular England spot.[LNB]He said: 'I don't see any reason why he can't. He has proved with England that he can play at that level.[LNB]'He is doing the business week in and week out on the Premier League stage with Villa.[LNB]'There is no reason why he can't be a regular in Fabio Capello's side.'[LNB]Villa have lost only one of their last seven league games and collected 12 points with Houllier delighted by the progress being made.[LNB]He said: 'I think we have improved physically. There was a time when we conceded goals at the end of the games.[LNB]'We have lost 18 points from winning positions. If we'd lost just half of those, just look where we'd be.[LNB] 'We are five points off the relegation zone but only four off seventh spot. It is so tight.'[LNB]Blackburn could be sucked into the relegation scrap on the evidence of their below-par showing at Villa Park in which skipper Ryan Nelsen was sent off in injury time for a second bookable offence.[LNB] Bad day at the office: Nelson is ordered off at Villa Park[LNB]It was a miserable end to a traumatic weekend for New Zealander Nelsen who has seen his home town of Christchurch devastated by an earthquake.[LNB]Rovers boss Steve Kean said: 'The sending-off was disappointing because I thought Ryan was excellent.[LNB]'He wanted to play and he had trained every day. He has been in a good frame of mind considering all the atrocities he has seen back home.[LNB]'He has dealt with it really well and he wanted to play.'[LNB]Kean added: 'The thing that killed us was the first goal, the penalty.[LNB]'These things happen and I thought we would bounce back but we let that goal affect us.[LNB]'Our heads went down a little bit and then there was a spell in the game where we got over-ran a little bit.[LNB]'It was a bad day at the office but we'll just have to dust ourselves off and go again.'[LNB]Downing's clinical finish and an own goal from Grant Hanley completed a day of misery for Blackburn whose consolation effort was scored by Nikola Kalinic.[LNB] [LNB] Explore more:People: Robert Pires, Ryan Nelsen, Fabio Capello, Ashley Young, Stewart Downing, Gerard Houllier Places: United Kingdom
