'The good, the bad and the ugly' - TNT Sports pundits react to Ashley Young's Merseyside Derby red card

Rio Ferdinand, Peter Crouch and Phil Jagielka said Ashley Young could have no complaints after the Everton defender was sent off in the first half of the Merseyside Derby at Anfield.

Having earlier made a brilliant last-ditch tackle to deny Luis Diaz a clear goal-scoring opportunity, Young made two reckless challenges that gave referee Craig Pawson little option but to brandish a red card.

With the game poised at 0-0, it left Everton facing an uphill battle to avoid another defeat at the hand of their arch rivals.

"The good, the bad and the ugly is the theme of the half," Jagielka said, live on TNT Sports at half-time. "I think when you play the game a little while ago common sense was used. It’s not anymore, it’s pretty black and white.

"As soon as you've been booked you can’t make a challenge like this."

Crouch, a former Red, praised Young for his "brilliant piece of defending" early in the game before assessing the two tackles that led to the sending off.

On the first challenge, Crouch said: "This one here he hangs a leg in. He hangs a leg in and knows exactly what he’s doing – it’s a definite yellow."

And on the second, he added: "He’s right in front of the Everton fans, I think he's gone in there – you know the Everton fans are going to cheer a tackle like it’s a goal in a Merseyside Derby – but he’s got to be cuter for me.

"It’s another yellow – he’s got to go."

Ferdinand, a former team-mate of Young's at Manchester United, agreed with Jagielka and Crouch, and said it shows the magnitude of such an occasion can get to even the most experienced players.

"Ashley Young being on a yellow card with his experience and knowing him, he maybe should have just chilled out at that situation," Ferdinand said.

"But again, these big games, they create problems in the mind and make you make decisions you wouldn’t normally make."

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