Alex McLeish tells Aston Villa not to fear Old Trafford factor

Villa manager Alex McLeish has ordered his players to ignore the Old Trafford factor as they prepare for Manchester United tomorrow.

McLeish does not want his players to be afraid of tackling old-boy Ashley Young, at the centre of a penalty controversy last weekend which saw QPR captain Shaun Derry sent off, and Co.

That decision is one of a number of disputable refereeing decisions which also saw United escape a penalty award against them in their recent defeats of Fulham and Albion.

"These are the things that you can't legislate for on a Saturday" he said. "You can't prepare the team for that.

"We've often said in team talks 'look, we're looking for you to be at your best performance level, to work your socks off for the team from start to finish', but sometimes even if you do that it can be out of your hands and you can lose a goal to a decision you think you've been wronged by.

"Referees are going to make mistakes but last week was a tough weekend for them."

Asked whether he would be especially mindful about Young, McLeish said: "We know that over the years players are clever and there have probably been a few disputed penalties since time began.

"But I don't really think there are a lot of divers in the British game. I know when I was in the Scotland job the SFA were really anxious to stamp that sort of thing out but it's so difficult for refs.

"It's a split-second decision when there is a little bit of closeness between players. Even sometimes when a player is going at full rate, the slightest touch can be enough to make him go down.

"Sometimes you make a decision that is wrong even from that point of view. But I don't envy referees at all. They have got a horrendously difficult job, in my eyes."

The beleaguered Villa chief, whose side sit just six points off the Premier League's bottom three, wants his players to be careful but not over-cautious.

"We'll try and stay on our feet against United's players," he said.

"But sometimes it's not as simple as that."